PADDLER 26
“ The headwind lashed at our faces as we reluctantly left the shelter of the island ; the waves were soon cascading with white foam over our decks as the bows of our fully laden sea kayaks ploughed through the seemingly endless onslaught …”
PADDLER 26
“ The headwind lashed at our faces as we reluctantly left the shelter of the island ; the waves were soon cascading with white foam over our decks as the bows of our fully laden sea kayaks ploughed through the seemingly endless onslaught …”
Horses in the camp
from the effort . The next leg was a short , half-mile ferry glide into the wind across a channel to get around a granite headland , but by now , the wind had become ferocious as it funnelled through the gap between the two islands . We sat for what seemed like ages , weighing up our chances of getting across , but there was no going back , or the effort of the last hour and a half would have been in vain , and it was only day two .
WILD HORSES …
After our epic paddle into the headwind , we pressed on to the island of Hjälton , finding a camping spot at the edge of the pine forest and the beach , with nearly level ground , free of rocks and tree roots , and enough fallen dry wood to make a fire with . So far , so good . We had not , however , allowed the possibility of a herd of around 12 young wild horses finding our camp at
4.0am . Julian was wide awake by the sound of multiple hooves thundering on the peaty tracks through the trees towards us , along with the associated snorting . A clonk or two of hooves on the kayaks had him out of his tent like a greyhound at the races , grabbing some clothes as he went ; the prospect of this lot crashing through an occupied tent probably wouldn ’ t end well , and we were a long way from help . Simon soon emerged from his tent , closely followed by Barb , who captured the episode on her camera !
It took Simon and Julian the best part of 20 minutes to shoo the horses away . Horses are inquisitive creatures by nature , and the herd kept returning in a state of excitement to see what was going on in “ their ” patch . After the horse incident , we opted for small uninhabited islands that we had to ourselves and always made sure that we ‘ left no trace ’.