Breton Canoeing

The forecast for the weekend was pretty dreadful, we were questioning whether the ferry would be able to sail for St Malo, and even more importantly would we be able to get home on the Sunday.  As it was the ferry did sail on the Friday and the sea state was calm enough that most people were able to enjoy a beer or wine on the crossing.

The aim for the weekend was to enjoy a couple of days of canoeing on the inland waterways of Northern Brittany, with a few people having the opportunity to take their 2 Star, mainly as a pre-requisite for their Level 1 coach course in May.  Amazingly two of the people had their 5 Star (Sea) but not their 2 Star.  In Jersey there is no inland water, suitable for paddling, so it is very difficult to get the appropriate experience, you either have to travel off island or we have to start encouraging people to paddle canoes on the sea, something which sits uneasily with me, due to the size of the tides, exposure to swell and changeable weather.

We had arranged to rent canoes from the Canoe Club in Dinan, there were 16 of us and luckily they had 8 canoes in their spacious facilities.  We headed downstream, fully aware that the forecast on French TV was for winds possibly reaching 100 kmh during the afternoon.  Clearly we needed to exercise a degree of caution.

Shelter was found inside a small inlet where it was possible to work on a few skills and also by coincidence to receive a phone call from the ferry company informing us that the sailing on Sunday had been brought forward to hopefully avoid the rapidly deteriorating weather conditions, particularly the increasing wind strength.  We would get home but it meant that there would be no paddling on Sunday.

Lunch was taken further downstream before we had to fight our way back to Dinan.  It was a pleasant contrast to the sea kayaking that we normally experience in Jersey and most of the group felt that we shouldn't leave it too long before returning to France to hone our single blade paddling skills.

 Louis and Lisa getting ready to head downstream.  At this point the wind wasn't too bad.

 We found shelter in a small inlet where we were able to practice a few skills such as rescues, as well as receive a phone call from Condor (the ferry company) that our ferry was leaving earlier on the Sunday due to the strong winds which were forecast.  The main consequence, apart from getting home, was that there would be no paddling on the Sunday.

 Tracey having a go at gunwhale bobbing.  Clearly the days that she spent canoeing down the Yukon has had a significant impact on her skill level.  She looked really competent.

 Once off the water there were a couple of choices, head to the local bar to watch a Six Nations rugby game on the television or head to Decathlon in search of kit.

 Sunday dawned sunny and still, a walk around the walls of St Malo was the option in the time that we had with the forecast of a rapidly increasing wind.

 Once on the ferry we headed out past Cezembre, a small island off the coast of St Malo, which is an interesting place to visit by kayak.

 Le Grand Jardin light marks the entrance channel into St Malo, for us as we headed out to sea it marked the start of a decline in the weather, with an increasing wind and a deteriorating sea state, but at least due to our early departure we made it home.

Sabena - a Belgian airline and kayaking

I came across this advert for SABENA, the Begian airline that went bankrupt in 2001.  It was in an old copy of a National Geographic magazine, dating from the 1960's I think.
The paddles are particularly impressive, as is the attention to safety, not a buoyancy aid in sight.

