Alaric and Emily

Insomnia 18th-19th September 2011

2011-09-24T20:05:00.002+03:00

No, this is not a post about my inability to sleep at night...

For the third year running, and indeed since the this race was born, I have raced this 12 hour night-time race and Bedgebury Forest Park in Kent.

Three years ago, I was green, it was my first enduro race and with limited entry, there were only 3 women racing solo. With my track record of keep on keeping on, I won! I had completed 5 laps and at the time had no inkling that this would be enough to win!

It was a learning experience, I hadn't eaten enough I was sick and couldn't eat properly for the following week.

Last year, the set up was a bit more professional. There were many more entries (5 women soloists). We had timing chips on our helmets. I had a proper plan this time, I ate properly, Alaric fed and watered me. The weather was warm, perfect conditions. I managed 11 laps! Unfortunately, I really have no idea who won as the timing got messed up and no-one was presented with any trophies. It was a bit of a shambles.

This year (last weekend) Alaric was racing in a team of 4. I did solo along with Simon and Glen. I had no pit crew and thought I'd just fend for myself. I also had an idea that Glen would have a pit and perhaps a crew and perhaps he could accommodate my food.

Our site was up in the walled garden about a mile from the start/finish, Glen had a pit in the solo pit area (clever huh?) so Simon and I stashed a few bits in Glen's tent.

The route was the same as the last two years, which is good because its a great route and it means you can measure your efforts year on year.

Simon set off great guns and managed to complete 3 laps in about the time it took me to do two (not wanting to be beaten by a girl, but I think wanting someone to ride with). He caught me up and we rode together for two more laps.

It was at this point, I thought I should check out the competition on the leader board. There were 7 women soloists and one of them was only 1 lap behind me - "I should really go out for another lap sooner rather than later"

So, Simon and I completed another lap - the slowest of the night. We took as many opportunities to stop as possible, chatting to the marshals etc. Then we decided to have a rest. Maybe head out for another lap at 6.30am

We rested for far too long. Glen's crew (Ben) was very hospitable. In the end we just go too cold and headed for bed.

I woke up at around 7.30, in time to see Glen come in at second place. What a great effort and achievement. I was still a little worried that my nearest competitor was still out on the trail, as if this was the case, she would have done more laps than me. As it turned out, she was asleep in the back of a van and even missed the award ceremony, phew! I had won!

Next year, I am having my pit in the solo pit area and preparing properly, clothes food etc. I was dreaming of my fleece-lined bib longs that cold night in Bedgebury.

New Year!

2011-03-06T13:02:00.002+02:00

I know its not new year any more, but now it feels like the kind of weather where you might want to actually go out on your bike or go for a run, so for me, it feels like new year.

Potential pipeline:

Get together with Sittingbourne Striders Tuesday night run again (since I jacked in my expensive gym membership, I need to do something to counteract all the eating I do)
Work weekly runs at Darland Banks (ditto the above)
Road bike build
Fortnightly cycle to work - we'll see how this goes
Easter weekend in Wales - Booked!
Mountain Mayhem 24 hours - awaiting confirmation
August in Scotland - Booked!
Bedgebury - Insomnia, awaiting details
Some kayaking this year would be nice - we managed a couple of outings last year

Here's to the potential...

Inspired

2010-08-18T08:44:00.003+03:00

This weekend, I am attempting a practise 12 hour ride in advance of Insomnia 2010 which takes place in about a month's time.

I plan to start at Bedgebury at 7am.

After Alaric seriously declined to ride the whole 12 hours with me (well who could blame him, really) I came up with the idea that anyone could come along and ride along with me.

I don't plan to ride at any particular great pace and I don't mind if I ride the family or the single track trail so anyone can come along so long as I keep riding (I might stop briefly for lunch).

