It will often start at home with ‘what will I take?’ and ‘will it all fit?’ and then culminate at the launch site with ‘how do I get it all in my kayak?’ and ‘where should I put it?’. All being well this will conclude with a ‘packing done’ celebration (we can all relate to that!); but over the years I have also experienced the ‘it doesn’t fit horror’ which leads to what must I leave behind; or it all fits but is all in the wrong place and a constant re-shuffle and distribution of kit is required during the trip.

If you are anything like me, during those dark winter evenings time is spent day-dreaming about future paddling trips, expeditions and aspirations; all of these with the warm feeling of the sun on my back and an expansive horizon in the far distance. How often do these dreams and aspirations actually become reality though?

We soon realised that this trip was very much about feeding the soul and not feeding the rat; words a good friend shared with me helped frame the trip’s objective: “We are called human ‘beings’ not human ‘doings’; we therefore need to make time to just ‘be’ a little more”. So as our kayaks loaded with seven days supplies left the shore, we set off with an objective of just ‘being’.

There is always one campfire story that stands out; a sea kayaking adventure to find the mysterious Shangri-La of paddling that we all dream about. A place that is remote and untouched, surrounded in mystery and yet if found offers the sea kayaker a place that approaches perfection.

I am sure we have all enjoyed a day out when we are being challenged by the environment or conditions and having our paddling skills stretched. It is times like these when our skills are most likely to develop, but it is also times like these when we end up asking ourselves – how can I get better!