The PaddlerUK magazine March 2015 issue 1 | Page 82

ThePaddlerUK 82

ALEUTIANS
“So close, yet so stuck” a friend wrote to us on day 99 of a 2,500km paddle
along the Aleutian Islands and Alaskan peninsula. Reading the email in the
warm cocoon of our little red tent, which was being buffeted around by the
wind and rain, I let out an ironic half-laugh. Homer and the first road to
somewhere was merely 100km away but a barrage of strong winds were
preventing us from making our final two 16-mile open water crossings.

It started in April 2011 when I joined Sarah Outen on the start line of her
round-the-world human powered journey. We kayaked from London to
France, and Sarah cycled from there to Russia. I joined her again to island
hop from Russia to Japan (see The Paddler issue http://joom.ag/H48X/p54).