So my worries are:

Being too lazy to ride the whole time
Getting serious back ache (or any other kind of ache) and having to stop

To counteract this, I hope that as many folk as possible will come and ride with me (so I don't get bored). So far it looks like Alaric, MikeB, Matt & Abby. I need to disperse them evenly throughout the day and perhaps charge my MP3 up and have some sounds too.

I will probably take painkillers regularly too. Perhaps have some tigerbalm handy.

Another issue is what to eat. In proper endurance style, I should eat a big-ish meal 3 hours before the start - this would mean getting up at 4am! Hmmm. Thinking about it though, to get to Bedgebury to start at 7am, I will need to be up fairly early. I will try to eat a bowl of muesli at home and on the way I could devour a cheese and ham sarnie.

Throughout the ride I will snack on gels if I have to, and eat something more substantial like a sandwich at regular intervals 10am, 1pm, 4pm. If I break it up like this and stop at the lake for my periodic snacks it should work quite well.

At this rate, if I am lucky I should manage approximately 8 laps of 13km -104kms!

(Obviously, I need to take into account laps of the family trail).

We will see. The aim really is to ride for 12hours and not worry about mileage, although I am going to attempt to measure it using a cycle computer - hope it works! I am all about the stats!

The Weather

2009-12-20T22:43:00.001+02:00

I am very interested in the weather all of a sudden!

Insomnia 2009

2009-09-22T15:46:00.002+03:00

After a good few rounds of Bedgebury singletrack this Summer, I was looking at the Boars on Bikes website and came across this Mountain Bike Enduro Race to be held at Bedgebury, 12 hour Night Challenge.

Well, I have ridden at Bedgebury quite a lot, it is in Kent, it's for charity (British Heart Foundation) and its a new event, so I might do alright. I have done quite a few night rides on singletrack.

August 2009 - I signed up for the event and set up a BHF fundraising page with target £50 (BHF would like it if you could manage to raise this much for them). First person to sponsor me was my Mum - thanks mum.

So now I have entered, I start thinking about how its going to work. It's going to be 8 mile (13km) laps. The most I have ever ridden off road before in one day is 60km and there wasn't a whole heap of singeltrack involved, it was a good few years ago, in Greece, on a mountain.

After entering the race Alaric and I decide its a good idea to attempt 3 laps of the Bedgebury singletrack (13km each) in a row (stops for bites of cheese and marmite sandwich as required). I was pretty impressed with this acheivement in itself. 40km total if you include the ride too and from the car. Lap splits were 1hr40, 1hr15 and 1hr15.

Based upon these calculations and completely forgetting that my back was a little sore after the 3 laps, I thought, well at 1hr30 per lap, in 12 hours, I could (if I was insane) do 8 laps. I am not insane, so I could do 6 or 7 perhaps (allowing for breaks).

A few days passed and I thought, I wonder how far 6 or 7 laps is. 6 is 78km and 7 is 91km. Sounds like a lot. Anyhoo, I stick with this plan because well, I am going to be riding solo and I can decide to do whatever on the day, so at least having a plan is a start.

Race day arrives and we turn up at Bedgebury at around 4pm with the trailer and I have 2 bikes (professional). We park up in the corner and more folk start to arrive and set up camp. We aquaint oursleves with important things like where the loos are and the start, that kind of thing. I had pre-prepared a bolognaise which alaric cooked up so I would be finished eating by 6.30pm when registration opened.

At this time, I hopped on my bike and rode down the hill to the start/finish and registered. The woman at the desk commented on my apt name of 'Epic Em' since I would be riding solo. Unlike me, I was not in the mood for fun and replied 'humph'. Hopped back on my bike with race number, timing chip and wrist band, rode back up the hill to the campsite.

I was feeling nervous and my dinner wasn't sitting too well. It got dark-ish and we went back down the hill to the start. We had the pre-race briefing and then lined up at the start. I couldn't see any other women and did wonder if I was the only woman in it. Ray assured me otherwise.

