ron-t kayaking blog
16 July 2013 .............. Porth Daffarch to South Stack
I never intended to go to South Stack, I just went for a wee play at Penrhyn Mawr for the last hour or two of the flood tide. It was quite good, the first thing I found right beside the coast was a wee standing wave, so I sat on it for a while, whilst some other paddlers did stuff a bit further over.
Eventually they left, and I went for a play on the other bits of the inner inner race. Then it was time to go and have a look at the inner race - now there was a bit of a swell coming in, so out from the inner race there was quite a significant wave train - significant means scary !
But closer in, the race was quieter, and there was a nice not-quite static wave just out from the island. It was caused by the swell, not by the geology, so it wasn`t a proper static wave, it came and went, but with only a little effort I could sit there as the wave rose and fell underneath me.
After a while I crossed over towards the middle of the race, and found another similar sort of not-quite static wave which provided some more fun for a while. This one had a weird characteristic that every now and then, the crest of the wave to my left would explode upwards and break over my boat - it was a bit scary until I realised that it was all mouth and had no punch, so wasn`t going to do anything to me.
I`m still wary about playing in the main wave trains after the inner and outer races - I`m now sufficiently confident in my boat to want to try them, but worried about the consequences if or when it goes wrong.
Carrying a radio doesn`t really help, because I now have the dilemma as to when does challenging yourself become irresponsible. I don`t know the answer to this - if you don`t challenge yourself you don`t grow, but I don`t want to become another rescue service statistic.
Anyway, after all that, I wandered up the coast for a bit, found and paddled through the channel hidden away at the back of the next bay - it is quite impressive, but it needs to be a high tide level to get the best of it.
Looking into the far narrow end of the hidden channel -
There are some amazing rock formations in this bay - here are a few of them. It is surely a bit of a paradise for geologists, with the most amazing examples of folded rock layers, with some of them exposed by subsequent erosion.
Out of the bay, and the first view across to South Stack -
Round the corner, and into Abrahams Bosom - and all the way round the bay there are some more superb rock formations. A cave to start with -
A rather fine looking pinnacle of rock -
How about this for a bijou cave - it has a beach, gets the sun, and nobody can get to it except by boat.
A cave that is actually a passage -
Inside it is quite dramatic, with the big boulders that have presumably dropped off the roof.
Some not very impressive caves at the back of the bouldery beach -
At the back of Abraham`s Bosom there are two beaches that I didn`t know existed, and they both have a wooden staircase from the beach up onto the top of the cliffs above. The road up to South Stack isn`t too far away, so it might be possible to use these as an emergency exit. I`ll have a look from the road next time I am around that area to see what is what.
I subsequently found out that the first one, the one on the left as you are heading in, and the nicer looking beach, is privately owned, and there is no public access.
The other one, which is a lot more stoney and bouldery, can be used for public access, and there is fairly tortuous path up to the public road. Not sure if I would want to carry a sea kayak up it, but maybe in an emergency .....
Continuing on around the coast, and another cave -
Another beautiful bit of geological history - layers of rock have been bent, and eroded, and have left a rather good looking arch.
Another cave -
And another -
Well inside this one -
Another cave -
Out of Abraham`s Bosom now, and heading up to South Stack - and another fine example of rock bending and erosion, leaving this cylinder of rock exposed.
I headed up to South Stack, and under the bridge against the now quite strong ebb tide. Looking back through the gap between South Stack and the mainland -
Time to head back, there was the beginnings of a tide race around the outside of South Stack, but it wasn`t a problem. Then back to Penrhyn Mawr, staying well out to get the benefit of the ebb tide.
From Penrhyn Mawr to Dinas Stack was a bit slower as there is an eddy, and from Dinas Stack back to the beach seemed to take forever against the eddy current.
So it was a much longer trip than was ever intended, but good fun.
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