Live life outdoors

I managed to do something today that I've wanted to do for a while, I took The Saucy Nancy III along The Hamble in the company of Katie Kayak (oh, and my big brother!) We parked up at the car park on Swanick Shore Road and got kitted up and then carried the kayaks down to the waters edge to shove off. After a slow paddle through the marina we then did something, that for some unknown reason, I find very exciting; we paddled under some bridges. we paddled under the M27. Now I have no idea why but I think it's great and I get excited every time I do it; simple pleasures. We then took a nice leisurely paddle up to the jetty at Manor Farm Country Park where we pulled the kayaks up on to the beach so that we could chill out and brew up. Once tea was over, the kit repacked and stowed away on the kayak we took back to the water to start on the the harder part of our paddle, heading downriver at the height of a rising tide which wasn't too bad until...

There are two philosophies for being outside in inclement weather. The first is that there is no such thing as bad weather, just bad kit, The second is that I don't mind being cold and I don't mind being wet but I don't like being both. Somewhere in the Venn diagram of where these two schools of thought meet is where I sit. On the whole I would rather be cold than wet. It's easier to warm up than get dry, especially if you're in the middle of the woods with limited dry kit available. The problem with being wet is that everything becomes a chore. For me there is actually a third weather issue that can be worse; hot weather. I'm a big guy and I sweat, a lot! When I'm out and about in the summer I tend to wear a Buff and a hat - be it a baseball cap or my favourite Tilley hat. I also try and carry a lot of water to keep myself hydrated. The ratio for the amount of water you need to carry is one litre of water for every two hours o...