The claxon sounded the start and we set off. After about half a k, everyone was off their bikes and I was wondering what was up. Too bloody steep was the cry - surely not I thought. Most folk went past me at this point and walked up the first short steep bit. I rode it with a couple of other guys. I think I was at this point, at the back of the pack.

So I cracked off two laps with an arrangement for Alaric to meet me with refreshments at 11pm (though, we had to change this to 10.30!) The laps were 15km each, but about half and half singletrack and fireroad, so I was riding faster than I was expecting. It this time I was feeling nausious, drank a sip of coffee and shoved in a hob-nob bar and went on my way for the next lap.

I was most surprised at how many folk I was passing (mainly on the fire road descents, occaisionally on the singletrack descents). I felt good in my legs, but bad in my stomach. Before the end of lap 3 the first lot of batteries ran out and all I had to do was switch to the second lot. I rang Alaric at this point to tell him I would be in soon for a battery swap over. He told me to carry on until the end of lap 4. At the beginning of lap 4, I fell off and I knew I was tired.

After lap 4 (at about 1.30am) my back was killing. I had taken pain killers which had eased the lower back pain, but not the pain in the middle of my back. Alaric encouraged me to get a massage from the on-site sports masseurs. It was great. All credit to those guys!!

After my massage, I went to bed. I had done 4 laps and I wasn't sure at this point if I would do any more. However, Alaric asked if I thought I would do 2 or 3 more laps after a sleep (I said 2) and he set my alarm accordingly.

5am - I awoke busting for the loo. Damn, I was now up and I might aswell get back on the bike. It was the dawn lap. Half way around, I no longer needed the lights and I started to recognise some of the bits of trail I thought I'd not used before.

After lap 5, I was finished!

It was about 7.30am and I went and got Alaric up and got dressed into some less sweaty clothes. I had pre-booked 2 cooked breakfasts at the Pineatery, so we went and got those. I wasn't sure I could eat anything, my stomach had been so weird all night and at 5am I had to really force down half a banana (didn't want to do the 5th lap on an empty stomach).

So I wolfed down bacon, egg, sausage etc. And hung around waiting for the final riders to finish and the award ceremony. While I was waiting, I felt a bit green and had to throw up. A few minutes later I was standing on the podium!!

Some photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/alaricdarmon/090920Insomnia#

Moving

2009-05-30T18:07:00.002+03:00

So after reading Sammy G's fantastic post I am feeling very jealous that I haven't written anything for ages and she is so good at it.

We have decided to move out of our place at the end of June. Nothing sinister, just that our Landlord doesn't seem to want to have tenants much and we don't much like that.

So, we did a bit of house hunting in the sun this morning which was nice. We saw 4 places. The first was great, only problem was the drive was a little steep and Alaric was a bit concerned that it would be tricky to reverse the trailer up it. The estate agent was nice though, which goes a long way. Second and third places were with an agent we had already met, who had no sense of humour. Not his fault. Second not so hand, third was probably the most sensible of the day.

With a bit of time spare before the next viewing, we went to find a place we'd only happened upon whilst out on bikes before. We found it! A farmer has a bunch of barns where people store their caravans and campers when not in use. We thought it might be sensible to see if we could store the trailer there. The price is a bargain. Next, we went on to Doddington to look at a listed building. Lovely, Inglenook fireplace, brand new kitchen, could have set up a bar in the lounge - fairytale stuff, but like the one we saw in Riddles Road last time we were looking, completely impractical.

So got home and decided we should have a bit of a BBQ this evening.

What we are watching lately:

Films - Spirit (from the makers of Sin City), Underworld (Rise of the Lycans) both much of a muchness.

TV - Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (I am enjoying this quite a bit, I suspect more than Alaric).

South Wales Easter 2009 Mountain Biking Trip

2009-04-14T21:38:00.004+03:00

So a few weeks back, we went to North Wales, Coed Y Brenin to be exact. This time it was the turn of some of the South Wales trails, with the opportunity of a 'Woo hoo - 4 day weekend' at our disposal.

