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 With a far from cheerful weather forecast for the weekend ahead, it was with considerable trepidation that I got myself ready for my first ever sea kayaking trip- a weekend based on Flatholm in the Bristol Channel led by Ralph. Michael, Esther and I arrived at our departure point and met up with our fellow paddlers, T,Anna, Steph, Stuart, Ralph and Wayne, in Weston-Super-Mare only to find that our access to the slipway was barred due to the adjacent hotel having burned down in the night, not a terribly encouraging start! However, we easily found somewhere else from which to set off and so, after loading up the boats with all our provisions and kit for the weekend, were soon on our way. Flatholm didn't look too far away at all - amazing how deceptive distances are at sea!
 The paddle across to the island gave us a good chance to get the feel of paddling a sea kayak, using legs and trunk as well as arms to maximise efficiency (I think that's the theory anyway!). Unfortunately for Michael there was a different and exhausting lesson taking place, wind-cocking, which can happen if you are unlucky enough not to have a skeg on your boat, meaning that you are constantly having to paddle hard on one side to counteract the wind. My memory of timing is, I'm afraid a bit of a blur, but after a couple of hours of paddling we reached Flatholm safely, just as the rain started to set in more determinedly. We were met at the slipway by the warden with a mini tractor and trailor which we gratefully loaded up with our kit to be transported to our accomodation while we followed on behind to "Driftwood" the "cosy" bunkhouse which was to be home for the next two nights. I have to say Flatholm is not the most glamorous island I've ever been to since it is occupied largely by 1,000s of extremely noisy, smelly seagulls, who defended their eggs and chicks, past which we had to walk, either by flying at you or crapping on you, whilst screeching violently. In addition there are a handful of sheep and some rabbits, some dead, a few alive! Anyway, after getting settled in we had an interesting lesson from Ralph on buoy markings as well as discussing the plan for Saturday before turning in for the night.
 We woke on Saturday morning to torrential rain, but after a considerable amount of faffing around - particularly, I must admit, from yours truly, we set off at about 11.00am the aim being (I think) to use the tide to help us to paddle across to the Welsh Coast. This turned out to be quite an epic with currents, wind and rain all making it pretty hard work. Basically, you just kept going because you had to! "digging deep" and "character building" are both phrases which spring to mind! Anyway, we finally made it to the Welsh coast, in monsoon like rain. After a much needed snack, we didn't hang around for too long as it wasn't warm, but we did do some capsizes and sea-rescues before heading out to a buoy in the centre of the channel, to raft up for lunch. On the way T decided that it wasn't right that Wayne was the only one not to have been in, and so deftly orchestrated his capsize - totally by accident of course!
 As we rafted up for lunch the sun came out and since the tide had turned we drifted as we ate, back in the direction of Flatholm. After that the rest of the paddle back to Flatholm was less of an endurance test and was very pleasant and much easier I'm glad to say. We paddled anti-clockwise round the island, encountering some incredibly strong currents in places, due to sand banks and the tide. We then played around for a while and practised towing, with Stuart and T ultimately towing all the remaining 7 of us. Finally, we returned to the slipway at about 5pm and were just heading back to Driftwood when, much to my excitement, we saw the paddle steamer 'The Waverley' chugging by on its way down the coast.
 We returned to Driftwood running the guantlet down 'gull alley', and after showers etc and a great meal cooked by Ralph we attempted to learn a bit about how to plan a sea kayaking trip using tide timetables and charts. Tiredness and alcohol combined to make what should have been a relatively easy task suddenly seemed quite complicated, but eventually with considerable guidance we managed to plan our route back to Weston-Super-Mare via Steepholm.
 The plan was (I think) to leave the island at about 11.00am on Sunday morning, going with the tide towards Steepholm before heading across towards Brean Down as the tide turned. So, after a very interesting guided tour of Flatholm we packed up our kit, loaded the boats and headed off towards Steepholm. This was a lovely paddle with Steepholm towering impressively above us in the sunshine as we approached it. We paddled round the island and then hung around in a nice sheltered spot for a while until the tide started to turn, at which point we headed back towards Brean Down. At least that's the way most of us were heading although Ralph and Esther at one stage seemed to be heading more for Watchet! Back in the lee of Brean Down we rafted up for lunch before the final leg back to Weston. The tide was still too far out when we arrived back, to land at the slipway from which we had left so we paddled round to the corner to our original intended launch spot. Getting the boats and kit back to the cars with barriers still in place because of the fire was the last challenge of the weekend. But once that was finally accomplished ice creams in the sun looking back towards Flatholm and Steepholm was the final reward along with fantastic memories of a truly brilliant weekend.
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