This was Mark’s last day, and it started in the dark in the pouring rain.  We decided to sleep in a bit more in the hopes the rain would stop, but after a while we had no choice.  It was a cold miserable  morning, and we were all tired after only having about 3-4 hours sleep.

We eventually got on though and our day started with crossing Cuxhaven’s port.  It had the most breakwaters out of any port we’ve been along on this trip, we kept thinking we’d gone past the last one and there’d be another.  There wasn’t much traffic going in or out though, and things went smoothly.

We paddled along the shipping lane in the Elbe, and a lot of big ships passed us.  As we went along we noticed how strong the current was going with us, especially when we went past buoys.  Alice said it was a bit like being back on a white water river, and Mark recorded his top speed on his vhf as being 7 knots!

We made good progress despite a bit of slow paddling due to a lack of sleep.  Soon we were at the Kiel canal entrance where we made a quick crossing behind a big container ship to join the yachts in the waiting area.  We weren’t exactly sure what we were meant to do at this point, so we had a chat with some of the yachtsmen.

We radioed in to announce our intentions to enter the lock, and waited for the white light to signal we could go in.

We were all quite nervous about the lock, as none of us had experienced one before.  We entered and saw a big ship on one side and yachts on the other side.  Everyone was getting out of their yachts and tying them onto the side, which made us a bit more worried.  We weren’t sure whether to tie ourselves on or not as we didn’t want to risk being attached if the current from the lock caused us to capsize.

The gates closed behind us, and nothing much seemed to happen for a while.  Mark then noticed the water was already going down just very slowly.  It was pretty anticlimactic in the end, but we were pretty happy to have made it finally to the Kiel canal and out of the North sea!

We then stopped in Brunsbüttel which was right at the start of the canal, where Mark was meeting Yvonne to sell his boat.  We had some lunch and started reorganising the group kit into mine and Alice’s kayaks.

This is where we parted ways, as me and Alice wanted to try make a bit more progress in order to get through the canal in the next 2 days.

It’d been a long day, so we had a fairly relaxed evening paddle.  Even so we made fairly good progress, and made it about 10 miles up the canal.  A ferry directed us to a beach we could pull up on as most of the canal’s sides are rocky and difficult to get out of.   Thankful to have found somewhere we could get out easily we pulled the boats up a bit and started to sort out our kit.

At this point we met another yachtsman called PieterJan, and his dog.  After chatting for a bit he said he’d bring us some tea from his yacht which we were very grateful for.  We saw him and his wife again the next morning as we were leaving.

The next two days were long, and we were glad to have cut off some time the evening before or I’m not sure we would have made it in the two days.  We saw lots and lots of big ships.  We did seem to have a bit of current going with us which helped things as we’d had a lot of long days in a row.  We had a land break each day – something we haven’t often done on this trip, but it really helped break up the long days.

On the first day we were paddling till it was starting to get dark.  We were trying to find somewhere we could stop for a night and Alice found a yacht marina on her gps.  We pulled in and tied our boats up with the yachts, and tried to find someone to ask about what we needed to do in regards to paying.

The portmaster Michael  let us stay for free, and gave us access to the toilets and showers which was very much appreciated.

The start of the next day was fairly uneventful.  We saw lots more big ships, and the canal got quite narrow at places.  At one point a yacht stopped and offered us a tow!  Unfortunately we had to decline this offer as we didn’t want to cheat.  It can’t have been going much faster than us anyway as we met them waiting at the end for the lock!

We had a 40 minute wait for the lock, and when we eventually went in nothing much seemed to happen.   It was even more boring than the first lock, the water levels didn’t even change!

Finally we left the Kiel canal, and arrived into the Baltic sea.  There were lots of yachts and ships and we had one last hour paddle to get to the Kiel canoe club.  When we finally arrived we met another kayaker who showed us the showers and said we could camp outside the KKK.  There were actually two clubs next door the each other, the KKK and the KVK.  We met some members from each club and everyone was friendly, although we didn’t get that long to talk to any of them.

The next day we had planned to have as a rest day, as we had been paddling for 8 days.  It also turned out to be the hottest day in Germany of the year.  We walked into the town in hopes of finding a supermarket.   It felt like a very long walk in the heat, and everything was closed as it was a Sunday.

