St Kilda - 20-28th June 09
While the Outer Hebrides has often been described as ' the finest sea kayaking coastline in the world ', St. Kilda is a jewel in the Hebridean crown. The highest sea cliffs in Britain provide an awe inspiring backdrop with countless caves and natural arches. The cliffs are festooned with birds and the ocean is teeming with marine life. The sea stacks (Stac an Armin and Stac Lee) are home to the largest gannetry on the planet.

With all this spectacular scenery and wildlife and its fascinating history St Kilda has always had a powerful draw on sea kayakers. This is a seldom found opportunity for a trip of a lifetime to visit this magical island with its Dual World Heritage Site a 'Must See' wonder of the natural world.

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Travel: You can either travel up with us from Holyhead in our vehicle; fly into Glasgow and get picked up by us; met us at Uig to catch the ferry to the Hebrides; or meet us at Uist Outdoor Center on the Hebrides. We will leave Holyhead at 9am on Sat 20th June 09. We can pick up people at Glasgow airport at 4pm. We will stop over night at a Youth hostel en route (please note the cost of the hostel is not included in the expedition price but we can book you in if you wish, please book early to avoid disapointment). We will be catching the 1415 hrs ferry from Uig to Uist on the afternoon of the 21st, arriving at North Uist at 1600 where we are booked into a campsite at Uist Outdoors Centre.

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Kayaking: We have chartered a large rib from Niall Johnson of Uist Outdoor Center to get us out to St Kilda. This can carry 8 sea kayaks and paddlers. During the five day window we have available to us when the weather looks most suitable we plan to head out to St Kilda one day and paddle and explore half of the archipelago; then with special permission granted to us camp on the main island overnight before paddling and exploring the second half of the archipelago. The remainder of the five days either before or after St Kilda will be spent paddling and exploring other parts of the Hebrides by kayak, as an expedition. If we don't get out to St Kilda and so don't use the rib there will be a £200 rebate on the price of the course. In this case we will make the most of the beautiful Outer Hebridies islands and do the best expedition the weather allows us, ie Butt of Lewis, Mingelay etc. We will have a maximum of six kayakers and two guides.

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Equiptment: All expedition members are expected to be largely self sufficient; to include personal kayaking equipment and camping equipment. We can provide boats, paddle's, bouyancy aids, tents etc, let us know on booking what you need. The expedition will start and finish from a camp site  but will be wild camping for the rest.

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Food: Buying expedition supplies on the Hebrides is time consuming and expensive so we are advising that expedition members shop by internet from Tesco’s and have the provisions delivered to our office in Anglesey. We shall then bring the provisions with us in the support vehicle. We plan to camp from the kayaks for a maximum of 4 nights.