Over Night Camp

Towards the end of April we are off to Scotland on an intermediate Sea Kayaking Course. This trip, should the weather permit, will include an overnight stay using the kayaks. So this weekend we practiced loading the kayaks with camping gear and paddling them loaded.

We were at our usual practice lake, Coniston Water, so decided that we would not wild camp but would camp on the Caravan club campsite which also have a number of tent pitches. So on the Saturday having checked in and reserved our pitch we took the kayaks and all the camping equipment down to the water and packed the kayaks for a short paddle.

We recently purchased a new tent for camping from the kayaks, a Terra Nova Quasar. It’s small enough to pack away in the kayaks but large enough to give you ample room when pitched. Our other lightweight tent is a North Face Tadpole 23. A great little tent for backpacking but does not afford much room. That said we have camped in it from the open canoe and even managed to sleep the two of us and our dog Bonnie in it once.

Packing the kayaks with camping gear

We paddled down the lake getting use to having a loaded kayak, this is the first time we had paddled loaded kayaks since last July. After a short lunch stop we paddled back unload the kayaks and transported the gear to our campsite where the Quasar proved to be a comfortable home for the night.
On the Sunday we left the camping gear in the car and did the usual two lengths of Coniston Water to build up our endurance.

stopping for lunch on day 1

Not actually a wild camp!

The weather over the weekend was great especially Sunday, calm and sunny. It was a little warm in the dry suits but the water is still cold enough that we are dressing for the water and not the air temperature. On return to the put in spot I had a go at self rescue with a paddle float. Defiantly need to work on that one as none of the attempts were successful. We did however carry out a successful peer rescue with Tina acting as the rescuer.

So it was a successful weekend, we checked out the new tent, learnt a bit more about packing the kayaks and experimented with some meals we can take on the trip.

Lunch stop day 2