12 hour Training

Sorry this blog is a little late but we are still recovering from mondays session.

Monday 25/4/11
It took all my willpower to refrain from hitting the alarm clock snooze button for the third time, it was now 5:30am and Captain Buzzkill (Gearóid) would not be in a good mood if we were not all at Bullock Harbour by 6:15am. What a way to spend your Easter Bank Holiday. My arms were still fresh with the pain of Saturdays fundraising in Greystones. I quickly threw 2 weetbix (not misspelt im just cheap) into me and began my quest of throwing the kayak onto the x-trail, difficult and noisy, should have got help dont think the neighbours were impressed. I arrived at Bullock at 6:31am, Gearoid was already setting up and Paddy followed shortly.
The 3 of us got on the water at 7:20am, their was an unusual silence in the group, we knew it was going to be a long day. The plan was to stay out for 12 hours, the Tide was heading out and south so we would follow it in the direction of Bray until it turned. The wind was Northerly about force 9, this was causing the sea to be quite choppy, nothing dangerous but would add a certain challenge to the day.
Our path saw us take in Dalkey Island where the curious seals came out to inspect us. From Dalkey Island we follwed the coast around towards Bray, stopping occasionaly to chew on some nutrigrain bars and take sips of water from the platypus's on our front decks. We went into Bray Harbour to explore and to see if we could go up the river, but the tide was out to far. From Bray we travelled around the Head and made a B line for Greystones.
We reached Greystones Harbour around 12:00pm. The Harbour is still under construction so it was interesting to explore it without any boats present and to see how they are constructed. After leaving the Harbour we decided to return towards Dublin Bay as the Tide was turning.
We reached Colliemore Harbour opposite Dalkey Island around 2:30pm and stopped to have lunch. from the sea Colliemore gave Dalkey the feel of some foreign fishing village. We left Colliemore and continued on our journey.
Passing Bullock Harbour was tough, we had done over 8 hours of paddling and our minds and bodys were telling us to put in, but we needed to keep going, only a few hours more!!
For the final leg of our journey we headed across Dublin Bay towards eastwall passing Dun Laoighre Harbour in the process. As we reached East wall we pulled up to watch the Irish Ferries Ship Ulysses, from very close proximity, as she headed into Dublin Harbour. Her bow wave lifted us up and down and at one stage nearly capsized us.
We returned to Bullock Harbour at 7.30pm, Gearoid began practicing a few rolls and skills, myself and Paddy optted to head straight in towards the comfort of dry land and to try and get some life back into the old legs.

All in all it was a good days paddling, we had stayed on the water for over 12 hours and had covered over 50km. Our trip to Wales was becoming more and more a reality as our training efforts and long trips were paying off, the fitness levels were increasing and so too was our mental resolve