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Mission accomplished: Around Britain in 40 days
3120kms in 40 days – 78km a day average. A new record! On Tuesday 11th July at 17:40, I had the surreal experience of arriving back at Aldeburgh beach 40 days after I set off on the grey, chilly morning of June 2nd. The shingle looked the same, but I felt different. An adventure like…
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Day 3 Dungeness to Brighton
Embarrassing to report that I made the same rookie error 2 days in a row. A passing dog walker assured me with conviction that the tide only came up to the rocks. But when I saw the giant full moon rise, I knew I was doomed. Yet again I found myself moving my tent and…
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Day 2: Margate to Dungeness
After tea in Margate, Mum and Dad headed home leaving me alone. Camping didn’t get off to a great start with a snapped tent pole and the rookie error of getting caught by the tide. Spring tides so the whole beach was swamped and I moved my boat and tent to the concrete slipway above…
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Around Britain Day 1: Aldeburgh to Margate
My alarm sounded at 4 am and I was immediately wide awake. In truth, I’d never really fallen asleep. It was day one of my around Britain Kayak Challenge, and the plan was to cross the Thames estuary. Mum and Dad were somewhat tense. So was I. Later that day, I’d be 30 kilometres from…
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Vaikobi kit delivers on the DW
British weather. It’s one element that makes the Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race not just a 125-mile paddle but the “Canoeists Everest”. And it’s what defeats many paddlers who didn’t invest in quality clothing. On the 2013 edition of the race, almost 1/3 of competitors gave up when met with sub-zero temperatures and a bitter…
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Dougal’s Epic Adventure
A surfski adventure with no destination ❝ I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move❞ Robert Louis Stevenson, Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes The route? There is no route! No one knows where I’ll go, not even me. I could be…
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The Jon White Trophy
I’m delighted to have been awarded the Jon White Trophy for this year’s Devizes to Westminster Canoe Race, awarded to ‘the disabled paddler displaying exceptional determination or resolve over adversity’. This is in recognition of the challenge I faced racing the 125 miles with type 1 diabetes. Jonathan William White is an inspiration and it’s…
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A micro-adventure
I slammed my laptop shut and closed my eyes. It kept whirring, my brain too. Full of spam, too many tabs open. Spend enough time looking at screens and you forget how you used to think. Social media burrows in to the brain until those vile characters you wish you’d never wasted time laying eyes…
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Devizes to Westminster 2023
The motivation Doing DW didn’t cross my mind when I was adventuring around the Med on my surfski. Racing kayaks was a closed chapter, or so I thought. I was on a journey searching for a value to steer my life. ‘Racing is just a game. You only do it if you believe that game…
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HbA1c
This results of test will tell me what my average blood glucose levels have been for the last 3 months. Keeping HbA1c low reduces the risk of complications. A healthy person has an HbA1c below 6% (pic 2). 6.5% is a good benchmark for people with T1D, although everyone is different. Glucose in the blood…