TravelWright

Our UK Trip - July 2008

We went back to the UK in July for my son Ben's wedding to Jenny which was a great day and photos are in the wedding album in the photos section of this website for anyone who is interested.

From the wedding we went on to visit friends and family around the UK. The day after the wedding, Sunday the 20th of July, we took off and visited the Peak District - a place I really miss - and spent some time in Bakewell - mooching round the shops and having the requisite coffee and cake!

On the Monday we headed north on our way to Whitby in North Yorkshire which is still one of my favorite places in the UK. We stayed at the Dunsley Hall Hotel just outside Whitby which is beautiful - very friendly staff, good breakfasts and a great location. We spent some time at Robin Hoods Bay and Staithes and of course had Fish and Chips at the Magpie Cafe - some of the best fish and chips I have had.   The weather was great and we walked along the coastal path from Sandsend just North of Whitby up to Kettlenes which is an old mining settlement on the coast which is marked by spoil heaps - a remnant of the industrial age but still very dramatic. This walk was marked with the find of a four leafed clover - i will put a picture on to prove validity! (We did buy a couple of lottery tickets just in case!)

From Whitby we headed north on the Wednesday to visit a friend in Cupar in Fife and spent a great evening catching up and had dinner at the Dolls House in St Andrews - a restaurant we have visited a few times but to be honest was disappointing this time and I think we will look for another feeding place if we visit again.

The last few days of our trip were spent in Carmicheal in Lanarkshire at Lornas mums house - a great place to chill out. We met with the family who I hadn't seen for over a year since I have been in the US.

All in all a great, if not hectic, break and a good reminder what the UK is all about.

Kayaking in Connecticut

Last weekend we decided to have a try at Kayaking at Todds Point in Greenwich. The local sailing club offers tuition and hire a sit-on kayaks and we had our lesson and then a very pleasurable paddle around the harbor. The Kayaks are Hobie Maui which are shown below - very stable and easy to paddle.

Being the people we are this resulted in us booking into a 6 hour American Kayaking Association course with Kayak Adventures of Norwalk run by Michele Sorenson. The course had 5 beginners on it and proved to be a fascinating day - I likened it to trying to herd cats at one point!

The course is half 'classroom' tuition and half on the water which is a good mix although the first time on the water in a sit-in kayak is quite daunting. We started in the water with a 'wet exit' which is basically turning the kayak over and then getting out - whilst holding on to the boat - some were better than others at this and some like me got to practice it a few times during the course!

One thing I learnt was that being tall doesn't help as you have a higher centre of gravity - that's my excuse anyway!

From the 'wet-exit' we progressed to forward paddling, reverse paddling, sweep strokes for turning and a few other strokes. We got quite good at T rescues as people ended upin the water at various times - although it wasn't too bad as the water was reasonably warm.

The day was great fun and we enjoyed every minute in retrospect - at the time might have been a different matter! I thouroughly recommend Kayak Adventures if you are thinking about getting in to Kayaking as Michele provides excellent and safe tuition in a great location.