5 of us travelled together in the Land Cruiser. Alaric and I, Alex, Jon and Graham. We left on Friday morning and arrived at Cwm Carn for our first trail at lunchtime (the beauty of South Wales is that it's so much closer). After an interesting time parking the car and trailer, going to the loo (miles away) and finding water (not as far away as we thought) we got kitted up and hit the Twrch trail. 15km of mostly singletrack. This trail has always been a favourite of mine. There's a new section in the middle which is a freeride area, table tops and stuff - or so I hear - I didn't ride it, just did the usual stuff. Its called the black run, but Alaric didn't think it deserved that name, but it was fun.

After the fun of the down part, we hopped back in the car and headed for Glyncorrwg Ponds where we were to set up camp for the next few days. After about an hour's drive we arrived at Glyncorrwg. After our initial excited amazement that the place was so organised that we had our own labelled areas, we were disappointed to find our allotted camping area was under 4 inches of water! The folks in the cafe said we could set up where we liked, so we did so as close to the cafe as possible. Just as we had finished setting up, camp security arrived demanding to know who had allowed us to take over someone else's pitch. We were slightly worried for a short time, but the guy who had reserved the pitch in the first place, never actually turned up!!

As planned, Jon had cooked up some chilli and I had made some spag bol. So, as we were all starving by now, we started warming up the bol and cooking the spag. Very nice it was too.

As the sun went down, it got very cold. The problem with bright sunny days at this time of year, cold cloudless nights. I was also suffering with a stinking cold. This is fine while your riding, just blow all the snot out onto the person behind you as you ride along, but when you're trying to sleep, its a whole other story...

Saturday morning arrived and we got up early and had brekkie, loaded up with fuel and water and rode on down to Afan Forest Park to ride Y Wal and Penhydd. Both nice trails, but I struggled with the narrow parts close to sheer drops (only when the drop was on the left though, I have no problem when the drop is on the right). In between trails we stopped at the trail centre for sustenance. Graham made a start on Penhydd, but was well done in by then and instead chose to take the road back to Glyncorrwg.

After riding the Penhydd trail, the few miles back to Glyncorrwg seemed to take and age. Straight long tarmac path...

We got back to the campsite and the boys left we to keep an eye on things whilst they went to Tesco to buy rice and breakfasts. 2 hours later, just after I finally decided to put everything away just so i could go to the loo, they returned, some excuse about getting lost on the way back :)

Another yummy dinner of Chilli and another chilly, early, night followed by another glorious frosty morning.

Sunday we rode White's Level. Excellent trail because (a) it starts from Glyncorrwg and (b) its the best trail in the world, ever! 95% singletrack and what seemed to me to be more down than up - well that never happens! Jon dipped out on this ride, he tried to blame the bike, but I think he just wanted the day off :D.

Monday, White's level again! This time, Me and Graham dipped out, which gave Jon the opportunity to ride my bike.

Monday afternoon, it remained sunny while we packed everything away. We had lunch at the centre at Glyncorrwg. The food there is excellent and proper mountain biker portions. It's open until 10pm and they serve beer.

It was such a great weekend, relaxed, great weather, great trails 100% swoopy. Highly recommended.

When someone uploads some photos, I'll post a link to them here (and maybe steal some to make this entry look a bit more interesting).

Athens Classic Marathon 2008

2008-11-19T18:10:00.002+02:00

From the time I entered the Marathon right up until the day before, I was in two minds as to my ability to complete the distance. We were training for the triathlon leading up to the 21st of September and I didn't want to detract too much from that, so I didn't run more than 5k before the Schiniathlon competition.

Between then and the Marathon, I did a series of 5k and 8k runs 4 times a week. I also did probably 4 or 5 10k runs and one 20k run. That was it. I learnt about what I like to wear, to eat and to drink for running. I learnt my preferred pace too - SLOW! But at my pace I worked out that the marathon was doable within the 6 hour time limit.

