We landed on the beach on Tuesday afternoon at Garrettown. Wind was starting to pick up from the south west and rain was due to come in. After a long day in the boats be decide to have a bath and wash some clothes, get the tent up quick before it started to rain.
As we are standing there in the drizzling rain eating our dinner generous locals start coming past offering water and so on. Pat bless him went home to fill our water bags to return within a few minutes. He also then mentioned the team of four men, now two Lee and Oney were soon to be landing on the beach finishing their expedition around ireland. What a coincidence and how amazing for us to be there to greet these guys after their challenging adventures. A few friends of them were waiting for them on the beach it was brilliant and motivating to see them. We got some very useful tips and extra food and supplies.. Thanks for the help guys.
Jon Hynes had been in contact with us and if we were passing through we were more than welcome to stay with his family. Having made only plans for a quick stop we stayed on the beach in the pooring rain but through the night the winds had picked up like the forecast predicted.. When Jon came back the next morning to see if we were heading out.. It was a no. Bit too windy for not getting very far. Yes please we would love to come and recuperate at your home.
Choosing yes or no to go on the water isn't the easiest decision. When it's blowing 10m/s and it will be in the face for the whole day.. Are we better off resting and making it up on a better weather day. There is a fine line. We chose to have two bad weather days waiting for the wind to drop down. We don't want for Vibeke's wrist to get any worse and battling against a head wind is no fun. But could we have gotten a few kilometres. Probably but after being fresh from a few days of rest we are then ready to attack the next few days with more energy. We also made a trip upto the old head.. Which up that town put the wind strength into perspective. It was yes a good idea to be on land.
It has been great staying with Jon and his family. We have been made to feel really comfortable and well looked after. A load of washing went straight in the machine.. Probably more for their benefit.. And the girls enjoyed their showers. Enjoying the log cabin and having real home cooked food has been amazing. It's been a few weeks since home cooking.. And the queen of puddings... Was something special. We have learnt a lot about Irish sports and it has just been great. They will have to kick us out to get us from here in the morning. Thank you for all your generosity and help. We have definitely benefited from going over the maps. That has probably saved us the two days in itself.
We have been driven here there and everywhere. Today we went into Kinsale and met the staff at the Kinsale centre. Great to share our story with fellow outdoor folk and hopefully we have motivated someone to set themselves that goal that they want to achieve.
The girls are on the water at the moment having a bit of a wind session with Jon. Hopefully we will be recuperated and ready for paddling tomorrow. Westerly winds but they are said to drop off. Fingers crossed.
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