ron-t kayaking blog
05 July 2015 ............ Menai Straits
Unlike the day before, the surfing this evening at the Swellies was poor - at times, briefly, it was good.
However the wave was wildly inconsistent - for maybe five seconds, there would be a beautiful glassy green wave.
For maybe 15 to 20 seconds, there would be a deep lumpy wave.
And for maybe 20 to 30 seconds, the wave would completely flatten out, so there was little depth.
It was such a fight that I just gave up on it - there was no fun in it, I was trying to surf it for the sake of trying to surf it.
I had got there early, so went for a paddle up to and around the middle pillar of Britannia Bridge - came across these geese - I don`t recall ever seeing geese in the Swellies before.
After giving up on the surfing, I headed back down and out the Menai Straits to the east, and the low angle of sun and the cloud was beginning to produce some good effects.
At one point I was around the berth where the Prince Madog ties up - it wasn`t there, it was out doing what ever it does when it is out doing it - I noticed two guys out at the end of the berth, and climbing up the towers.
So I thought - what are they doing there, they shouldn`t be there - and then it occurred to me that maybe the Prince Madog was coming in - turned round - and there was a boat - a big boat.
Yikes - I was in the way - it wasn`t the Prince Madog, it was the Balmoral - a coastal excursion vessel based in Bristol that was up to say hello to North Wales - I think it is run by the same charity that runs the Waverley, the last ocean going paddle steamer in the world.
The captain did a beautiful 180 degree turn and ended up right beside the berth - here it is just approaching the berth.
Further down the Menai Straits now, and looking past Bangor Pier to Great Orme, nicely lit up by the sunshine.
Coming back up the Menai Straits was quite hard work, not only against the tide, but there was also a strong wind against me - so I was rather hugging the shore.
The strong wind was blowing a lot of low cloud around, and with the low angle of the sun, there was some super lighting - here are a few of the pictures I took.
website design by ron-t
website hosting by freevirtualservers.com
© 2024 Ron Turner
