Migration
The first stage of our Christmas migration is complete. Partly due to atrocious road conditions, it took us three days to drive from Ardnamurchan to just outside London, a drive we’d normally do in a day. But at least we’re here. Sadly, there’s more driving to come.
On Sunday it looked like we wouldn’t be able to drive down the road which leads from our cottage. Only one other vehicles tracks cut through the deep snow, and that had been a four wheel drive.
We had to descend a hill, on a bend, with a ditch on one side and on the other, a crash barrier fencing off a small ravine with a rive below. As this was the first time we’d taken the VW T5 Campervan (read our campervan story) on snow, we headed out with great caution. Once across the ferry, we rolled through Glencoe and across Rannoch Moor with few problems, albeit slower than normal.
We were heading for North Berwck, home of Jerba Campervans. Again! Our internal electrics had died. We were booked in first thing on Monday morning. After a dreadful meal at the Italian restaurant on North Berwick High Street we settled down for the evening, parked along the sea front near the golf course.
First thing Monday morning the Jerba electrician traced the fault to the electronic distribution unit. “Of the hundreds I’ve fitted it’s only the second unit I’ve had to replace”, he told me. By eleven o’clock we were rolling south down the A1.
It was a relatively easy drive. The low winter sun was off to one side, and although there was heavy traffic, I enjoy driving. Especially the T5 van. Which we rarely take about 65mph, unlike my days in VW Golf GTis when I rarely drove below 80 mph! That’s age for you.
The SatNav showed 20 minutes to go when all three lanes of M4 motorway came almost to a halt. It was snowing hard, and the gaps between vehicles covered while we waited, making pulling away difficult. Sensing the motorway would soon close (it did) we diverted onto the A40 and immediately became part of a long convoy. The road seemed not to be gritted, something the locals later said was the case. Liz was walking alongside the van, going ahead to try to see the end of the problem. Clearly, it was miles away.
An hour later, having travelled less than a mile and with conditions worsening, we saw a pub with a space in front. I pulled off the road and parked, having resolved to spend the night there, outside th Dashwood Arms in the village of Piddington. We had a couple of drinks, a hot meal - and then the pub suffered a power cut. I suspect we were the last people to be served.
As the evening wore on, and more and more vehicles were abandoned, more and more people sought refuge in the pub which turned itself into an emergency hostel.
We took a walk down the road for about a mile, but seeing no end to the line of stationary traffic, we came back to the van. We pushed a few cars, helped an ambulance weave its way past the line of traffic, then bedded down for our second night in the van.
At 4am I looked out of the window and realised the traffic had gone. I pulled on boots and was delighted when I started shoveling snow - it had not frozen overnight. In fact, it was starting to melt.
“Time to go”, I announced, and Liz, who frankly isn’t at her best first thing in the morning, complied with admirable fortitude. We had hit a perfect window; after the worst of the traffic had cleared, and before the morning rush-hour began, during a thaw.
As we drove the remaining distance to Liz’s Mum’s home, we passed countless abandoned cars, vans and lorries. They would probably be a significant hazard later in the day. We had the roads to almost to ourselves, and could drive whichever was the gritted side. The side-streets were still almost impassable, but the T5 was excellent. We pulled into the street at 5am, and not wanting to wake Liz’s Mum, went back to sleep in the van until a more reasonable hour.
There’s more driving ahead, including a trip to Dorset for New Year. We hope it will be a lot less eventful!
Sea Kayak Podcasts & Sea Kayak Routes
Boatie - The Sea Kayaker's iPhone App
MRI
A Ride of Two Halfs
stopped working for a while, so it looks like we switched to jet bike.New Podcast - Arrow Kayaks
Freya Hoffmeister Completes Australia Ciurcumnavigation
North Skye
Review - Scottish Sea Kayak Trail
Palm Aleutian Dry Suit - Review
"Dear Santa, I would like a new dry suit from Palm Equipment UK."
From North Skye
We did a superb route from Staffin to Balmaqueen as recommended by G.
Brown Esquire. Caves, tunnels and golden, low winter light. But not a
lot if it. Tomorrow, all being well, we might try to go around the
northern tip ov the island.
