Not me, I don’t have the ***** for it, but this bloke does and it looks to be an amazing idea/experience and strangely altruistic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62661275

I will try and follow on YouTube and may be inspired to do something outside of my comfort zone in the next year.

I guess his wife gets a year off too so it’s a win-win

Yep, the hardest part of any dangerous and long term leisure pursuit is being selfish enough to put your family through it.

You get to ‘find yourself’ and all the publicity – they get to sit at home worried sick for a year. Yay.

There is a lot to be said for having the courage to cast off what society expects from you and instead doing what is right for you.

Fair play to the guy.

I agree with both @winston and @seriousrikk…

Karen will be fine,she will crank up the heating to 11 over the winter,sell the jewellery business in the spring and move to Brazil. Ken will find peace and a new life on Shetland ,where he will become world famous for his Sea otter photography. 😉 😀

Yep, the hardest part of any dangerous and long term leisure pursuit is being selfish enough to put your family through it.

You get to ‘find yourself’ and all the publicity – they get to sit at home worried sick for a year. Yay.

&

There is a lot to be said for having the courage to cast off what society expects from you and instead doing what is right for you.

Fair play to the guy.

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but yeah as much as I applaud the man for doing this it’s an inherently selfish act. However, I do hope he finds whatever it is he’s searching for & wish him bon voyage.

Yeh I’ll be following out of interest too (used to do a fair bit of sea kayaking and some sailing), but agree with some of the above sentiments re family.

It’s not as if he’s actually out at sea for a year, but spending a year travelling round via the sea, so they could meet up with him if he/they wanted it.

I value the time I get to myself for solo cycling/camping, but like being with my family oddly enough. My wife did actually suggest I took a couple of months off just before covid (as a 50th present) for me to go cycle touring, but I said I’d not like to go on my own for that long, I’d like to do it with them.

Maybe they wanted rid of me though 😂

》Maybe they wanted rid of me 《 they did,but in a nice way 😉 😀

Some of best bits of big tours are the setting off and those last few miles before getting home. 👍
Three weeks is long enough for me..

My wife has told me I can go to the USA for two months touring next year. Problem is getting the time off work. I could do it buy carrying leave forward but not getting much love for the idea at work. My immediate boss supports it but further up the chain the reply was no pending an ongoing review. Hopefully get an answer in January. With the huge energy bills coming up chucking the job is not an option. Previous trips have involved a mix of holidays and unpaid leave but that was a different employer.

Atleast he’s doing it in Scotland. If you tried that around Englandshire you’d have to give up after a week when you were thoroughly covered head to toe in shoreline turd.

Yep, the hardest part of any dangerous and long term leisure pursuit is being selfish enough to put your family through it.

You get to ‘find yourself’ and all the publicity – they get to sit at home worried sick for a year. Yay.

^^kinda this for me^^

Three weeks is long enough for me..

But also ^^this^^.

More than a day and I get jealous recriminations about my “me time” if I’m off cycling for more than 24hrs, my mental health is intrinsically linked to my other Half’s current state of mind…

Riding bikes moderates my mood, but there’s a tipping point with the boss, if I **** off for a year I reckon I’d be coming home to divorce papers…

I have the means, skill and genuine desire to buy a 36ft yacht and sail round the world for a year or two.
I also have a wife and two teenage kids.

My wife now earns 4 times my salary and has made it clear that if I chose to do this she would still be my wife when I got back. Its my choice. The kids hmmm…sort it out with them.

Storms and pirates (they very much still exist) pale into insignificance v leaving my family and worrying about them every day I would be away.

Hence its a dream that will wait for me.

 have the means, skill and genuine desire to buy a 36ft yacht and sail round the world for a year or two.

My wife now earns 4 times my salary and has made it clear that if I chose to do this she would still be my wife when I got back

Sounds like a green light to me. No chance of taking any or all of them with you? Old age sneeks up pretty fast, you don’t want to have death bed regrets

Atleast he’s doing it in Scotland. If you tried that around Englandshire you’d have to give up after a week when you were thoroughly covered head to toe in shoreline turd

You’d be wanting your cholera jabs for sure!!

BBC News – Guinness World Record: Man rides 38 miles in giant pumpkin
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-62716252

Pfft this guy’s doing it in a pumpkin

I did not expect so much negativity.

I totally get the family ties stuff and feel the same about my life. However, he tried to commit suicide a few years ago, so maybe his family are fine with him heading off to do ‘his thing’ as it will be less likely that he will try again.

If you tried that around Englandshire you’d have to give up after a week when you were thoroughly covered head to toe in shoreline turd

Comments like that are frustrating though. I have spent a lot of my leisure time in the sea in ‘Englandshire’ and am still mostly healthy. Maybe the frigid North Sea addled the head of the skirt wearing Scotlander.

