Sea for Cumbria 2008! (DAY 5) (and credits)

It was Monday morning and, for me at any rate, better than most Monday mornings as I didn't have to go to work. Instead, we had the prospect of our final day's paddle of the challenge. We'd already faced up to the fact that, having lost a day, we wouldn't make our original target of Bowness on Solway and had instead decided to head for Maryport and do the final leg later in the summer over a weekend or in one long day. As we peered our of our tents, still weary from the exertions of the previous day, even Maryport seemed a long way off though. Also, the swell was bigger than it had been yesterday though we did have the advantage of an almost-tail wind.

We de-camped and hit the water with something approaching slickness and head out to sea yet again. The water felt stange and tarry, with odd currents mixed in among the swell and we all, to greater or lesser degrees, found it hard to hit our stride. As I rode a big swell around a headland, I found myself with an almost eagle-eye view of a capsizing Ian in the trough below me. As we got him rescued he told us that he'd just known from the moment he set off that he was going to be having a swim today. We all knew what he meant - some days are just like that. Despite the strange waters we made pretty good time to Workington harbour and had the treat of being intercepted by a huge shoal of fish, who turned the water into thousands of excited little peaks as they passed under our boats. Lunch was taken at the foot of a wind farm and, having completely run out of food, I had to borrow some from Jasper's plentiful stocks.

After lunch, Ian paddled out only to paddle in again as he'd forgotten to put one of his hatch covers on! Poor chap had obviously gone senile in the night - we would have to shoot him like a dog. Before long however, we were back in our stride and had our sights fixed firmly on Maryport - which loomed like a fabled paradise on the horizon. The wind was fully behind us now and it was sometimes possible to paddle fast enough to catch a bit of surf. Maryport loomed (well, it got a bit closer) and the realisation that this was the end of our 5 months of fun, amateurish and slightly disorganised preparations started to dawn on us. This is always a bittersweet time in an adventure any the only cure for the slight melancholy it brings is to start thinking of the next jape (clue: it involves sea kayaks, Ukrainian beer and the Black Sea)!

We bunched up a bit to form a group as we paddled triumphantly into the muddy morass of Maryport harbour at low tide. The water was completely still and our boats glided between the high harbour walls like crocodiles in the Zambesi. Our landing was made at the super-steep and mega-slippery lifeboat ramp and, frankly, I'm amazed that nobody broke anything trying to get out and pull their boats up it. Stuart arrived to collect us exactly on cue and, after the obligatory team photo, we were packed and ready to go home. Bosh - just like that - all finished. Well, not quite - we still had to call the coastguard and tell them that our trip was done. This job was, as ever left for Tom, our Coastguard-liaison Officer and the side of the conversation I could hear went like this:

"Liverpool Coastguard, this is kayak group call-sign 'Team Flapjack'. We are off the water, over." <> "Thank you Liverpool Coastguard. And let me tell you, you haven't heard the last of Team Flapjack. Out"

I do hope he's right :-)

Credits:

Team Flapjack and the Sea for Cumbria Challenge have been fortunate to recieve the following support:

• Trevor and Mark at UniSolutions kindly laid on our transport and Stuart very kindly drove it.
• Your Momentum provided drybags to keep our gear dry and our morale up.
• JABE Consulting provided distress flares in case we ever got, erm, distressed.
• ERP People provided pumps to keep our bottoms and legs dry.
• WaveTwo Consulting provided tow lines for the purposes of towing.
• The skilled and lovely people who make Soreen loaf heard of our endeavours and provided loaves and brightly coloured t-shirts to give us energy and lift our spirits.
• Most of all, our families provided time and space for us to practise and become less rubbish at paddling.

So, there you have it. If you were mildly entertained by any of this then come back next year. Better still, why not drop us a line (leave a comment on this post) and get involved. :-)