Set up for the night south of Ballinamore. Pouring with rain but we are in good cover with plenty of supplies! Might be a late one :-)

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Ballinamore

Arrived in Ballinamore. Stocking up at Supervalu and first food of the day from the chippy! Very hungry..... A few more miles to do before we set up for the night. Saw a lovely Kingfisher earlier on the Ballinamore canal. About 77 miles in total so far :-)
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Arrival Skellan Lock.

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Off again.

Setting off now for Ballinamore via Lake Garadice. Windy and cooler. Not a great sleep last night :-(
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Camp for the night 3 miles south of Ballyconnell. Fed and watered and some nice Trout rising in the river....Andy is getting the fly rod set up.

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Arrival Ballyconnell after an eventful but enjoyable day! Locks and Yaks.....not a good mix ....survived to tell the tale though and the fact that Germans were involved didn't amuse Andy.

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Left the Share Centre in a stiff Northerly breeze. Hard work first thing! Heading now for the Woodford River and the Shannon-Erne Waterway. Another Nav error has added 3 miles or so! Wind behind, sun shining :-)

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Set up at holiday share centre. 25 miles today, very tired and sore! Heavy rain mostly but light winds thankfully. A hot shower has fixed me and the Carlsberg is numbing the aches! Lots more donations received, THANK YOU! Keep them coming!

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Carrybridge for lunch. Great steak! Another 7 miles to the night stop. Wish the rain would stop!

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Breakfast before heading for Enniskillen and Carrybridge for lunch. Rained all night and cooler this morning. Getting used to this camping lark :-)

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Camp for the night on Trasna Island. 23 miles done.....only another 10 of those to go....easy peasy lemon sqeezy ;-)

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Lunch! Courtesy of Andys fly rod....it was fantastic done on the BBQ I brought.

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First night's camp on the Belleek River. My first proper camping ever!

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Almost ready to go, just need 2 Brixton Briefcases for under my arms! ;-)

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The off

Getting ready now to head for the starting line, with a certain amount of trepidation I would add! Keep the donations coming please to keep my spirits up!

Sponsorship Update

Total to date £1432. Thanks to all who have donated so far.

Not long now...

With just a few days to go I am sorting all the kit I will need for this 200+ mile journey.....how on earth am I going to fit all this in the Yak? I have always worked on the premise of "better looking at it than looking for it" but I am seriously going to have to make a few cuts! Having been ill for the last week or more I have not had any exercise at all but it's too late now to be worrying about a minor thing like fitness......I'll be as tight as a boxer after a couple of days of paddling!
Thanks to everyone who has donated so far and I am hoping by the end of all this to have raised somewhere around £1500-1600 for charity.
Providing my phone doesn't go overboard I will be keeping this blog updated on a daily basis with narrative and hopefully some nice pictures as well.
3 days to kick off.... :-)

There is still time to donate at fentonparsons.com or use the Donate Button on the left of this page.
Thank You.

Sponsorship Update

My sponsorship total to date is £1422. Thanks to everyone who has donated.
If you wish to donate please go to www.fentonparsons.com

6 days to go...........!

Strangford Lough Paddle

Not having been out for a while and in the knowledge that the trip is looming ever closer I headed off to Whiterock this morning for a change of scenery. I made my way down to Killyleagh via Ringhaddy Sound. A quick lunch stop near East Down YC as the flooding tide was starting to gain momentum. I have never had to paddle so hard as I did all the way back to Whiterock, the worst stretch being the Southern entrance to Ringhaddy where a strengthening wind against tide made life very difficult. All in all a good workout but would not want to be out in anything worse than that! 14.7 miles in total.