I then got a text from Björn, who is another sponsored P&H paddler we had been in contact with before the trip.  Him and his wife Hao invited us to their home for a BBQ.  This was a very welcome offer, and the food and the company was awesome!  They also drove us to a lake afterwards for a quick swim, which was great after a very hot day.

Hello everyone,

Firstly, as highlighted in the previous post, we have lost a team member Mark, which is a shame, we are missing his tent making and general efficiency.  We are not missing his talking alarm clock so much.

Secondly, sorry it’s been awhile since we’ve updated the blog!  We’ve had some very long days and getting internet can be interesting (currently stealthily using some from a place next door).

So I get to talk about the Waddenzee, which was an amazing experience.  After leaving the comfort of Phil and Dietke’s on Norderney we headed to Spiekeroog and camped there for an evening, hoping to head out with as much of the high tide as we could catch into mainland the next day, as high tide was early.  So we got up at 4am and went out, paddled for around 3 hours or so, then the tide around us drained, our paddle strokes got shallow and eventually we got stuck on a giant mudflat.  It was pretty amazing, but slightly frustrating progress wise.  We decided since we were stuck in the middle of nowhere it would be worthwhile to cook some lunch, so we ate lunch on some solid mud and waited for the tide to come back.

Eventually the tide came back and  after a bit of boat dragging through water we managed to paddle a bit further up the coast, but we didn’t make as much progress as we would have liked.

Later that evening we decided to set up camp on a fairly deserted beach and out of nowhere a nice German lady came over and gave us a plate of bratwurst which was amazing.

The next day we paddled round to a harbour just before Hooksiel, as the tide started getting low, we followed the marked channel (deep channels are marked by sticks like trees) into the harbour and had a walk around, before continuing to Hooksiel with the evening tide.

The next day we had a big crossing lined up, from Hooksiel to Wremen.  We had a very good plan, which involved following lots of marked channels.  So we started the crossing, and all was going very well, following a marked channel of trees.

However, as we got towards the shipping lane going to Bremerhaven the tide started going out and the water drained from round us.  We ended up walking our boats to the edge of the shipping lane through very shallow water, probably to the bemusement of many ships going by- to see three sea kayakers standing up in the middle of the sea dragging their boats.  We had a fairly long wait for a gap, but when we got one we paddled across in good time.  As time seemed to be on our side we decided that instead of stopping at Wremen we could continue up to Dorumer.  So we paddled up the coast avoiding a large mudflat, and dipped in hoping to get to Dorumer through the first marked channel we came across going in land.  We started down this channel and all was going well, till the channel trailed off into mud.  We had yet again got stuck in mudflats and had to wait for the tide, this time the mud was too deep for us to even leave our boats, so we sat in our boats for around 3 hours.  There was another boat close by in a similar situation.

Finally the tide came in and we managed to get through shallow water, keeping an eye out for a harbour to pull into so we could get back out again through the mudflats the day, it was getting a little dark at this point.  We spotted a fishing boat and decided to follow it and quickly came across the marked channel into the harbour that it was following.  We got into Dorumer finally about 10:30pm- and were lucky enough to meet Martin Vogt, a yachtsman who told us we could camp in the grounds of the yacht club.  Martin was great and we cannot thank him enough for helping us out that night, after a rather long 14 hour day!  After putting the tent up and cooking some food Martin invited us onto his yacht ‘Seija’ for a beer  and to look at some sea charts, which was amazing.  None of us had been on a yacht before and Martins yacht was really awesome!

Martin and Seija

The next morning we got given coffee from a nice man Peter, who owned a stall by the harbour.  Then Martin also made us a coffee, which was great.  Then Martin said he would follow us out of the harbour in his yacht, which was really cool.  So we headed out, and Martin quickly over took us.  We said goodbye and Martin left and we continued on heading for Cuxhaven.  However, things are never simple, and despite lots of good advice and planning- we still got stuck on a mudflat before we reached Cuxhaven.  Fortunately we were close enough to walk into town to grab some food.  As we walked across the mudflat we saw lots of horses and carts heading out to sea which was rather surreal.

