Hi, my name is Jeff Allen. I was born in the winter of 1962, my father was in the army and for much of my early life I was brought up in the north of London. When I was 16 years old I followed in my fathers footsteps and I joined the army. I loved the military way of life, the harsh discipline and mixture of fear and respect for the Drill Sergeants was a welcome change to the rebellious life I had lived till then. Lord Louis Mountbatten took my ‘Passing out’ parade and it wasnt long before I was jetting off to Germany to join. . . .
Hello, just thought I would put up a post to mention that I shall be meeting Mark Schoon off the plane tomorrow, we shall be heading straight off to London to pick up his kayak before setting off to Sweden to begin our Sea Kayak Scandinavia expedition. We shall be updating the blog regularly and shall try when possible to include photographs as well. 29 February 2008 Well Mark and I have departed from the United Kingdom and are now on the ferry to Denmark. Since Mark arrived at 1600 on Monday we have driven over 1600 miles, collecting kayaks and equipment. This has felt like an expedition in itself!! Anyway we are now off and away, we hope to be at Escape Kajak Centre by late afternoon early evening tomorrow. We plan to be paddling out from Gothenburg on the morning of the fourth of March. The crossing from Harwich to Esbjerg takes about 15 hours and the captain has just announced that due to Storm conditions we are to remain below decks. Mark told me that he tends to attract a lot of wind, I didnt think it would occurr so quickly. Hippo Piddling guys 2 March 2008 We have arrived safe and sound in Gothenburg, reciving fine hospitality from Johan and Sara of Escape. This morning we set about fitting our kayaks out and sorting our kit out. This evening we went along to the pool session, it was a session for beginners but both Mark and I were surprised at the standard of rolling, some students had only been along for their second or third session but were already rolling left and right. The area is really quite beautiful but Mark and I are both looking forward to hitting the trail and heading North. Hippo Piddling guys
Mark loading his kayak
4 March 2008 Well today is the day we are off! Having spent the last couple of days sorting through kit and caboodle we are just about ready, delivered a slide show to local sea paddlers last night, which I hope went down well. We seem to have found space for most things in our kayaks, stuff that I have never thought of taking on Xped before, along with all of its associated charging equipment, I dare say it will find itself in the post after a few days and heading back down to Escape Kayak centre, who I have got to comment on. Since arriving in Gothenburg Johan and Sara have taken it upon themselves to be our hosts, finer hosts you couldn’t find anywhere, they have fed us, provided us with accomodation and let us use their facilities to sort out equipment, running us here and there to stock up on last minute sundry items etc, got to say a big, BIG thankyou to them both, THANKYOU!! We hope to be on the water by midday which leaves one or two more thankyou’s before the off, Karel is already providing us with accurate forcasts and Simon is updating the business website while we are away, thankyou guys, for further information on updates etc you can go to www.seakayakingcornwall.com and click on the Sea Kayak Scandinavia link top right.
Hippo Piddling guys
Escape Kayak Center customers & Friends listening to two old foggies waffle on!!
Johan & Jeff going over maps and charts prior to departure. Johan has already paddled all of the Norwegian coast over a four year period.
15 03 2008
Hi, we are now in Arendal, guests of Atle and the Arendal Kayak club. We have had an amazing series of paddling days, you have to have been born here to just paddle on by the coast line we have been paddling along, it is an amazing section of the worlds many coasts, from the many small deserted fishing villages along Swedens west coast to the southern coast of Norway, the Skagerack is beautiful. We have had a right mixed bag of weather, from force 7 headwinds, and flat seas on the inner channels, working our way through a whole maze of islands, to force 6 headwinds, Passing reefs and shorebreaks which have had us looking for shelter. As with many of these journeys it is not only the scenery and sea states which make them special, but also the people we meet along the way. Many thanks to Johan, Sara, Mr & Mrs Maxson, Stig, Eric, Pål, Hanne, Dag, Bryan and Atle our host for this evening. You have all been great supporters and we owe you our gratitude. Thankyou.
Monday March 17, 2008.
We are now in Kristiansund, I have bad stomack cramps, dodgy bit of pork I do believe but it has me running to the loo repeatadly!
