Seven months had gone by since we pulled the kayaks for the last time out of the water at Gretna 2350 kilometres of sea having passed under them leaving us both thinking we will not paddle so far in one go ever again!. So why just 7 months on were we blowing the cobwebs off KayakRoundScotland.com boxes planning to kayak around Ireland ?
For a few weeks I'd been mulling the possibility of suggesting it to Sarah, the idea being driven by increasing frustration and feeling of helplessness at what was unfolding in Ukraine and a drive inside to do something. We had been humbled at how generous business and people had been towards the kayak round Scotland enabling us to raise over £50,000. With this in mind I was fighting a conflict within between not knowing if I had another paddle of this length in me both physically and mentally and a knowledge there was a real possibility we could raise a serious amount of money to help people displaced by the war. The mental tussle wasn't over when I mentioned the idea to Sarah who immediately said 'yes lets do it' and in just 4 words took away my excuse of not going because Sarah didn't fancy it !!
Just one week on from that conversation Sarah was in discussions with work to see if an extended break was possible, new NDK Kevlar Explorers were ordered from Tom (more on why in another blog), we were building the website , buying maps / charts and planning routes. This was very different from the Scotland paddle which wasn't planned at all really, in fact it wasn't until we were almost 750 kilometres out from Berwick upon Tweed that we decided to try and go right the way around to Gretna.
This time though it was very different, we had a real focus to raise as much money as we could and were reminded why every time the TV was turned on with horrific images and stories of what was taking place just 1000 miles from our own doorstep.
Easter arrived and we decided to give the kit a test with a one night camp on a Bass Rock trip to make sure the mice hadn't taken a fancy to our tent and other essentials.
We intend using this blog to report the story of our little adventure as it unfolds over the coming weeks ......
First job was to test the kit not used since the Scotland paddle .....
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