So, the morning of the race arrived and Alaric dropped me at the historic starting place for the 26th Athens Classic Marathon. It was 15 degrees C and everyone was leaving it as long as possible before depositing their clothes with the baggage truck. Whilst trying to keep warm, I wandered around trying to find my Greek friends who were also racing, but they proved elusive.

So finally it was time to line up at the start. I was surrounded. There was the countdown and then we were off. I was running! I had to giggle at what seemed like hundreds of men all stopped in the first kilometre to have a pee in the bushes.

My race was great. I set a steady pace, I didn't drink too much, or too little. I had brought nothing with me at all. I didn't want any distractions. My friends and Alaric greeted me at various points along the way, which was lovely. I was so surprised when I saw the gathering at Neos Voutzas, I was almost speechless!

So, I was continuing to have a good run. I met a running buddy (like Mike said I would and I said I wouldn't) but then I lost him when I stopped for a pee around Agia Marina. Then I found another running buddy, a Greek, called Yiannis - only running at my pace because of his dodgy knee. As we passed Kallitechnoupoli, we saw two little doggies lapping 'GU' up off the street. So cute...

Then came the relentless uphill of Pikermi and then Pallini and Yiannis tells me this is the worst bit. We just need to get to Stavros. Its all downhill from there. Not long after this conversation, I got a sharp pain in the top of my left leg. It faded, so I carried on running, but then the pain came back. I reached a water station and walked with my drink to see if the pain would subside as I could no longer run. As I walked, though, it only got more uncomfortable. At the next water station, I just went right up to an official and said, 'I'm finished!' They radioed through and I got on the bus which follows the runners. I was with all the Greek Red Cross guys, larking about. I was feeling emotional.

I got to the end and found my stuff. Got changed and surprisingly easily found Alaric watching the runners coming into the stadium. I tapped him on the shoulder and told him my news. On the way home we went into Syntagma Square for food.

Photos to follow soon...

Schiniathlon - September 2008

2008-09-28T19:28:00.003+03:00

It has been a week since the Schiniathlon. I have had some time to take stock. I and I think everyone else had a great time. It was especially good because there were so many people there that I know and I made some new friends too.

Schinias is such a friendly place to do my first triathlon. I will never forget it.

Marie and Leo did an excellent job in organising everything. It was the biggest Schiniathlon yet with about 160 competitors. It is also the biggest triathlon competition in Greece.

I came 3rd in the short distance women's race! I was shocked too.

The Schiniathlon takes place in January (Duathlon), May and September each year. Check their website for more information - Schiniathlon

More photos can be found here: Alaric's Picasa Album and here: CrazyBikeWorld

Emily's Daily Mile Widget

2008-08-22T10:49:00.000+03:00

Kayaking Kefalonia - August 2008

2008-08-13T11:17:00.012+03:00

Because of the time of year, I thought I would book the ferry crossing in advance with Paleologos. We travelled from Killini (on the Peloponnese) to Poros (Kefalonia) which is only and hour and a half crossing.

After consulting with Monte Nero Activities who we planned to go kayaing with we decided to stay at Argostoli Beach Camping which was fairly reasonable and close to the light house.
We got to the campsite on Monday afternoon and set up camp after spending a certain amount of time looking for an electric hookup - we gave up and decided to camp next to to a couple of German girls.

In the morning I got a call from Pavlos to say that Sean would pick us up from the campsite at 9am for our day's kayaking.
As promised Sean arrived along with Inge and Alan who are keen kayakers from Denmark. We loaded our tandem onto the trailer and set off for Agia Kyriaki, a lovely liminaki with a couple of traditional tavernas to boot.

We set off on the longest trip of Alan and Inge's visit, and an unusual trip for Monte Nero. We did about 22km along the coast (out and return). It was beautiful. Sandy beaches and a cool cave. We saw another tandem kayak being driven by a French couple who had left their kids and the other kayak at a beach further along. When we spotted the kids they were playing in an old wooden crate with a paddle.