After going into town we headed back out to our kayaks and waited for the tide, as the sun went down.  We ended up dragging our boats several kilometres up the coast through shallow water in the dark, to a point just before Cuxhaven where the mudflats end!  All in all the Waddenzee was very interesting, and a pretty amazing experience.

- Alice

After a few very technical days in the Waddenzee, we finally reached the Kiel Canal and the end of my part in this trip. Sadly, for personal reasons I decided to depart the trip upon reaching the end of the North Sea, and leave the Baltic Sea in Alice and Erin’s very capable hands.

About one month before the departure date of the trip I received a job offer to start in Amsterdam in November – requiring me to move at some point in October. Whilst this is a great step in my life, the paperwork and planning required for the move is extensive and time-consuming. About two weeks ago I came to the realisation that, due to the horribly bad weather we’ve suffered thus far, the trip will likely take until the end of September, leaving me only a couple of weeks to sort things out. I discussed my concerns with my teammates, and can’t thank them enough for their help and support – it can be very hard in the isolated environment to keep group relations good, but particularly in the wake of this decision they’ve been both helpful and great all round.

I eventually realised that following the trip the whole way to Helsinki would have left me in a very stressful position, putting undue pressure on progress and the team, and probably causing a much lower level of enjoyment of the trip for everyone. Rationally, it therefore made sense to leave the trip before we headed to Sweden, as it is much easier for me to return home and sort out the kayak in mainland Germany than in Sweden – though I regret not seeing the famously blue Baltic sea and Scandinavian landscapes, I knew it was the logical choice.  I then posted up my route on German sea kayak forums in an attempt to sell my Cetus, and found a buyer from Hamburg in the lovely Yvonne and Bjorn, who came to Brunsbuttel to pick up the kayak and gave me a lift to Hamburg, helping me sort out accommodation for the night and giving me a lot of helpful advice about the city. I then approached the airport the following morning, waterlogged passport in hand and bags/paddles taped together into a messy package of IKEA bags to attempt to book a flight.

A very long day saw me back home at 3am, exhausted but comfortable with my decision – I am very happy with my achievement and I shall remember this trip for the rest of my life, without regret for my decision. The remainder of the real adventure lies with Erin and Alice, who I wish only the best of luck and will be following their progress very closely – they’ve just reached Kiel Canoe Club and are having a well deserved rest, after a few days of very hard paddling that I’m sure they’ll cover in a future post.

It only remains for me to thank everyone who has supported and helped me with my part in this trip, been there when things weren’t so good and everyone I’ve met along the way. I’ve met some amazing people, had an awesome experience and enough stories for a good long time – I look forward to hearing the stories I’ll miss from the team as well! Expect more updates today from them, and keep checking back!

After a day at Phil & Dietke’s resting and eating all the food we could eat, we got up ready to kayak to Speikeroog.  The weather forecast said force 3-4 winds which sounded ok, but the swell was meant to be quite high.  The surf looked fairly big when we got to the beach, but we didn’t think it would be too much to worry about once we got out past it.

So we all got on together ready to get through the surf.  We all realised pretty soon the surf was bigger than we realised!  For several of the waves I made sure to take a deep breath before they crashed over me.  After a particularly large one hit me which involved a bit of bracing, I looked back to check if Alice was ok to find her kayak upside down.  We were both feeling pretty uncomfortable at this point so I paddled back to shore with her to make sure she was fine.  At this point Mark had broken through the surf and was out in the swell.

From what we could see the swell was still pretty bad out of the surf, and we didn’t really want to go back out into this – but we weren’t sure how best to communicate this to Mark.  We hadn’t been in a situation like this before, but at the start of the trip we’d agreed we’d use channel 8 on our VHF radios.  I tried contacting Mark several times, and heard one message from him but he didn’t appear to be receiving my messages.  After some “come to me” river signalling and alot of confusion Mark reluctantly came back to us.  Coming back through the surf looked pretty difficult and Mark had a capsize too.

With us all back on shore we discussed the conditions and all decided pretty quickly that they were too much for us.  Mark had found the swell to be very big even after breaking through the surf.

So with that decision made, we headed back to Phil & Dietke’s and enjoyed another day of home cooked food and beds.