North to Athabasca

In the summer of 2000 I took a group of young people from Jersey to paddle the Allagash Wilderness Waterway in northern Maine.  I remember sitting on the shore of one of the lakes watching a float plane come into land and drop off a solo paddler.  I made a note in my journal to the effect on the 23rd June.  Several years later I came across a book "Canoe Trip" by David Curran, in which he  describes his solo trip down the Allagash after having been dropped off on Umsaskis Lake on the 23rd  June 2000.  Although we were clearly on the river at the same time, apart from that distant view I have no recollection of seeing a solo paddler again on that trip.
I thoroughly enjoyed the book so was pleased when towards the end of last year I came across a second book by the same author, "North to Athabasca".  Once I sat down to read the book at the end of last week I quickly became  hooked and finished it in a couple of days.  With his friend Walter they decide to paddle a river, significantly more challenging than the Allagash.  Flying north into Saskatchewan their aim was to paddle the MacFarlane River, a rarely paddled river which flows into Lake Athabasca.
Actually getting to the launch site was a major undertaking and once on the river they were effectively in their own, although as is the case with many remote trips today they did carry a satellite phone.
The river flows through a pristine wilderness with all the challenges that traveling through such an area entails.  Through David's writing we gain a flavour of what they experienced, ranging from the wildlife encountered to the physical challenges involved in paddling in the Canadian north.  They were clearly at home in such an area but I do have to say that I questioned their behaviour with one particular bear, if it had been me I would have been paddling flat out in the opposite direction.
At the end of the book, besides thinking I would always take a GPS with me, my overall feeling was one of envy.
It has been nearly 15 years since I last did a long canoe trip and reading "North to Athabasca" made me realise that it has been too long.  It is an easy book to read, the ideal scenario would be on an aircraft en route to a paddling trip.  Just be prepared to start planning your own adventures.

Travel misery

By now we should have been well on our way down our Swedish river as we were due to be undertaking a 7 day canoe trip with some other members of the Jersey Canoe Club.   The first hint of a problem was landing at Stockholm Airport and I received a text to say that my luggage hadn't arrived.  Actually we were 3 bags missing, mine and Nicky's main bags and John's small one.

The agent at the airport seemed pretty confident that the bags were on the next flight and that they would be delivered to us by the following morning at the latest, this now seems like a ploy to get rid us from the airport.

So confidently we boarded the train into Stockholm and onwards to Karlstad feeling confident that we would be re-united with precious equipment by the following morning, how naive.

Saturday morning dawned sunny and warm but no luggage, we headed to the bus station but were unable to contact the baggage handlers until 09.00 when they opened, it seems like they will loose luggage 24 hours a day but only offer a restricted service when trying to find it.

After a 20 minute hold on a phone call from my mobile I finally got through to an agent who reliably informed me that 2 bags had already arrived and the 3rd was due on an aircraft just before 12.00.  Happy days but we needed somewhere to stay as it was going to take about 4 hours to transfer to Karlstad.  The other 5 members of the group had now headed north on the bus and we were hoping to be able to catch up later.

Then at 10.30 I received a text to say that my bag was on a flight arriving at 14.55, this meant that we were going to miss the last bus north so quickly find a hotel.  It just happens that the Swedish 14 year old football championships are being held in Karlstad so rooms were at a premium.  We eventually managed to book the last room, in a rather nice hotel and decided to head off on a boat tour around the city.

Just after 16.00 I called the baggage handlers convinced that the bags would be heading our way and we would be heading north to join the others on Sunday morning.  To my utter dismay I was told that they thought 1 bag had arrived, but were still awaiting confirmation, and they were still trying to locate the other 2.  Clearly we were going nowhere fast.

Sunday morning dawned to thunderstorms and at 09.00 I managed to contact the baggage handlers after being on hold for 10 minutes to be told it would be 2 hours before they could confirm if any bags had arrived.  You can only take so much so we checked out of the hotel and headed to the railway station to go back to Stockholm Airport and see if we could collect any bags at all.  We arrived at the station 45 minutes before the train to Stockholm and when we tried to purchase tickets all trains to Stockholm are sold out today.

Therefore we retreated to a very nice coffee shop, thank you "Expresso House, Karlstad".  After 30 minutes of being on hold as the recorded message from Menzies Aviation, Sweden told me that one of their agents would be with me shortly, I hung up.  Clearly "shortly" has a different meaning in the world of Menzies Aviation as it does in the rest of the English speaking world.

So as I sit in Karlstad in the coffee shop and I cannot believe that it is so difficult for a bag to get from Heathrow to Sweden.  A ruined canoeing trip and frustration with the wonders of modern technology.