18^th May 2014

6am came round pretty quickly as I hadn't arrived at Paull until around midnight and what I was planning to do that day would knock two or three days walking off the trek and hopefully allow me to meet the guys at the spurn point rnli station earlier than expected.

I'd calculated that I had a maximum of 6 hours from when I left Paull to get approximately 25 miles down the river humber before the tide started coming in. If I was to walk the river banks I would have to navigate the salt marshes and sea defences which would be over 30 miles. I unpacked hoolley and prepared myself for what would be the longest paddle we had taken together since the beginning of the challenge and I really hoped she hadn't got a puncture because once we had left dry land there would be absolutely no where to get out until we arrived at spurn point as soft, dangerous, mud banks would cut us off as the tides receded. As always the buzz began and I set off on an epic attempt to paddle the humber towards the mouth and ultimately back to the coast.

The sun was out, the water was calm and there was hardly a breeze in the air. I startes paddling out with the tide making reasonable progress with every stroke. I came up on a walker just outside Paull and we exchanged pleasantries and I told him about the challenge. It wasn't long before the walker was a speck on the river bank behind me I kept paddling all the time aware of the huge boats leaving hull andd heading for holland as well as the mud banks being revealed by the river as the tide went out and the water levels dropped.

It was a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky. The water like a nicely polished glass top and progress was good. I kept looking for land marks ahead of me so that I could estimate where I was based on my memory of the satellite images. I knew I had to stay close to the banks but also stay deep enough to catch the currents to assist my attempt. I also knew that at points I could be cut of or grounded on the mud banks beneath me which would be disastrous. Occasionally my paddles hit the mud and I could see reeds poking out from the water. This is never a good situation to be in so I altered course and aimed for deeper channels.

After about 3 and a half hours I spotted a small boat heading up the river, it slowed and turned heading towards me, it was a police launch. As they approached I stopped paddling and pulled up alongside them. One of the officers said "where you headed? Holland! " lol I had laugh as I explained I was off to see the boys at the rnli station at spurn point and that this was just a small adventure in a much bigfer challenge. They were extremely impressed with Hoolley and my journey so far and offered me some water and a hot can of food. I great fully took the water as it was getting warmer and I was starting to feel dehydrated but decided a hot can was probably not such a good idea in an inflatable kayak. Before parting ways the officer asked if I had been aware that a seal had been following me, I hadn't noticed it but explained how it wasn't the first time.

I was now getting close to my destination and had about an hour and a half to go before I could land on the beach and get some lunch when I heard a squirt of air and a splash behind me. It was a porpoise and it scared the crap out of me! I'd wondered what the hell had happened. I still couldn't see the point and solid land was a very long way off. I'd reached the final section of the trip and my backside was getting numb and uncomfortable.

18^th May 2014

With the heat haze on the horizon I wasn't able to see my destination ahead of me and being so far from land I wasn't able to see any points of reference to gauge my progress so I carried on paddling and hoped I would soon find spurn point. I'd broken my watch some weeks earlier and had hoped the tide hadn't turned and started coming in.

I was looking for a jetty I had seen on the satellite images as that would be where I was hoping to land hoolley and finish the trip. Using the shipping lane as a reference I kept going when I finally saw what I thought was the jetty ahead of me. I wasn't aware that the recent storms had almost turned the spit I was heading for into an island and headed directly for it. The water was starting to get a little choppy but I wasn't too concerned as I'd paddle much worse conditions before and kept my witts about me focussing on the jetty I was approaching. As I passed the end of the jetty I saw the welcome bright orange paintwork of the rnli life boat and headed in. The guys were working on the boat which turns out to have been a temporary replacement while theirs was in for servicing. I landed on the beach called across to ben and introduced myself. Ben hopped into their rib and came ashore to greet me and helped carry hoolley up to the station where he made me a welcome cuppa and explained how they hadn't been expecting me for at least a couple more days 

Spurn point rnli station is the only permanently manned rnli station and had resident crew quarters so it was a very unique experience. It also used to house the families of the crew but it had been decided to move the families off the point just prior to the tidal surge which knocked out the only road to the small community. The lads were really nice and I was invited to stay the night and joined them for chilli and chill out. Ben, 2nd coxswain even washed my clothes! But refused to fold them as well  it was great spending time with them but morning came and I had to eventually leave and continue with the trek. I checked my phone and found a message from bbc radio Humberside asking if they could catch up with my progress Monday morning and more importantly to see if there had been anymore random acts of kindness. I called them to arrange a time but wasn't sure if there would be anything to really talk about other than the guys at the station and the walk I was about to make. Well Yorkshire is a particularly friendly county and what happened during the day was as always something special.