Comments like that are frustrating though. I have spent a lot of my leisure time in the sea in ‘Englandshire’ and am still mostly healthy.

So do I, I was in the sea today in fact, which is why it breaks my heart that it’s been allowed to become the turd fest it is

Nick lives nearby in Tobermory, but never had the chance to meet him, just seen him paddling off or seeing his boat down in the harbour. I follow him on IG and Twitter – his posts at times can be painfully honest. He‘s recently published a book about his previous kayak trip around Scotland.

It’s a special kind of wife that can deal with that for sure, not much different to being away at sea on the ships for months at a time.

Comments like that are frustrating though. I have spent a lot of my leisure time in the sea in ‘Englandshire’ and am still mostly healthy.

My mate was forced to sit out a dive session on the beach the other day with a herring gull as her companion as the lifeguard was keeping people out the water since Southern Water had contaminated it with so much shit. Blue flags are a distant memory for some.

I have the means, skill and genuine desire to buy a 36ft yacht and sail round the world for a year or two.
I also have a wife and two teenage kids.

My wife now earns 4 times my salary and has made it clear that if I chose to do this she would still be my wife when I got back. Its my choice. The kids hmmm…sort it out with them.

Storms and pirates (they very much still exist) pale into insignificance v leaving my family and worrying about them every day I would be away.

Hence its a dream that will wait for me.

TBH isn’t this the sort of dream people aspire to do in retirement with the missus.

Although I do think you have to do whilst being fit enough to enjoy it so there is a timing element.

I’m wishing him all the best and am now following him on Insta & YouTube.
What an adventure he’s setting out on!

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do, but yeah as much as I applaud the man for doing this it’s an inherently selfish act. However, I do hope he finds whatever it is he’s searching for & wish him bon voyage.

I’m not sure I’d use the word selfish.  I’ve not watched the back catalogue of videos to see if there’s any explanation of the discussions that lead up to this.  However I’d assume that anyone who’s got to the point of doing this has had some serious discussions and there was some degree of agreement involved.

Which of these are selfish acts:

– working on merchant ship or oil rig for months away from home?

– going to work for an aid agency in Africa for a year?

– sailing into the sunset with your wife but leaving behind your adult children and grand children?

– leaving your parents and grand parents behind in your 20’s to live in Aus/NZ/Can?

– getting divorced because you no longer get what you want from the relationship?

– remaining living with your partner when you have depression and being a drain on the house, because you don’t have the motivation to get up in the morning

– quitting a high-paid job to open a small craft business?

– quitting the family business that makes very little money to pursue a high paid job?

I think when people say selfish about this they don’t mean selfish.  They mean – a bit of that appeals to me, and I’d like to justify to myself why I’m not doing it by presenting my decision not to do this as altruistic rather than just saying – I value other things (whether its home comforts, cash or family life) more than the adventure that this would be.

I did not expect so much negativity.

I thought the entire adventure was a bit “Don’t look at me…” and reflected his mental illness. He published a book of his previous travels over three months in summer which I thought was notable and interesting. I wouldn’t say this is selfish per se (any more than other activities like cycle racing), but the need for recognition for the endeavour was what I found most noticeable. Sorry if that comes across as a bit harsh. Hope it goes well when he’s paddling in the couple of hours of daylight midwinter (previously it was a Summer expedition).

Having worked with Nick at Outward Bound in Eskdale for some years in the late 80’s, a kinder, more gentle soul with a big heart you’ll probably not meet. He’s pretty open about his personal challenges with depression and attempts and battles with suicidal feelings. I remember visiting him in a locked ward in Kendal a fair few years ago so his struggles are long term and pretty deep rooted, but, he is winning and coping a lot better now.

His blog is up front, well written and frank about the ups and downs he’s been through. I’m sure raising awareness of mental health has actually helped others too. @TiRed… one of his constant long term battles with depression and triggers to attempt suicide revolves around self worth so that may come through in his book. A lot of us have tried to boost this whilst he was in locked wards and subsequent visits to his NHS psych nurse team and whilst we didn’t get replies, the messages were read and he knows people are there for him. He is loved and valued by a lot of folk and I think he gets it now.

I’ve very happy memories of sea kayak and surf trips with Nick, pre work runs down the upper Esk and all sorts of watery scrapes and adventures. I wish him all the best. He’s an experienced paddler and technically, well up to a year out. I’m looking forward to reading his blog and I’ll be sending a Tobermory Single Malt to one of his food stops.

I think his trip is interesting and it might give a break from the hard winter that doubtless awaits most of us so I’ll follow him on twitter.

What’s his name on instagram? I can’t find him

https://www.instagram.com/nick_lifeafloat/

Web / blog
https://www.lifeafloat.co.uk

Good luck to the fella….

To quote Frank Turner “good ideas become commitments” in both directions.

Thanks!