Hilbre Island Paddle: Sunshine, Smooth Waters, and Sea Air

Hilbre Island Paddle: Sunshine, Smooth Waters, and Sea Air

If you’re looking for the recipe for a pretty much perfect paddle, look no further than our trip out to Hilbre Island today. The weather was glorious, sunshine from start to finish and wonderfully light winds. It felt like summer had decided to make a late-season cameo just for us.

We timed our entry with the tide hitting the bottom of the slipway, which arrived right on cue, 1 hour and 50 minutes before high water on Hilbre Island.

Colin, Sue, Keith, Phil, Bryan, and Olwen—gathered at the slipway to get sorted and kitted up. While we waited to launch, we had a friendly chat with two other groups of paddlers who were also soaking up the sunshine conditions before they too headed out towards Hilbre.

Once we were afloat, we pushed out into deeper water and set a gorgeous course around the last moored red boat and then pushed on past Little Eye Island, up toward Middle Eye and then explored along the west coast of Hilbre.

As we looped around, a slight swell picked up, treating us to some small overfalls on the end of the island. These overfalls seem to appear even with the calmest of conditions. True to form, everyone handled it brilliantly, and we all made it through with zero dramas.

For lunch, we pulled up on the sandy beach at the southern end of Hilbre. We took our time, kicked back in the warm sunshine, and enjoyed the view. In fact, we were so relaxed we ended up being the very last group of kayakers to leave the island! The walkers had to wait until 3 pm and the dropping tide before they could trek back to the mainland.

Heading back, we hugged the inshore line to dodge the worst of the ebbing tide. It worked a charm, and we glided right back to the slipway with plenty of water still beneath our hulls.

Another cracking day on the water with a brilliant crew. Until the next adventure!