After checking the weather forecast again, we could see the swell was much higher than predicted 1.8m.  It looked like it was dropping down again the next day, so we prepared to leave again.

We decided we’d take a bit more time to judge the sea from the shore this time instead of just relying on the weather forecast.  The surf didn’t look quite as bad, and it looked like there was less breaking waves out to sea.  With this and the weather forecast suggesting lower swell, we set out again.

This time we all broke through the surf with no problems.  The swell seemed pretty high still but initially didn’t worry us too much.  As we kept going along the coast more breaking waves appeared around us, and we all started feeling pretty uncomfortable again.  Our planned route included 3 crossings across zeegats which are known for their rough water and strong currents.

We felt like the conditions we were paddling in were at our limits, and didn’t want to put ourselves at risk so we paddled back to shore again.  The surf was a bit bigger here, but we landed with few issues.

The surf was bigger than this picture shows, honest!

We’d paddled a couple of miles down the coast, so we had a bit of a longer walk back.  Luckily Phil & Dietke were still happy to have us, especially since the weather still looked bad for the next day.  So we’ve had lots of rest now, and seen lots of Norderney.  The weather is looking better for tomorrow so hopefully this time we will actually be going to Spiekeroog.

Me and Mark hired some bikes and saw this lighthouse which was once on the end of Norderney, but is now closer to the middle since the island has moved!  Photo was taken with a bullet hd camera.

Thanks again to Phil & Dietke for letting us stay, and providing us so many fantastic meals.  I think we’d all be pretty tempted to stay here all summer if we didn’t have a deadline to make!

After running into some bad weather in Schiermonnikoog, we opted to take two rest days total to really focus on our planning for the big crossing to follow.  Due to the placement of nature reserves on the charts, heading to Borkum involved a ~13 mile open crossing through a zeegat, so we wanted the best weather conditions possible for our attempt.

On the third day conditions were beginning to die down, though this didn’t stop another thunderstorm from rearing it’s head – Schiermonnikoog was certainly the stormiest island we’ve been on! This led to a very surreal and awesome looking sea, with rainstorms, crashing thunder and bolt lightning to keep us on our toes on the water. A short paddle covered to the end of the island, where we set up camp in an entirely deserted sandy area to minimise our distance to Borkum the following day.

After a silent night’s sleep we were greeted by excellent weather the following day for our crossing and a continuing theme – despite our tidal planning and expectations, we have yet to see the tide turn against us! Whether it is a quirk in our pilot or a lucky local phenomena, the tide has flowed with us for almost all our time in the Frisian islands and certainly made progress easier – expecting to get on at slack and catching 1.5kn current for 3-4 hours is certainly a boon!

Crossing the shipping lane at Borkum passed with no problems, and we continued along the side of the island to make more progress, finally landing on the far side of Borkum and reaching German soil (or sand)! After spending the afternoon enjoying authentic German schnitzel in a local cafe, we set up a wild camp for the night and aimed for Norderney the following morning.

A much windier day greeted us, but the knowledge that we were meeting Erin’s family friends, Phil and Dietke, upon arrival in Norderney pushed us further. A surprising number of rough patches in the overfalls west of Juist kept us on our toes in the morning, with very confused sea conditions – clearing the sand banks gave us plain sailing on a great following sea, with high swell but still maintaining a good 5kn speed towards Norderney. The skyline that greeted us was certainly more built up than the other islands, but nonetheless a very welcome sight. We pulled up on a beach and headed to replenish supplies and stomachs in a nearby bakery and supermarket, and spent the afternoon looking around Norderney in a mixture of bright sunshine and rain – much like the UK!

After a gourmet Trangia meal in the drizzle, we met Phil and Dietke in the evening to be greeted by an incredible level of hospitality. We have been provided with a roof over our heads, bathrooms, and most excitedly of all – beds! The luxury is never appreciated as much until you spend a month without it! The F5-6 forecast for the following day led to us taking another weather rest-day, and today we have certainly been well-catered for – feeling refreshed for once we managed to sort out supplies, clean clothes and have been offered food at all mealtimes by our lovely hosts – finished with a lovely meal out at a beachside restaurant! We can’t thank them enough for their help, but progress is the name of the game, and the winds drop off tomorrow allowing us to progress further.