We had lunch at a tiny pebble beach. Sean prepared the shelter and the food while we swam and snorkelled. It was heavenly.

Soon it was time to head back to Agia Kyriaki and the taverna and cold beers awaited us.
After the beer, we were transported back to our campsite and we said goodbye to Inge and Alan who were travelling back to Denmark the next day.

That night we visited the local Chinese (as a change from our usual Greek fare). Very nice and only a bit of a trek from the campsite.

Wednesday we did a scheduled trip with Pavlos and we decided to use a couple of their single sea-kayaks instead of our tandem. He met us at the campsite again and took us the short trip to the lighthouse for the start of our tour. It was a one-way trip to Minies (about 6 km). It was another great day. It was good being in my own boat under my own control knowing that the guys had to wait for me however slow I was...
We played in some sections where we were challenged not to touch the sides and I rediscovered the ability to move sideways. We navigated some great rocks and caves and I had an excellent time. After lunch, we made it to Minies where Yvonne was waiting to take us back to the campsite.

In the afternoon, we thought we would drive around the island to see what there was and maybe find a taverna for dinner. We stopped at Assos which is a lovely little town and then on to Fiskardo. It was all very nice, but nothing topped that taverna at Agia Kyriaki, so we went back there for a fish supper. We have no idea what type of fish it was, but it was very nice.

Thursday we got up and packed and had bacon and eggs in Argostoli while watching a cruise ship off load its residents into water taxis, then coaches for their tour of the island. Then is was time to drive back to Poros for the ferry, the long way of course. We went down some roads that looked interesting and I found a place I might like to stay if we come back to Kefalonia again - Lourdata Beach.

What a great few days we had. More Photos on Picasa as usual.

Evvia Kayak Expedition 25th-27th July 2008

2008-07-29T18:29:00.009+03:00

Map used: Southern Evia/ Eastern Attica 1:100,000 - Anavasi 04-02
ISBN 960-8195-73-X

I was just wondering when we would be taking our next kayak trip when Alaric suggested a trip to Evvia for the weekend. The plan:

Drive across at Agia Marina
Go to a beach we know on 'the other side'
Camp there the night
Get up the following moring and kayak to lunch - have lunch, kayak to dinner, sleep and return.
See how far we get
Keep in mind that we should take it easy and not take any chances if its stupid weather (luckily it wasn't).

Well, it was a very sucessful trip we learnt some more about sea kayaking and that we can carry everything we need in our boat, we paddled a really long way (about 54 km) in two days. We bivvied on the beach, kayaked through a cave an discovered a new body of water - the Aegean Sea!

We took enough food with us to be self sustaining, but we did pray for a taverna.

We set off from Kalerghou beach at 10.30 (later than we meant to) and kayaked (by way of a really cool tunnel/cave) as far as a beach in Filaghra Bay. Very usefully it had a nice cave where we could shelter from the sun. We had lunch and relaxed, swimming etc. for a couple of hours before we set of again to our final destination, not really knowing where we would end up. We were pretty far out when we decided to pull in at what we later worked out was Limniona Beach, we knew it was time to stop and we could see it was a beach. We hoped for a taverna.

We arrived and were greeted by three tavernas and a camp site - what a find!

We had a very nice fish dinner and settled down on the beach for the night (my first night ever sleeping totally outdoors - without a tent). We were woken by the sun the next morning and we managed to set off by 8am. We thought about trying to make it all the way back to Kalerghou before lunch, but three hours in I was desperate to find a beach...

After our stop, we managed to get back to Kalerghou at around 3pm so we decided to have lunch and pack up and see if we couldn't get on a Ferry back to Agia Marina.

More photos of the trip here.

Chris and Lindsay's Wedding

2008-07-21T13:03:00.004+03:00

So we had a flying visit to the UK for Chris and Lindsay's wedding this weekend...

