Yesterday evening when we were sitting at Kimmeridge and enjoying the evening sun, thinking about where to pitch our tent, Mark Rainsley visited us again. We were also discussing our plans for the following day. The forecast for the following few days promised strong winds and not much paddling for us. The tides to go around Portland were running early morning. There would be firing from the firing range between Kimmeridge and Lulworth cove from 9.30 am to 5pm. This combination of information did not sound good, on top of that we knew that we could get away with only one night at Kimmeridge.

In the end with the help of Mark’s presence the hard and only decisions was made. We would be getting up early, silly o’clock early, and would be paddling forever to get as far as possible to the other side. We had one little help to motivate ourselves. We were offered bed and shower at Burton Bradstock by Barbara and Ian.

And so this morning we woke up at 2.30 finished our precooked breakfast, packed and left at 4.30am, With half the stuff packed already it took us only 2 hours! The paddle was calm, the day broke and everything was peaceful. We crossed straight to the Bill, about 15NM. We got there at about 10 am! Made a short stop and continued towards Chesil Beach making another crossing, landing for a short lunch and continuing in deteriorating conditions to Burton.

Barbara and Ian were waiting on a beach giving us encouragements and then waiting again at the place of landing. Unloading and getting to their house was fast and straightforward. We had paddled for 12 hours.