Day 121 Shoreham-by-sea to West Wittering

After a good day off in Shoreham we are back on the water at a very civilised 9am. The sun is out and the wind light so its looking like a good day. On the down side we have a flat tyre on our trolley.

We get to west wittering at 5 and we have a long walk, this would not be to hard if we did not have puncher. After lugging everything up the beach my auntie Di is waiting for us and the helpful folks of West Wittering Windsurf club let us store our boats in there compound over night (Thanks). Then we Head of to Di's for the night.

We are treated to a great BBQ and lots of drink and the surprise of the night is a birthday cake for me (its my birthday on Thursday).  A realy good night, if only I did not have to get up in the morning.

Seaton to BRIXHAM

So, that's it, we're home and what a welcome home. It was awesome.  Thankyou to everyone who made it a day to remember forever. Im still smiling about it now.
Thankyou to everyone who's sponsored us and gave us drive on the tough days. If you would like to sponsor us follow the link on the website.
Will be posting here with a few more bits and photos but until then i will be mostly chilling
Rach

Weymouth to Seaton

Waiting til 11, we nipped around Portland at our earliest opportunity and then paddled into a strong headwind for 9 hours. A really tough day, made a lot easier by a great breakfast and wave off from Pennie, Paul, Jake, Ben and crew. We then had a lovely welcome from Mum and Dad at Seaton. Including fish and chips, somewhere to store our boats and a great stay with Jan and Nick. Thanks very much all.
Well that's almost it - soo  looking forward to seeing everyone. See you at 5 ish!!!!!!

Day 124 Worth Matravers to Weymouth

Phew - today was hard. 6 hours of paddling into a force 4/5 headwind. Scenery was lovely though and we are as close as we can be to paddle round Portland tomorrow. It is very easy, however, to forget the hard day now Imo Sat here having just eaten and looking over a windless and calm Portland harbour.
Really hoping that the wind isn't too strong tomorrow so we can get as near to Brixham as possible. We will prob put our SPOT device on tomorrow and Sunday so you can track our progress by following a link on our website.
Rach

Day 123 Milford on sea to Worth Matravers

Robs birthday, so the day started well with a trip to the cafe and a nice late start after all the socialising we've been doing recently. A good paddle, although quite a strong headwind. Finished in a lovely bay, with no sand, no long kit carry and a sunset.
Rach

Day 122 West Whittering to Milford on sea

With some apprehension today we left the beach ready to take on the solent. Weather couldn't be better - good visibility and a slight tail wind. A few days ago we heard that it was Cowes week so we were expecting busy and it defiantly was. We spent the morning making our  way around the shipping lane,  ferries, motor boats and nipping in behind a few hundred racing yachts. We were on super alert mode and constantly predicting where everyone was planning on going next.  As we went past Cowes we had 2knots of tide with us and weaved in and out of moored boats to avoid more ferries and motor boats. After Cowes we had one more ferry route to cross, one more yacht race to negotiate and some lovely scenery and then we were through to meet Bryony, a friend who kindly took us out for a pub dinner and a catch up. So many friends and family have come out to meet us this last week it's been amazing and has made what could have been a tough week a lot of fun.
Rach

Day 120 - Shoreham

What a lovely day. Weather was rubbish, so another day off the water, but some friends paid us a surprise visit all the way from somerset. So had a great pub meal and catch up. Thanks Dave and Katrina for a lovely day. Rob has gone for streamlining tactics for our last week on the water. He went to the barbers today and i now barely recognise him after cutting off 3 months worth of beard. Im feeling quite excited after spending this evening planning the next few days of our trip. We Will hopefully put ourselves in good positions to go round Portland on Fri or Sat and get to Brixham on Sunday - fingers crossed for good weather.
Rach

