A welcomed helping hand!

Event Sponsorship from Bagnol camping and caravan site.

http://www.caravan-park-anglesey.co.uk/index.asp

Dear Barry. As you are doing this event for charity it will be our pleasure to let you stay here free of charge for as long as it takes to get the right conditions for your crossing to Ireland. We will look forward to hearing from you and we will see you when you come down.
Your Johnny@Danny

We would like to thank Johnny and Danny for their very kind offer. It is generous help such as above that make arduous trips and planning a lot easier! We look forward to our stay and meeting such generous people.

Rocket Man

Well after receiving some advice from the Captains of the ferry they said it would be wise to take a radar reflector. I have done a bit of research on the Internet and many studies conclude that it is only marginally better to have one than not. I purchased one for the mast of a sailing dinghy and taped it to a garden pole. This was then placed in the drinking pouch on the rear of my buoyancy aid and voila you have a rocket man impression....Now where is the blue touch paper?!

I know it looks a bit silly but I am going to do a trial before next week and see if this comes up on a radar. I will keep you posted.

Wareham to Hurst Castle Tues 17 June

It was 0345 hours and there was thick sea mist at Wareham Quay and which I followed down into Poole Harbour. I telephoned Portland Coastguard to advise them of my voyage and the conversation went something like this,

Barry " Good morning Portland Coastguard my name is Barry Ashdown, I am a solo kayaker heading from Wareham Quay to Hurst Castle and back. I have my kayak registered with your CG66 callsign Xplore."

Portland Coastguard " Do you know what time it is? It is quarter to four in the morning"

After explaining that I must of been dropped on my head as a baby and that this was training for an Irish Sea crossing later in the month. The Coastguard log was created, I was wished a safe trip and I set off in the comfort that I was being looked after.

It was very eerie paddling down the Frome with only 10 metres of visibility. To start off with it was fine as I was following the river but it all changed when I went out into the harbour. I managed to steer a course to start off with which led me through the first pair of channel buoys but after that it started to get a bit more tricky. Sea Mist started to play tricks on me and no I had not been drinking the night before! You will be amazed I have not had an alcoholic drink for 3 weeks and I am looking forward to that pint of Irish Guinness!!

I then had to use my GPS looking at the map screen and also use my compass for a course to steer. I went wrong a few times as I found myself in shallow water but soon got back on track. The next thing which was a little disconcerting was the very loud fog horn of a ship. I know there are several ferries and merchant ships that use the harbour who would not see me until it was too late. I had my whistle to hand just in case but that probably would of been as useful as a chocolate fire guard. I had my VHF Ch16 and then I decided to head south into the shallow water keeping away from the main shipping lane. It was then that I wished my radar reflector had arrived. I managed to kayak around the southern side of Brownsea Island without actually seeing it....more fluke than judgment I am sure! I kayaked to the eastern end of the island and decided to cross there just before the Sandbanks ferry.

It was amazing how many small fishing boats were leaving the harbour all with radar fitted. I didn't mind them but it was the larger ships that were the worry. I got outside the harbour and thankfully the sea mist was clearing towards the east. I made a decision to kayak on towards Hurst Castle. The sea was like a mill pond and there was hardly any wind. Great conditions but in the back of my mind I was thinking the calm before the storm!

I travelled to a point N 50 deg 42.654 W 001 deg 37.510 and decided to turn back. The forecast was for strong SW winds 5 or 6 gusting 7. I made it to Hengisbury head and all was well then the squall came through and I had a lovely paddle from Boscombe pier to the harbour entrance...Not!! I hate paddling into strong wind.

I got into the harbour and then decided that it was not worth the effort to paddle back up to Wareham. Two paddle strokes forward and one stroke back! Not fun. I paddled into Holes Bay and called in the support team driver my dad Pete. He turned out and saved the day. I wonder what my next challenge will be after this? Isle of Wight me thinks as un-finished business there.

0345 hours at the start.

A slight rise in the sea mist in Poole Harbour

Hengisbury Head and that bloke with wind again

Starboard buoy in Poole Harbour in the mist

Sea Mist and a buoy looming

Which way? I can't see a Bloody thing!

Off the water in Holes Bay, Poole waiting for a lift home

The slip at Holes Bay Poole

38.72 nautical miles in 10 hours and 28 minutes.

Well counting the days and after doing 38nm yesterday I am sat here with a slightly aching back. I am looking forward to the challenge and the pint of the black stuff or maybe 10 after!

Not long now!!!!

Well here Moose and I are off the cliffs near Swanage on our way to Kimmeridge. We did this paddle a few weeks back. Moose is that a chocolate eclair in your mouth and are you trying to reach across and pinch another one?!

West Bay to Portsmouth continued......

A cracking sunset to finish an awesome day of paddling.

