A new activity for me today! While I've done plenty of traditional canoeing, I've never tried the assistance of a mast and sail. I've only the scantiest experience when it comes to sailing, so was leaning heavily on John's experience and enthusiasm as we put together the new rigs on the empty, wind swept beach of Y Foryd at the western end of the Straits.
We've adapted the canoes to take the miniature masts and soon had them looking relatively sea worthy.
Getting going was a rather gripping affair in the end. The wind was blowing against the last of the out going tide creating un-unnervingly large waves that occasionally breached the gunnels of our small craft and threatened to end the whole enterprise before it had really begun. We tacked over the the edge of the flow, where it was much calmer and regained our composure. I remembered Wally's advice to never turn your back on the ocean and remained vigilant.
Caernarfon Castle shot by as the tide began to turn, giving us the advantage of both wind and tide to aid our progress. It was an impressive way to view the castle and the surrounding wall - we felt like we were getting a glimpse of what invaders from years gone by would have been greeted with.
We pulled ashore at Y Felinheli to stretch our legs, but the cafe was closed and the pub was only serving cold beers, where as we were hoping for something a little more warming.
We pressed on, towards Plas Newydd.
The winds dropped a bit as we passed under the mammoth span of Britannia Bridge. As we did, the sun dropped out from below the clouds giving us a spectacular finale to our nearly 18km odyssey.
Navigation was a bit more critical here as we weaved our way through the rapids the were forming in the ever shifting tidal race. A one point, we dropped down what felt like a ramp of water which suddenly appeared in front of us. Even though the wind had dropped, we had our fastest speeds as the water was squeezed though the narrowing between Anglesey and the mainland.
Our old house at Manadwyn and Menai Bridge came into view we both breathed a little sigh of relief. We were going to make it - and before darkness too! Phew!
What a way to finish. Spectacular....
We pulled up at the slipway feeling very pleased and surprisingly exhausted. Perhaps we've been working a lot of mental energy, even though the wind was putting in all the physical effort. It look a bit of time to shuttle vehicles and boats, but eventually, we arrived back at The Cottage, with a great day logged in the memory banks.
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