The evening before our departure day we received two emails. One was from Sue from West Wales and one from Steve B. from Aberporth. Both were offering us places to stay with all the luxuries that come with being under a roof and both gave us good information. Unfortunately we had to decline the offer from Sue but decided to take Steve on his and so mission Aberporth started.

Having a firing range ahead of us we had no other option than to leave Barafundle Bay early. We left at 5.30am, it was about 15 kilometres through the range and we had three hours.

We enjoyed the breaking of the day and the some of the most beautiful coast. We allowed ourselves a little exploration of a cave, but really we were in a bit of hurry.

All was going wonderfully and just when we thought we were out of the firing range, a patrol boat came. Apparently the firing range is larger than we thought, but they were nice and offered to give us a lift or tow. Tempting, especially that the tide started to turn. But no, we have to do by our own power, so we politely declined and continued under escort.

We pushed agains the tide towards Jack’s Sound and camped on a beach waiting for the next tide. The midday sun was warm and we both snoozed for about an hour waking just in time to pull boats higher up on the beach.
The paddle to Ramsey Sound was uneventful but we saw lots of puffins in proximity to Skomer island. Some blurred picture here.

It was getting late once we passed Ramsey Sound and we started to play with the idea of calling it a day at Whitesands Bay, but the tide was going, we were comfortably sitting in it, so decided to go as far as Aberdeidi. Also it’s much quieter than Whitesands Bay. A reward for this decision came in the look of several dolphins swimming around us all the way there. No pictures of them though.

Second morning we got up early again a found out that if we are very close to water and have only already made tea and lots of sweets, we can be ready in one and half hour! We were catching another tide past Strumble Head. However once we passed it the ride finished and a slog against tide started. We pushed till Godwick for late breakfast, rest and wait for the next conveyor belt along the long Cardigan Bay.

We made it to Aberporth late in the evening since some headwind came to keep us company for a while, never mind at least we saw more dolphins. They are hard to capture when you paddle but when we landed in Aberporth there was one wooden one, so I got that one at least.