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Sarah Wootton

One Week and Counting

One week to go


With just one week to go I’ve lots of mixed emotions, ranging from excitement to apprehension along with the feeling of there’s still lots left to prepare. We’ve done so much preparation already but there still seems to be more to do with lists getting longer and not shorter.


Thankfully, our kit testing at Bass Rock with an overnight camp revealed that the mice haven’t eaten anything, however something had taken a fancy to the tent pegs!!. In the grand scheme of things that’s a minor issue, and easily resolved, although I do wonder where tent pegs go to? Is it similar to socks?


With the expectation of heavy rain over the weekend the tents were set up in the garden for one final test and thankfully they remained dry inside. I was keen to find out if we’re going to have a dry place to stay after hearing tales from an Irish colleague it once rained every day for 80 days in a row where he lived on the West!. We are opting for the teepee MSR Frontline Wendy House we used successfully last year and also our trusty Hileberg's which are self standing should this be necessary in places.



While we’ve had focus on paddling and camping kit, it surprised me this week the number of other things that need to be arranged and considered from insurance to passports (not needed after all).


With regard to navigation, we’ve purchased hard copy Ordinance Survey maps for Ireland weighing in at 5kg on arrival !! and Imray marine charts, Following our experience kayaking around Scotland with 8 consecutive days on fog on the Aberdeenshire coast we have upgraded our GPS capability to a Garmin GPSMAP 86i and Paul is still scratching his head setting that up !!. We write the tidal stream information straight onto maps and then laminate a photocopy on A3 with the respective marine chart on the reverse side. We will need 80+ A3 sheets for the entire journey but from experience find this method is worth the effort for the practicality the laminates bring to daily planning.


The bank holiday has helped provide a little more time but tomorrow it's back to work and trying to ensure I handover projects properly to colleagues. I couldn’t mention work without giving them a huge shout out for allowing me 7 weeks off additional leave plus holidays for a second year in succession, without which I couldn’t have undertaken the Scotland or this challenge.


Despite all the above we see and hear the news each day for Ukraine which bring context and focus reminding us how lucky we are to be even contemplating a challenge such as this.


Sarah


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