In The Dark
to Skye for a long weekend. We were late on the water as we mucked
about with fuses, then resorted to buying this mini lantern. We're at
Staffin slipway hoping for an early start. In the dark...
Testing Kayak Video Camera
I borrowed a VIO POV 1.0 camera and hard-drive recorder to test at the weekend.
Cheap (slightly used) Kayak Kit For Sale
Reunion Ride
.
. Take a look at the lyrics and you'll see what I mean by 'angry'. The title, incidentally, is taken from Hamish Henderson's Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica.
If You Ask For One Book This Christmas
by Richard Dawkins.HeliPress
The Heliconia Press, the US distributors of our DVD Sea Kayak with Gordon Brown, now have the DVD for sale on their own website.
New Palm Stikine Dry Suit - Review
The new Stikine looks different, feels different and, I hope, will last a lot longer than the old one.
Because from my experience, and from the experiences of others I’ve read online, Palm appears to have had problems with de-lamination of its drysuit fabrics. We’ll come to that later. You might also want to compare the Stikine with the Palm Aleutian reviewed by Solent Sea Kayaking.
First let's run through the stand-out features.
The new Stikine is a nice, deep plum colour, coming close to the colour of the women's Element dry suit. The recommended retail price suggested by Palm is £550.
There are much tougher abrasion resistant patches on key contact points. Indeed, the elbow sections feature kevlar for impact protection. The sleeve is cut to articulate and there are no underarm seams. There's Cordura 550D Ripstop abrasion resistance on the seat and knees.
The neck and wrists have natural latex gaskets and are covered (protected?) by generous adjustable cuffs, below which there is reflective detailing. Pulled tight, the cuffs still fit into pogies.
The rear / shoulder zip remains the highest quality YKK brass coil type. It's covered by a large protective flap as is the pee zip. The crotch, like the underarms, is seamless so less chance of leaks.
The old Stikine had a very tight waist section. Designed to cover the top of the spray deck, it was too tight for sea kayaking for all but the skinniest paddler, and I know some people cut theirs off. The new waist section is greatly improved. Still adjustable, still able to cover the top of the spraydeck, it is far slacker and consequently far more comfortable. But does htis mean the suit might slip down?
That's when you use the adjustable, internal over-shoulder elasticated braces. These are detachable, which is just as well as the rear clip digs into my back when I wear my PFD.
There's also a small 'waterproof' zip pocket on the left shoulder. The feet are made form Palm's XP250 fabric with Cordura 300D soles. The rest of the suit is made form Palm's XP250 Toray 4-layer fabric. Which brings us onto the key question - will it last?
In my experience, Palm has a superb reputation for customer service. They replaced Liz's Element dry suit when it delaminated - the layers of fabric began separateing allowing water to enter.
They also replaced my first Stikine when it delaminated. And my second when it did the same. That's how I come to have this new one - it was not a journalist's 'freebie'. As I've only worn it four times, it's far too early to tell whether this fabric will last longer than the others. But no company can continue to replace dry-suits at that rate!
On 10th November I e-mailed Palm to ask whether they acknowledg the delamination issues, or whether they regard the fabric of the new Stikine as an 'improved' fabric, but I've heard nothing yet.
I should come clean - Palm ‘sponsored’ me in 2008, to the extent that they gave Liz and I two light cags and 2 PFDs for our Scottish Sea Kayak Trail book. These have performed superbly. I’m only selling the PFDs (on e-bay if you’re interested) because I’ve replaced them with Palm Kiakoura Tour PFDs which are even better. They also leant me (yet another) dry suit as my Stikine was with them for assessment and subsequent repair for de-lamination.
My interim thoughts on the new Stikine paddling dry suit.
* much improved design
* too early to judge whether delamination issues are solved
* I would not now be tempted into buying a cut-price old 'orange' design.
Aly Bain & Phil Cunningham
Feeding Time
Cockpit Covers
++ Confirmed, Lendal Paddles being bought by Sea Kayaking UK
++ News 'Lendal Paddles sold to Sea Kayaking UK' Report
Not my story, but one posted by David H. Johnston on PaddlingInstructor.com as a done deal.
Marine Litter
New Valley Skeg System - More Information
