Even though at the moment we just have our little white water kayaks, we couldn't resist finishing our Christmas break with an ocean paddle. Favorably low winds out of the right direction made a sea trip in Scotland’s North-East coast possible. White water kayaks are high and not very fast, if you're not careful the wind blows you to Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, or who knows where.

We put in in Dunbeath harbour, and paddled north from there. The coastline is magnificent. Sea caves all around, very high cliffs, arches, lot's to explore. It would have been fun to just be in this moving environment, but with our slow going boats we wanted to make some progress, up to Latheronwheel. I've been climbing there, and really loved the beautiful coast.

However, I got a bit nervous by the swell and rolling waves that needed to be crossed to get to land, and wasn't too comfortable in entering the harbour.

Instead, we decided to paddle further, all the way to Lybster. We came across a group of ocean paddlers who said from a distance they couldn't figure out what we were. Makes sense. Such a beautiful coastline, and lots to see. In Lybster harbour we found a seal on our take-out spot. He didn't really want to make room for us, but in the end decided to go to the water and we could land. As soon as we took our kayaks up, he was back on his beach for his rest.

I left Leigh and the kayaks, while going for my run back to the car. I had planned to take the John O'Groats-Lands end trail, a trail that crosses the entire UK from tip to tip. However, it was not more than a vague path through the fields, indicated by coloured poles that were exceedingly hard to find in the fading light. In the end I decided, with the sun setting, that it was a lot quicker to take the road.

Eventually I got back to Leigh, who was sitting in our thickest down jacket, and unfortunately didn't realize there was a flask with warm tea next to him. Maybe I should have told.. Great adventure, and amazing coastline. We can't wait to get sea kayaks and do a lot more exploring of Scotland’s coastal features!