Our plans take us to Spiekeroog tomorrow, before hitting mainland the day after, and only a week or so to Kiel and the Baltic sea! All we need now is good weather…and…we’ve been lucky so far?

Hello everyone,

So after our brief break at Vlieland we set off to get to Hollum.  We seem to take it in turns on the water to have bad days, and that was definitely my bad day.  At the start of the day setting out the surf was pretty big.  My get-on was definately very interesting.  Erin went out first, waves filled her boat with water, and went back on land to empty it.  I went out, waves filled my boat with water, decided to push on and spent a long time in the water with Erin and Mark looking confused at my technique (which was pretty bad).  Eventually I entered my boat (ladder rescue) and paddled out through the surf with my cockpit full of water, followed by Erin and Mark.  Mark seemed to get least water in his deck.  But everyone spent some time pumping water out of their boats.

For some reasons when we got going lots of things seemed to be going wrong, my backrest started rubbing and my boat seemed to be doing its own thing.  We stopped for a land break on the island of Terschelling, and just after we stopped it poured and poured with rain, whilst Erin heated soup on the Trangia.

We got going again an hour or so later, and as we were coming close to Hollum we hit some interesting water, there were massive waves everywhere.  When we finally got to Hollum we were greeted by curious lifeguards, wondering where we had come from.  They pointed us in the direction of a campsite which was great, and Mark went off to book us a place before it closed, while Erin and I stayed to look after the boats.  Erin and I changed out of our wet gear and ate some chocolate (my wrapper blew away and I chased it for a very long way down the beach with Erin laughing lots).

Then a lovely man called Hanspeter helped me and Erin carry the boats up the shore so that we could sort out our stuff whilst waiting for Mark.  Thankyou! It was very much appreciated.

Then we stayed at a campsite on Hollum, we brought a can of vegetables to go with our standard pasta and sauce meal, and also had showers.

The next day we set out heading for Shiermonnikoog- we were meant to be getting up at 4am, but overslept till 8am (oh dear!).  That day Erin definitely seemed to be having a harder day.  Both her shoulders were really hurting.  We had a very very long day on the water, 9 hours in the boats with no land breaks and water was relatively slack.  When we got here we were all knackered.  We got to a campsite and went to find food, but almost everywhere was closing/ stopping serving food.  We went to probably the most pricey place we’ve been this trip, and had a set menu- soup, steak and dessert which was amazing.

Erin and Mark looking tired at the restaurant:

Our amazing meal (its not pasta!):

Today we were going to set off early, but the winds were borderline, force 4 with gusts of force 5 and we woke up to massive thunderstorms. So we decided to have a day off on Schiermonnikoog.  It is also Erin’s Birthday!  We got her a card and some birthday cake and Advokat and lemonade, for later.

Here is Erin and Mark in Schiermonnikoog town centre, by a Whale bone arch.

Tomorrow is still pretty high winds, so not really sure if we will be going out.  However, when we do set out we may be getting to the first of the German islands possibly.

Also a big thank you to everyone who has donated to my charity page, on the tougher days it is definitely great thing to keep in mind  to spur me on.

-Alice

Hey guys,

You may have noticed our blog posts have been a bit less frequent recently, we’ve been really pushing the good weather days.  We were hoping to have a rest day before we reached the islands but the weather forecast looked like it would be turning bad on a few days so we kept pushing on!

So we spent our last couple of days in mainland Netherlands paddling about 20 miles a day, which felt pretty bad considering our constant lack of energy and pain.  The days blur together a bit other than continuous exhaustion, and lots of wild camping.

One of the days we landed on a beach hoping to find a campsite.  When we couldn’t find a campsite and the wild camping spots all seemed quite exposed it was looking like a late night, early morning pitch.  We were about to make dinner, and Mark was sat out on his roll mat and a woman approached us asking us where we were planning on staying.  We were a bit paranoid at this point about being moved on (not that we have been so far!) so we weren’t sure how to respond.  She suggested we may be able to camp between some boats on the beach, and it turned out she was staying in one of the beach huts and said we could come over to fill up our water containers.

