Month: September 2007
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Kayak transportation in Italy
Thinking about driving in Italy with a kayak? Better rethink. Don’t even consider doing it in a rented vehicle. This is the story of a very long and quite expensive journey from Venice to Civitavecchia, a distance of about 550 km of which over 400 km on highways. It shouldn’t be more than half a…
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Sponsor day
Most of the stuff from our North American sponsors have been shipped to Wendy in Canada, so only now when Wendy has arrived here in Venice to save me from all my problems have I had the possibility to actually see the things we have received. There was way too much in Wendy’s massive duffel…
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Busy Busy
It’ll be a busy day in Venice today. The day did, however, have a less auspicious start. As I was having breakfast at the camping at little thing dropped on the table just beside me. It was … … the severed head of a bee! There must have been some really nasty business going on…
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Just another day in the lagoon
Today I went paddling in the lagoon with my Venetian friend Marco and his friend Damien from Padova. We didn’t have any particular plans, just paddle and have fun. Here’s Damien in his rusty old kayak And here’s Marco in the Current Design Solstice that Wendy is going to paddle around Sardinia (Marco has a…
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Small Home Office Disturbance
As I’m sitting here at Bar Maleti on the Gran Viale of the Lido di Venezia, the place is suddenly invaded. The two little ladies with their newspapers and espresso didn’t create much of a fuss, but the wedding party with photographer and everything did cause a minor commotion.
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Change of plans
Any adventure involves coping with the unexpected and the unforeseen. Unfortunately, I have had a solid dose of unexpected and unforeseen even before the start of our journey, as I lost all my personal and vehicle documents on the way to Italy two weeks ago. I left Denmark early to guide a group of Danish…
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Don’t hurry we’re already late
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Maybe I’m getting more italianised that I had ever imagined, but I actually managed to write the above sentence in an email to Wendy lately. I meant it and I still do. No mistake there. It is well known that people from Southern Europe has a different sense of time that people from Northern Europe.…
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The Giudecca
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Today’s paddle me took to the Giudecca of Venice. It used to be an industrial area with housing for working class families, there’s quite a bit of run down houses and abandoned factories and shipyards. New houses on the south side of the Giudecca. Older, but nice looking houses in the Giudecca. Abandonded shipyard buildings…
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Little surprises in the lagoon
Today’s paddle became rather special, for a number of reasons. I started in the afternoon after a morning’s hard work at the internet café. Their coffee is appallingly good, but paddling need to be done. First thing, I encountered the first paddler ever in the lagoon, except of course Marco who always complains that nobody…
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Life at the Lido
So today I’ve spent most of the time sitting at Café Maleti on the Gran Viale of the Lido, updating blogs and doing email. Life is hard, but they do make good coffee and food, and absolutely great icecream. Then I have to stand the pathetic view across to the lagoon to Venice each and…
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Camping San Nicolò
I’m still stuck in Venice waiting for documents and credit cards so I can continue my journey. Naturally, it’s a downer being stuck somewhere when you expected to be somewhere else, but there are worse places to be stuck than on the Lido of Venice. I’m staying at the Camping San Nicolò at the northern…
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Skim in Venice
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Here are some photos of the new Skim Distance in Venice and surroundings. The Skim Distance parked besides a very busy inner city canal. Paddling in front of the city just east of St. Mark’s Square. Parked on the side of the main canal at Murano. Paddling with Maria in the lagoon of Venice near…
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Now bad weather too
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When the last participants from Kajakhotellet’s tour to Venice left yesterday, most were complaining about returning to the gloomy weather of the cold North. We had brilliant weather all week, sunshine and temperatures of 25-30º C. Had they known how the weather would change. Right now I’m sitting in my underwear under a canopy at…
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More bad omens
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On my way down here I managed to lose just about every important document I have. I only had one credit card left. Incredibly I have managed to lose that as well. I kept it in a small plastic bag with lose change, but apparently the close contact with coins has worn down the magnetic…
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Avatak paddles
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On our way down to Italy we passed by Varese near Milan to visit Nicola de Florio of Avatak Pagaie. Nicola had promised Wendy and me an Avatak paddle each for our journey, and he has kept his promise twice over. Our agreement was for a Greenland style paddle each, a take apart paddle for…
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Less auspicuous start of journey
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I started by three month journey in Italy by driving from Copenhagen to Venice on motorbike. On the way I passed Avatak Paddles in Varese to pick up a consignment for Kajakhotellet.dk and the paddles Nicola has made for Wendy and me. More on that later. I left Copenhagen on 9PM saturday and drove all…
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The new Skim Distance
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I had the new Skim Distance out for a short paddle today. The colours of the boat are beautiful, but the weather was a bit dark and cloudy. That’ll be better in Sicily and Sardinia 🙂 Each time I try the Distance, I’m surprised how manoeuvrable it is, in spite of its considerable length.
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Sponsored by Skim Kayaks
When I started looking for sponsors for the circumnavigation of Sardinia and Sicily with Wendy Killoran, Skim Kayaks in Sweden were the very first I contacted for support. I know their kayaks well from Kajakhotellet here in Copenhagen, where I have paddled both models, and quite a few of my friends have Skim kayaks and…