26 nautical miles completed on Saturday to add to the 13 nautical miles paddled the day before.

Tall ship and some small ships floating past my window

Sunday 8 June

Hurst Castle to Clarence Pier, Portsmouth

20 nautical miles

Breakfast! Mmmmm

Do you think he is asleep?

I even took a pillow! Well thankfully the weather was fantastic and after breakfast I set off on the last 20 n/miles to Clarence Pier in Portsmouth to be collected by Gary. I am sure Gary suggested Clarence Pier as a finishing point to test my ability to manoeuvre past hover crafts, hydrofoil boats, ferries and also keep a beady eye on the locals on the beach when I arrived. It was like an open air version of the Star Wars bar....

I totalled 59 nautical miles over three days which will have to be completed in one sitting across the Irish Sea........Bring it on is all I can say!

Why is it my self portraits look as though I have got chronic wind?!

West Bay to Portsmouth

West Bay to Portsmouth Saturday 6 June to Sunday 8 June

West Bay slip

Gary aka Action man with a friend Mick Rogers decided to walk from West Bay to Chapman's Pool a distance of 55 miles in one hit. Most sane people who decided to do the walk did it over three days. Now what has this got to do with me and my kayak training..?

You guessed it I said I would paddle the distance and some to Portsmouth by the Sunday where I was going to meet Gary again who had completed the round the harbours cycle race.


The alarm went off at 0500 hours on Friday 6th June and I crawled out of my pit to get the last few things organised before setting off for West Bay. Gary, Pete my dad and I set off for West Bay as I had planned to be on the water by 0730 hours but it turned out to be 0810 hours.

I left the security of the harbour walls of West Bay and headed east towards Portland Bill. The sea was choppy but I had the wind and tide with me which was fun to start off with.





West Bay Harbour

I got into a rhythm and was settling in nicely but I was not going to make Portland Bill by slack water! This proved to be problematic as we were nearly on spring tides and I did not fancy battling against the tides and also the updated weather report given by Portland Coastguard was also not favourable. They predicted strong wind warnings which would of blown against the tide which would of meant the sea would of become a wee bit choppy! In light of this I decided to turn back to the safety of West Bay. The western side of Portland has a rocky shore and chesil beach is a steep pebble beach which has boat crunching waves breaking onto it. I did not fancy trying to attempt to get to Portland Bill only to find the conditions were worsening and then there was nowhere to land safely. I thought I would come back to fight again another day and retreat with my tail between my legs. This was the right idea but paddling back to West Bay took 2 hours an hour longer than it took me to get to the turn around point. I made the shelter of West Bay, kicked back and waited for my dad to come back and collect me which he did which was very kind of him.


So Gary had set off and I was back in Wareham after only doing 12.3 nautical miles in 3hrs 17 mins.






Saturday 7 June


I then decided I would set off from Wareham and paddle to Hurst Castle opposite the Needles where I would camp the night and then paddle onto Portsmouth on the Sunday. I set off as the tide was out at Wareham Quay and I knew the tide was turning in my favour for 0900 hrs approximately. I got out of the harbour and kayaked across Bournemouth Bay about 1 mile from the shore. The sun was shining and and there was no wind which was nice but by the time i had reached Hengisbury Head there was a W S/W. I arrived at H/Head and decided to have a 15min leg stretch and a bite to eat.




Heading east

Dodgy looking bloke!

Hengisury Head

This turned out to be really annoying as all the kayak wanted to do was turn into the wind and send me on a course for the needles. This wind was combined with the tidal flow which was sending 2-3' sets of waves heading NE. I decided I would move closer to the shore to see if this made any difference which it did a bit.

Hurst Castle

I soon arrived at Hurst Castle and got my pitch ready for the night. I dug a little shell scrape on the beach behind a groyne and settled in for the night. I loved it with the sound of the waves lapping on the shore. I was pleased I paddled to Hurst Castle as it has been one of my kayaking
objectives for a long time. The views were stunning. It made me appreciate how lucky I am to do these type of things. It also made me focus on the challenge in hand at the end of the month and why I am raising money for Rainbow Trust.

Hurst Castle looking east up the Solent.

My Groyne and a room with a view!

Cake Stalls'

Well before you ask no I didn't make any cakes. It wasn't that I did not want to make any but I valued my kind sponsors and I wanted them to enjoy their cake and not go down with food poisoning.
So in light of this my family and friends very kindly pitched up and made an array of cakes from Chocolate brownies to fruit cake. I cannot thank them enough and also a big thank you goes to Sheila and Ali who helped me on the stall at Dorset Police HQ. Also a thank you to Katie for putting the posters up and arranging the day with admin. I managed to raise £148 which was a great total.
Katie and Kat also took a load of fairy cakes to sandford first school and they made a total of £47 in 15 minutes which was amazing.