So me and Alice went over a bit later and introductions were made, her name was Ellen.  We got talking and she then offered us a couple of beds, which was amazing but we declined as we had a very early morning the next day and didn’t want to disturb her.  She then offered us camping space just behind her hut which was fenced off.  This was amazing as it meant we could get a good nights sleep without the worry of being moved on, and we could pitch up a bit earlier!  She also made us all whiskey coffee in the evening, and coffee again the next morning!  We asked her to come with us instead of Mark, but she sadly declined.

We then pushed on for another couple of days before reaching the first Frisian Island we stayed on; Texel.  Again we were hoping to have a rest day here, but the bad weather had shifted along one more day.  We stayed at a pretty interesting campsite, which was probably more wild than some of our wild camp spots.

The next day we got to an island called Vlieland, which is were we finally managed to have a rest day!  This was very welcome after over 10 days paddling in a row.  Even though it was a rest day we still had a lot to get done with all our washing and planning to do.  We wandered into the town to look for wifi and a supermarket, it was a very scenic place.  One rest day barely felt like enough though, but it was good to get some time to recuperate!

(Some photos to be added later!)

The Hook of Holland was the second big crossing that we had been warned about by email by Joris, Dutch sea kayaker. The big planning issue here is that there is quite a daunting official procedure that must be followed – it was all covered in our Dutch pilot, but the essence is that you must maintain a listening watch on VHF 03 at all times when in the Maas precautionary area, and you must “check in” with your name, position and course when entering the area. Having consulted this information, and charts of the area, we felt somewhat ready to tackle one of our most busy crossings – huge amounts of deep-draught vessels run into Europoort and Rotterdam on this route.

Our day began slowly near Slijkgat, as we were forced to catch the afternoon tide or paddle in darkness! Having got on we made course for the recommended crossing point – this is marked clearly on the charts, and for the Southerly approach is simply a case of following yellow cardinal marks along the Hook. The area inside these is restricted however, so some care is needed to ensure you stay in the correct position.

It was a good 14km of paddling before we neared the buoy marked MV, which was the first buoy we had marked on our charts near the crossing. We chose this point to radio in, and after some initial troubles managed to speak to the Traffic Centre, who seemed either unperturbed or unaware that we’d radioed in as a Sea Kayak group, and simply confirmed our vessel names before letting us continue.

A medium sized fishing vessel caused us more trouble in avoidance than anything else as we approached the buoys marking the edge of the shipping lane. A hefty amount of ships combined with poor visibility due to mist were not ideal conditions for the crossing, but we managed to get lucky and reach the buoy when both ways looked clear. A nerve-wracking sprint followed, with deep-draught ships appearing on the horizon in both directions, but far enough away to not cause us trouble before we felt clear of the breakwater and once again safe of the ships!

However, we perhaps paused for a celebratory drink and snack on the water too soon. A medium-sized vessel exited the port and started bearing down on us, and much to our confusion we seemed unable to avoid it’s course – it continued to follow us. Eventually we spotted the words “Rotterdam Port Authority” on the side, and realised we’d almost made it a week without any encounters with coastal authorities.

The ship did eventually slow and manage to just about avoid hitting us before a conversation ensued with the Dutch authorities. They began to explain to us the danger we had put ourselves in, but we explained we had VHF, radioed in and followed the correct procedure. They seemed to not be aware of this at all, but any mood of discipline reverted to the more standard coastguard mood of bemusement at seeing sea kayaks in these waters reserved for much larger vessels. They asked for a radio check and confirmed we’d been keeping a listening watch, but some confusion had clearly ensued with the check-in – if anyone attempts this in future, it may be more clear to refer to yourself as a “canoe” – a term they seemed more familiar with. Eventually we explained that we were heading inland to the beach and they kindly asked us to proceed away as quickly as possible, though they wished us good luck on our departure.

It was another hours paddle to return to the coast, and we finally made camp on a beach near the amazingly named town of Monster – wild camp spots were non-existent without being horribly blatant, and the fact we were waking at 4am due to tide led to us simply using rollmats and sleeping bags on the beach between our kayaks!

