North Devon Coast, Sept 2024

A really fun trip, lots of learning and definitely a weekend of two halves !

Saturday morning’s meeting point was at Hele Bay. There’s a good public car park (only £2.80 for full day) where we met up with our guides, Greenie and Darren from Go With the Flow – Sea Kayaking North Devon. After assembling our kit we discussed plans for the day, and they briefed us on local weather and tide conditions.

The trip was planned for Sea Kayak Award level (and above) paddlers to get more experience in moderate conditions and for most of us to get our first experience of paddling the North Devon coast. Low tide was around 10am, just before our launch time meaning we would be paddling on a flood tide for the whole day. The Bristol Channel has one of the largest tidal ranges in the UK, so even though we were on Neap tides the tidal range was ~4.5m. The maximum tidal flow was 1.5 kts, combined with a forecast force 2 W-NW wind (wind over tide) giving us manageable conditions to paddle against the tide for the morning and return with it after lunch.

After trolleying our boats down to the beach we set off into a steady 1m swell, heading West along the coast. Paddling past Ilfracombe harbour and the strange concrete bunker architecture of the Landmark Theatre gave us a chance to see some local landmarks as well as appreciate the rugged coastline as we got used to the sea conditions. We then passed the old men’s and women’s Victorian bathing beaches accessible only by tunnels carved through the rock at Tunnels beaches, before starting our rock hopping adventures.

The group was able to spend a good couple of hours exploring the gully’s close into the coastline, with lots of opportunities to challenge ourselves. For some it was about reading the waves, working on manoeuvring in tight spaces and building experience. For others it was about being a bit more adventurous, practising skills and taking the lead on finding and testing routes through the rocks. We all benefited from coaching and tips from Paul and Darren …. and had a lot of fun !

At the end of the morning we paddled along to Lee Bay, a nice sheltered spot for lunch, joining a small crowd of bathers enjoying one of the last beach days of the season.

On the way back we headed much further offshore into the main channel to pick up the tidal flow and give ourselves a faster paddle back. We got a different perspective on the coastline seeing the rugged nature of the cliffs from further out, only heading in when we got to Ilfracombe harbour to see another local landmark. Damien Hurst’s 20.25m tall steel and bronze statue, Verity. It was a bit of a challenge to get close to as there’s a prime fishing spot at her base so we had to avoid all the anglers’ line. She also provoked some lively discussion from the art critics in the group!

We finished up the day with some of Greenie’s ‘fun and games’ … retrieving clothes pegs from our decks gave the group practice in balance and flexibility and also threw up some good opportunities to practice rescues and self-rescues at the end of the day!

The weather for Sunday, was forecast to be much worse and it certainly delivered, with wind speeds of Force 5-6 in the morning picking up to Force 8 gusting 9 by early afternoon.

So we made the decision to have a ‘dry day’ and Greenie and Darren led a tidal planning session at the Bideford Canoe Club’s clubhouse. Fortified by coffee and Mary’s excellent plum cake, we covered the basic principles, how to approach planning a trip and had a go at some examples. The more experienced in the group went over vectors and started putting together a plan for a route from the North Devon coast to the Isle of Lundy (maybe for a future trip?).

Once our brains and bellies were full we headed off home, making sure straps were tightened so kayaks stayed on roof racks in the gale.

A big thanks to Izzy for all her work planning the trip and making it happen and to Greenie and Darren for their coaching.