Pleasure and pain

It felt as if the thud would be heard across Scotland, but I think it only bounced around inside me.

It was the sickening bump of a harsh reality colliding with an otherwise pretty near perfect winter weekend. Away from the computer and news, I checked my blog reader when I returned and picked up so many strands of news about Andrew McAuley. I didn't know him, but I knew about his attempt to paddle the Tasman. I even feel strangely guilty that I could have a great day on the water when clearly things were going so badly on the opposite side of the planet.

Liz and I spent Saturday night with Gordon and Morag Brown on Skye, to chat, to record another podcast and to allow me to try a couple of boats.


As I suspected, the Valley Nordkapp is the one for me. I had planned to write about the characteristics in the craft which made me take to it so quickly, but it doesn't seem right to do so now.