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Sea Kayak Trail Broadcast on Radio Scotland

The interview Gordon Brown and I gave to Helen Needham was broadcast on BBC Scotland's Out Of Doors programme this morning.

My book, The Scottish Sea Kayak Trail was a loose 'peg' for the story.

Helen made a two part 'package'. The first was broadcast near the start of the show and the second was the last item.

It was quite a relief to discover I only gabble in two places. Gordon stepped in when I began talking nonsense about otters (in pt 2).

Helen says we sea kayakers are really into taking photos, and there's now a gallery of our photos from the recording on the BBC's website. Do you want to listen? If so, there are are three ways.

1. BBC Podcast - Only has the first of the two packages and starts at 7 mins in.

2. iPlayer - I think it becomes available here after the repeat tomorrow.

3. My recording - I recorded the programme for my own records. You might just stumble accross it here.

Sea Kayak Trail on Radio Scotland

It is weird being interviewed.

I've been pointing microphones at people for more than thirty years. But when one is pointed at me I have a tendancy to jabber.

Helen Needham from Radio Scotland's 'Out Of Doors' programme, was very understanding.

She wanted to do a piece about sea kayaking, loosely based around my book The Scottish Sea Kayak Trail.

I was heartily relieved when Gordon Brown came along too. When I started jabbering, she pointed the mic at him and calm resumed.

How did it go? No idea. I'll discover early Saturday morning. The programme is also available as a podcast or on the iPlayer, all of which are linked from the programme website.

More photos.

One Great Ride - Two Ferries

There's something exciting about a ferry journey.

Leaving one shore behind and crossing to a new piece of land sprinkles a little extra spice onto any adventure.

So a one-day circular bike ride which uses two ferries, and passes through some of the best scenery on Scotland's west coast, is going to be a classic.

I first did this ride a couple of years ago and wrote a short article about it, but didn;t know the total distance due to a bike computer error.

Now I know it's a very manageable 67 miles with no absolute monster hills. It's highly recommended, but not on a Saturday. That's when most holiday cottages have their change-over days and there are many more nervous drivers on the single-track roads.

Ferry One, Kilchoan to Tobermory

Ferry two, Fishnish to Lochaline

Video - Bike & Hike Along The Great Glen

A couple of months ago I worked on a film covering covering the Maggie's Monster Bike & Hike 2010. It was a great event for a great cancer care charity, and I posted some photos.

Now the finished film is live on the Maggie's website. It produced by my former colleague Jacqui Smith of Heirloom Media.

No Scottish Sea Kayak Symposium 2011

There will be no 'Scottish Sea Kayak Symposium' on Skye in 2011.

This has been a fabulously well-attended bi-annual event, with demand far outstripping places available. The last was in 2009, so it could have been expected to take place at the end of May 2011.

Gordon and Morag tell me the excellent venue, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, is not available in 2011. Plus there are a few other reasons too.

The Scottish symposium alternated with the Jersey symposium, and I believe Jersey might also take a break to keep in sync with the Scottish event, but that's not confirmed. For now the organisers website announces

"The next symposium is in 2012. No dates confirmed. Venue, to be confirmed."

Beachgoers At Risk From Dumped Flares

You read it on this blog first.

I passed the story to Rob Edwards, the Environment Editor of the Sunday Herald. It is now running on the newspaper's website and Rob's own website.

In summary - the rules regarding disposal of flares have changed. It's much harder now, and virtually impossible for those who live on islands.

So people are dumping them.

Newport. (With Apologies to Jay-Z and Alicia Keys)

Skye Cycling

At 30 miles, this was a short, spectacular ride around the northern tip of the Isle of Skye.

The first two photos show the climb through the amazing scenery of the Quiraing. Our campervan had wheezed a little when we first drove this road, yet it was surprisingly easy on bikes. There was even a mobile snack-bar at the top.

A long, swooping descent to a cafe in Uig, before a climb and tour around the top of the island.

Apart from a moment when a bus tried overtaking me on a blind bend, on a single-track road then, realising a vehicle was coming the other way, simply pulled in to the left, sqashing me into the side of the road. Nice... Thanks Rapsons. I have a photo of your crap driver.

At least it wasn't as bad as Fiona's stories of Cycling Hell.