Round Britain 2008

In April 2008, Cath Tanner and I attempted to circumnavigate the mainland of Great Britain in sea kayaks. It turned out to be quite a journey in what turned out to be one of the least favourable summers in recent years! Over the first 3 months we made our way up the west coast of Britain, crossing the Bristol Channel on the second day, passing Wales, Morecambe Bay and the Solway Firth, before rounding Cape Wrath in early July. From there we passed through the Pentland Firth to Duncansby Head and then started the long journey south. Major crossings included the Firth of Tay, Firth of Forth, the Humber and the Wash. We enjoyed the full washing cycle that the floods in east Scotland and north eastern England had to offer that year! By the time we reached Aldeburgh on the Suffolk coast, we had been on the go for 5 full months, but had lost no fewer than 63 days to weather. It became apparent that progress was going to be very slow at best, giving us little hope of completing the circumnavigation in 2008. (Apart from anything else, Cath had employers who were actually expecting her to return to work at some stage!). Accordingly, we ended our voyage at Aldeburgh after 5 months and 1527 nautical miles. This wasn’t quite the outcome we had planned, but it had been an adventure, nonetheless!

We would like to publicly express our thanks to the many total strangers who offered us kindness, help and support whilst we were travelling – it really was humbling to be helped so much for no reason other than that we were there – THANK YOU ALL.

Sponsors and Supporters

There are many people without whom we could not have achieved what we did – Nigel Dennis (Seakayaking UK) provided us with Explorer kayaks (mine an HV, Cath’s an LV), as well as being the inspiration for the whole journey; Kokatat were outstandingly generous with their support, giving us a full 2 piece suit and an expedition drysuit each, together with MSFit Tour buoyancy aids; Seals Skirts donated a Shocker spraydeck to each of us – probably the best decks that either of us have ever used; Jen Kleck gave us a SPOT tracker – relieving a lot of anxiety when phone contact could not be made for days on end; Julie at Mardale gave us made-to-measure salopettes and smocks, which were absolutely superb in the less-than-perfect weather we experienced!; Martin Nissen hand- crafted Rowland’s Greenland paddle (and then hand-delivered it from Denmark as well!); Dave and Toby at Knoydart, Penrith, were incredibly generous with their time and equipment, as were Dave and Wendy at Outside Edge in Oban. Last, but by no means least, Lucy at Pole Position built the website, kept the pins moving around the map, and continues to cope with the bright ideas of this paddler! Thank you all – we could not have done it without you!

The map of the journey..

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Pictures of Rowland and Cath at the boat launch

Click to enlarge images. Once the image is enlarged, click on the right side to view the next image and the left side to view the previous image. All photos by Nigel Dennis.

Gallery of Pictures from 2008's Journey