The Expedition

The first part of the route will take us from the sea parallel to the Land’s End Tourist Attraction & Signpost. From there we will hug the Cornish and Devon Coastline. In Cornwall we will pass the towns of S Ives, Newquay, Padstow and Bude before entering Devon. Then we will paddle past Woolacombe and Ilfracombe to turn East into the start of the Bristol Channel. The towns of Burnham and Weston-super-mare will complete our section of Somerset with Cardiff on the other side of the channel before we SUP up the River Severn and under its iconic bridges to the port at Sharpness where we can enter the canal waterways.

The second leg of the journey will take us on England’s Canal and River waterways, most looked after by the Canals & River Trust. This journey will take on 13 canals and 350km, passing Gloucester and Worcester, heading West of Birmingham and meandering around Shropshire, Macclesfield before getting to Manchester. Our Route will finally take us out onto the sea just below Blackpool. Due to restrictions on paddleboarding through specific tunnels, the route will be somewhat non-linear and take a few more days than necessary to avoid these. Some of the canals we will SUP on include the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal, The River Severn Navigation, the Shropshire, the Macclesfield and the Leeds & Liverpool Canal.  Whilst there will be no need to plan around tides, there will also be no flow on most of the route. Additionally, there are 173 locks on route to navigate!

Our third section, and the shortest if you can call 200km short, will take us past the iconic Blackpool Tower. We will then cross over the Morecambe Bay to sea the sands of Barrow-in-furness at the South most point of Cumbria before travelling up the East coast of the Lake District. With the Irish Sea on our left, after Whitehaven and Workington we will be able to make our final crossing from England into Scotland.

The final part of our trip will take us 700km across Scotland. The country is beautiful, but its waters are not to be taken lightly. The first section of Scotland involves navigating the large bays of Wigtown and Luce to round the Mull of Galloway headland and lighthouse. The route will then head up the Firthy of Clyde with the Isle of Arran to the left before accessing one of Scotland’s beautiful canals, the Crinan Canal.

After Crinan, we will hug our way up the shore line to pass he island of Luing. This is a treacherous piece of coastline due to strong tides drawing boats inbetween Scarba and Jura islands. Here, the 3^rd largest whirlpool in the world , Coryvreckan, forms.

Tidal planning permitting we will travel under the Atlantic Bridge and up the Sound of Kerrera to the port of Oban.

Here, we will turn away from the Isle of Mull to head up our first and only sea Loch, Lock Linnhe, to access Fortwilliam and the Caledonian Canal. The Caledonian, otherwise known as the Great Glen, allows a traverse of Scotland from West to East, passing through the waters of Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and most famous of all – Loch Ness.

The last section will take on a route from Inverness up the East Coast of Scotland before rounding its North Easterly headland, Duncansby Head. This is a tricky section of water with strong currents, and it’s the last section before being able to head into John o’Groats and its iconic signpost.