We took a flight on Friday and after picking up the rental car, arrived at the Hempstead House Hotel at around 1.15 Saturday morning. After the obligatory errands, we managed to get oursleves to Tunstall Church for the service. The Church was packed.

The service was very traditional and we had an excellent view from where we were sitting (probably the best view of a wedding ceremony I have had in a church) with the ushers. Andrew had asked me to take a load of photos with his camera. I managed to get a pretty good one of

Chris and Lins after the ceremony, walking back down the aisle with huge grins. Hopefully Andrew will upload his photos soon as and I can link to them.

The weather was lovely, so loads of photos were taken outside the church by the offical photographer and everyone else.

Most people started making their way back to the hotel for the wedding breakfast, the main party were having more photos and organising transport via the official cars. We were in the car park wondering what to do about starting Allie's car. Luckily Alaric's parents came to the rescue with some jump leads and we managed to follow the official cars back to the hotel.

It was Pimms o'clock by then and also time for more photos on the lawn.

We were officially introduced to the top table by the master of ceremonies on the way into the dining room and finally, we were ready for food. I love Nichola's organisation, she had written what we had all chosen on our place cards so we wouldn't have to remember.
The food was very nice and we finished off with apple pie with custard, ice-cream and cream, mmmm.

The speeches were very special. I enjoyed them a lot. I also enjoyed the champers.

After lunch, we all moved out so they could set up for the evening's entertainment.
The dance floor was revealed and a live band set up.
We all went back in to watch the first dance. It was very professional. The top table had had lessons and it looked lovely.

Copious drinking and eating of buffet food ensued along with dancing. I spent most of the evening chatting outside with the usual crew. I guess it was about 1am when we turned in.

I obviously hadn't drunk enough as the next morning, although I was very tired, I didn't have a hangover - unlike some others who ventured down for breakfast around 9am.

Suddenly we found ourselves in a hurry to get the car back to Luton Airport and catch our flight back to Athens. It was all over so quickly.

Congratulations to Chris and Lindsay and thanks for a great time and a lovely day - well done for sorting the weather.

Photos Here

The 2nd Sea Kayak Meeting of Xylocastro

2008-07-09T14:37:00.008+03:00

Xylocastro is a seaside town on the Northern Edge of The Peloponnese, Southern Greece and home to Artvali Kayaks.

Artvali specialise in making traditional kayaks, with wood and fabric construction. They also organise an annual meeting, open to all with an interest!

We went this year, taking our tandem touring kayak and our smaller whitewater boats as well.

We arrived on Friday evening to join Vassilis and a few others in admiring George's wooden kayak. He spent 2 years building it from scratch, with only the plans to work from, and the finished item truly is a work of art - particularly when you consider this was his first attempt.

We had a few drinks together and had a lovely meal in a taverna overlooking the sea, then retired to Hotel Arion for the night.

Saturday morning we moved a little bit west along the beach for the main event! The format for the weekend was pretty flexible, with everyone joining in with organised events as they wanted or doing their own thing for a while.

There were a few excursions, mixed with skills workshops for both beginners and more advanced paddlers. On Sunday we also had the opportunity to practise in the swimming pool.

Saturday night was spent camping on the beach, although Em and I chose the relative comfort of the trailer instead of a tent!

The weather was great for the weekend, and we had a great time. The quality of the handmade kayaks was excellent, and it was good to see some of Vasillis' designs from around the world, showing Sea Kayaks from different areas.

Thanks to everyone involved, both for organising the weekend, and for making Em and I so welcome, we had a great time.

There are more photos here

Alaric.

2008-05-04T10:25:00.001+03:00

The Schiniathlon is a multi sport event. Alaric and I were marshalling. The weather was great of course. Loads of people turned out for the various events. Well done to Marie, Leonidas and Dimitris for great organisation. Schinias Bay Triathlon.