The following two days have been relatively uneventful – more port crossings at Scheveningen and IJmuiden have occurred without incident (though a reversing vessel at IJmuiden almost caught me unawares) and we have been living a somewhat sleep-deprived existence to camp on or near the beach and catch the morning tide. It has allowed us to wander into towns in what has been truly baking weather and see more of the Dutch country – the people are incredibly friendly and seem much more interested than in other countries in our trip – a particular shoutout to the Dutch girl in Katwijk aan Zee who offered us a place to stay for the night, albeit that we had to turn down due to leaving so early!

Else we have taken rest during the day where we can, and hope to push up past Den Helder and reach De Koog on the first main island in the chain before the weather peaks up again – F5-6 winds predicted may mean another few rest days, which are both frustrating and welcome in equal quantities! Hopefully the previous three posts will shed some light for any other paddlers thinking of doing these crossings, as very little information has existed online (to our knowledge) before now. Keep an eye out for more updates on the way!

Hello everyone.

Firstly, some very tragic news- my 5 euro cowboy hat got lost to the sea going through rather large surf one morning.  It’s been back to wearing the standard sun hat unfortunately.  Erin still has hers though, even if it’s a little worse for wear.

So it’s been a very busy few days, so we are splitting up the blog posts between them.  I got the Westerschelde- a busy channel of water in the Netherlands.  We got an email warning us about the Westerschelde and the Hoek of Holland, which was helpful, yet things still went fairly interestingly.  Our plan the night before was to go into the Westerschelde and cross via ‘the recommended pleasure crafts crossing’ after looking at pilots and some charts, as it seemed to be narrower and below two ports (following a large sandbank half way across the crossing of the Westerschelde)- possibly cutting out some of the traffic into the busy Westerschelde.  The issue was raised that the recommended crossing seemed to go very near to a port entrance below Vlissingen, but was brushed aside probably due to our lack of experience and the fact that a recommended crossing must be recommended because it’s the safest for small vessels.

However, when we got on the water it was suggested maybe we should cross higher up- as there appeared to be a clear shipping lane- green buoy to red buoy nearer the entrance of the Westerschelde.  We then sat watching as a few very large ships went by and one of them went outside the buoyed lane, which raised doubts as to the safety making a large crossing, not knowing where the ships were going.  We went back to the original idea of doing the recommended crossing for pleasure crafts.  We went in to the crossing and as we got there it became clear there was a lot of traffic between the two entrances- Vlissingen and Vlissingen- Oost.  We spent some time dodging ships and went in land when there was a gap, and crossing the higher port entrance.  The lesson we can probably learn from this is to plan better, and not necessarily trust recommended crossings for pleasure crafts to be best for us.  But on the whole it seemed to work out OK.

Here is one of the massive container ships we saw:

As I’m sure the others will highlight in their posts the days following have been fairly busy!!!

I have been very grateful for all the advice on my bad wrist by the way, its feeling much much better. (Maybe I’m paddling slightly more like Tim Brabants!)

So as mentioned in an earlier blog, we put a fair amount of planning into the Zeebrugge crossing.  Being stuck for so many days meant we had ample time to plan it well, and also for our nerves to build up!  We got up at 6am to get on the water for 10am, which seemed pretty early at the time after all our lie ins!

We started paddling against the tide as we needed to get to the port’s breakwaters before the tide started flowing too strongly with us.  Looking online had showed us ships entering and leaving the port very regularly, so we expected to be waiting around a while – so we didn’t want to get dragged across!

We got to the port breakwaters in good time.  Unfortunately the coastguards who said they would support us can’t have seen us, so we approached by ourselves.  It had seemed strangely quiet at this point, we’d been expecting to see ships enter and leave every 5-10 minutes but we’d probably only seen about 5-6 ships in the last 2 hours.

At this point we had planned to VHF radio in to find out when the next ship is leaving.  Mark did this, and quickly got the response that no ships would be leaving for the next hour.  With no ships on the horizon this seemed a bit too good to be true!  We were a bit worried we may have misheard them so Mark radioed in again to confirm.  With it all confirmed, and no ships on the horizon we went for it.  It only took us about 5 minutes to cross in the end, including Alice stopping part way and taking some photos (which should hopefully be added here later!).

So it all went pretty smoothly in the end!  We then paddled up to just before the Westershelde and found a wild camping spot behind some beach huts.

Erin looking happy after passing Zeebrugge