We paddled today from Lillisund, going down through theBlindleia, this is a classic route along the Southern coast of Norway, it winds in and out of many islands along the way and we were told by Rune in Arendal ‘ even if you have perfect weather on the outside you must take this way!’ So we did, it is awesome and well worth the visit, the fact that the forecast was for a Nor-westerly 6-7 didnt influence us a bit !!!! ‘Honest Guv’
We are only two days from Lindesness, one of the hard places we shall have to journey around, followed by a long and exposed section to Stavanger, we are hoping for a good forecast as there are no islands to break up the swell or limit the effects of the wind….Fingers crossed.
Entering the Blindleia
This shots for Mel, you never told me that come midnight he turns into a ‘Grizzly’.
About to leave Arendel with Atle and Rune.
19 March 2008 Hi, we are still in Kristiansand at the moment, getting over this stomach complaint but left feeling pretty weak, which is really frustrating as it is a great day for paddling, not so great tomorrow. But there’s always a plus side and todays plus was meeting local kayaker and author Lars Verket. Lars runs his own on-line magazine and also teaches and guides in the Kristiansand area, as well as being the author to a very well written guide book on this part of Norway, Lars is a very friendly and energy filled man with lots of local knowledge and we have spent much of today with him, if you wish to find out more about Lars you can visit his website at: http://www.adrenaline.no/ So we are spending tonight at the Kristiansand kayak club, hopefully departing early tomorrow morning. We hope everyone at home is fine and that you all have a very happy easter.
Instead of departing from Kristiansand this morning I ended up recieving a lift from Lars to the local hospital for blood and urine tests. Seems I didnt have food poisoning after all but infact have a viral infection. So we are going to be here for at least another 48 hours. After waking this morning to find that the sea actually had a very thin (8mm) layer of ice on its surface, you can imagine how dissappointed we were. Its snowed here for most of the day and with gale force winds tomorrow I guess if there was ever two days in which to be diagnosed sick, these were the best I could have chosen. Lars is very kindly allowing us to use his basement accomodation to sleep in so we are warm and happy, thankyou Lars & family.
A chilly morning packing. only to unpack again twenty minutes later.
Friday 21 March 2008
Mark and I managed to get out today and go for a short spell of cross country skiing. For me this was a first time event and ended in a few bumps!
30 March 2008
Stavanger………..
Here we are in Stavanger, staying with Erling Brox and his wife at their home near to the city center. We have had the oppurtunity to tour around the city and visit the local country side. We have decided to end this first leg here in Stavanger and to return home. Principally so that I can return and try to get my home sorted out prior to the busy season we have ahead of us, but also because Erling has agreed to storing our kayaks and equipment for us until we return for the next leg.
Initially we were looking at Bergen as our finish point, but logistically it makes far greater sence to finish here and it will be great to be able to see him and his wife Sonja again at the re-start of our journey.
31-3-2008 Update
‘Expedition delayed’
Hi guys, just to explain our decision to end the first leg of the ‘Sea Kayak Scandinavia’ expedition early.
As you may know whilst in Mandal about one week ago I recieved a call from my daughter Chantal to say that my home, which is a houseboat on the Fal Estuary had been destroyed by fire.
I have been faced with the choice of returning home and sorting this out or carrying on regardless. With a limited amount of cash flow I have had to decide between funding this expedition for a further month or using those same funds to try and rebuild my home.
The houseboat is my only financial investment I have besides our business and know that if I continue to carry on with the expedition further I will not only render myself effectively homeless, but shall also have little or no time left to be able to effect a refit in time before the busy season ahead arrives.
This would only serve to create a debt I could not afford to maintain.
My sincere apologies to the charities we have represented in Scandinavia, to all of our sponsors, supporters and to all of the people who have been following our progress for having to pull out a little early.
The overall project has just been delayed, not aborted. The expedition is a two to three year project and once my affairs are back in order we shall be picking up the gauntlet once more.
2 March 2008 We have arrived safe and sound in Gothenburg, reciving fine hospitality from Johan and Sara of Escape. This morning we set about fitting our kayaks out and sorting our kit out. This evening we went along to the pool session, it was a session for beginners but both Mark and I were surprised at the standard of rolling, some students had only been along for their second or third session but were already rolling left and right. The area is really quite beautiful but Mark and I are both looking forward to hitting the trail and heading North. Hippo Piddling guys 
.jpg)
.jpg)