Saturday 12 November

Summer sunshine at No4 Bar buoy. Safely across to the small boat channel before a fastcat leaves Portsmouth. The Mont St Michel creeps up behind us in the harbour. The sunshine disappeared later in the afternoon and it was Winter before we reached Eastney again. Finally the evening pool session at Eastney. Come on Club bloggers, get blogging.

Club paddle and barbecue

The bad weather continued for the paddle and barbecue from Tipner, here we are taking a break on Peewit Island, the calm before the storm. The run home was harum-scarum in a F7 squall, the sky black as pitch. Everyone did well to stay upright in what was very stormy weather for Portsmouth Harbour. Surfing, bracing and generally enjoying a wild ride with 1m high rolling waves. At Tipner, waves were crashing up over the footpath as the squall coincided with HW springs. Our just reward. Plus, of course, the well stocked TBAC bar.

Devon Weekend

June?? The Eddystone was clearly out of remit. However, a good time was had by all, although the stormy weather meant abandoning the deep seas and rock hopping in favour of estuary paddling. Thanks Spence.

The Two Towers - a Trilogy Perhaps?

2011 must be the Year of the Tower! So far, PDCC trips have visited two of Britain’s remarkable offshore lighthouse towers:- The Nab Tower, 7.5Nm south of Portsmouth was followed by a circumnavigation of Hayling Island to get home! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nab_Tower and, the Royal Sovereign Lighthouse, 6Nm due south of Pevensey Bay in East Sussex. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Sovereign_lighthouse Both have interesting histories and can be very lonely, exposed places in poor weather. Luckily for us we had great conditions but they are still committing paddles. So what’s next? Another tower would make it a trilogy? For those that can make it, Spence is planning the big one, a paddle to the Eddystone Lighthouse off Plymouth. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddystone_Lighthouse This is planned for Friday 17th June as part of the Devon Camping & paddling weekend. I’m doing the weekend but sadly, work commitments means I will have to leave the trilogy to some other lucky club members. Two out of three aint bad! Sprucey

The Nab

The Nab The Royal Sovereign The Royal Sovereign

The Royal Sovereign

The Royal Sovereign

The Royal Sovereign

The Eddystone Lighthouse