Day 119 Seaford to Shoreham

What a difference- the sea looks alot more welcoming today. A fairly short paddle due to tides, winds and finding a nice place to camp. A windy Sunday and by far the busiest day on the water we've seen. Yachts, tourist boats and jet skis everywhere. I guess with the solent not far off it's a taste of things to come. A 2pm finish and helped out with a great place to camp by a friendly local.
Rach

Day 118 - Seaford

Glad to be tucked up in my sleeping bag rather than paddling in a horrible looking sea this morning. So instead;
Although initially walking around a busy town was a bit of a shock to the system, a lovely day visiting Brighton and the pub. Thanks very much Muggie
Rach

Winchelsea beach to Seaford - day 117

Kinda non eventful paddle today. The coast did however start getting pretty again at beachy head. And our camping spot and surrounding area is nice.
Big old head winds tomorrow so we're staying put for a day which nicely coincides with my mate Muggie visiting.

Seaford

Day 116 Folkestone to Winchelsea beach

Good to get going again.
Generally, apart from the occasional kayak fisherman, we don't tend to meet many boats on the water. However on the last three paddling days we've had a Coastguard boat and a fishery patrol boat come over to check we are ok. As we paddled past Dover the police popped over (not really sure if they we checking up on us, but they seemed chatty and went off happy) and then today it was the military. As we were paddling past a firing range they zoomed (at a worringly high speed when you're in a small kayak) over to us to check we were going far enough out. They did offer us a lift, which of course we declined, so instead they stayed 500m behind us for about two hours until we were well past the range.
You'll be pleased to know everyones been very friendly, and although it felt a bit bizarre being followed today it did break up an otherwise quite dull day crossing two bays. Early night ready for a 4:30am get up tomorrow. Aaarrrggghhh
Rach

Frinton on sea

Dover

Folkestone campsite

Folkestone (still!) days 114 &115

Still a full on headwind. Looking good for tomorrow though. The last few days have felt bizarre. Visited a few cafes and wandered around shops, we're staying on a well equipped campsite - currently don't really feel like im on a kayaking trip. Can't wait to get going again and tick off the final few miles.

Day 110 Clacton on sea to Margate

Aftert spending the night in one of our least glamorous camping spots we are keen to move on. It was worth waiting a day to cross Thames as the weather today is almost perfect.
At the start of the day we have to paddle though a wind farm. These wind mills are massive and there are hundreds of them. As we are getting to the far side of the wind farm a boat comes over to check we are not kids. Aperantly there were some kids who had paddled out here on stand up paddle boards onetime.
We countuined paddling across, there was not as much shipping to contented with as we had expected so it was all pretty much routine.
10 miles offshore from Margate another boat this time a fisheries patrol boat comes to see if we are ok. We are so we carry on. We get to Margate at 7pm wear we spend the night on the beach.

Correction

Oops. Seem to have lost ten days. Change last post to day 112 & 113

Day 102 &103 Folkestone

Frustrating that now we've turned the corner to head west the sw wind has picked up. We feel we're so close to home now we just want to get going. However, although windy the sun is still shining most of the time and I've found some nice places in Folkestone to wander around. Also, weds onwards looks like the weather is alright so we'll be able to get going soon.

Margaret to Folkestone - Day 111

An early start, a chat with the very friendly night shift at Dover coastguard, and a requirement to keep our average speed above 4 knots to get to Folkestone before the tide changes. This, however, shouldn't be too difficult as long as we don't have too many breaks, as the tide flows fast around Dover. With fog, and thunder rumbling in the distance we make our way down to Dover. As we approach the harbour 4 massive ferries leave and we radio the very busy and calm port control to ask when is best to cross. Not only is Dover the busiest harbour we've crossed but we have no visibility into the harbour as we paddle along the eastern wall. So when we get the go ahead we shoot across both harbour entrances and paddle towards folkestone. We are pretty chuffed to find a campsite (with laundry) in walking distance from the beach. Wild camping has been getting more difficult everyday now so it's good to find a campsite where we are probably going to stay for a few days and sit out the headwinds forecast.
Rach