What’s SUP, Summer?

Much like every other year, we thought this summer would be one of a slower pace, with plans limited, a busy work diary and adventure opportunities initially seeming sparse – We couldn’t have been more wrong.

In late May, we ventured down to South Wales with Melissa’s family, in search of a relaxed family holiday, prioritising chill time. Although there was the option of staying in the main house, we still elected to stay in the van on the driveway, clinging onto the adventure vibe as much as we could. With a trip planned to Snowdonia only a fortnight after this, we were quite happily chilling when Melissa’s dad mentioned the Gower Peninsula – Cue the lightbulb moment.

Firstly, WHAT A PLACE.

We just couldn’t help ourselves but embark on a little road trip of The Gower, so we went for one of the most scenic drives you can get in South Wales and loved every minute of it. Like most of the South coast of Wales, the coastal activities are off the scale! We saw all manner of outdoor enthusiasts doing their chosen hobbies and it was really inspiring, to say the least.

One of the most common sights was folks out and about on stand up Paddleboards (SUPs). Having spent a very limited amount of time on these in the past (namely down to a mixture of poor balance and more interested in the BBQ on the beach) I wasn’t overly enthusiastic about the possibility of owning one.

After much deliberation, I’d come to terms with wanting to own one of the best paddleboards on the market which had a very special place in my heart being from my hometown – A HIKS SUP. So when the magic of Facebook Marketplace showed me one for sale in only a matter of paces from our front door, it seemed like a wise investment… what an understatement.

With the first potential outing planned for the following week, the SUP was packed and we were bound for Eryri National Park for Jack’s birthday, the weather was looking insanely hot and if there was ever an ideal time to fall in love with all things SUP, it was then.

Boy, did we fall in love.

With temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and not a cloud in the sky we headed out on Llyn Padarn in Llanberis – without a doubt one of the best spots in Snowdonia for a paddle. We initially took it in turns on the board, each learning to master the standing element (which is much harder than it looks) until a point where we were both quite chuffed with ourselves. At the end of our first day we decided that another board is next on the list, with us returning to the same spot later in the week with an additional hired SUP – This confirmed it!

This is where it got really exciting – after a bit of two and fro with HIKS on Instagram, it was clear we shared very similar values and with being from the same village, we knew a lot of the same people and places. After a little while a plan was forged for us to work together in order to promote each others brands. We jumped at the opportunity to work with them, knowing just how far we could take their products, we set to putting a plan in motion for our first outing being the owners of not one, but two HIKS SUP’s!

Our HIKS SUPs – The Maori and the Tribal, perfectly matched to the pair of us!

Emergency Adventure – Scotland

With a few local paddles on our new boards under our belts, an opportunity arose to head further afeild – SCOTLAND. This trip came out of nowhere, with us both being granted some leave after one of the busiest periods at work we’ve ever had – This one has since been nicknamed the ‘Emergency Adventure’.

Covering almost 2600 miles, from Essex to the very northwestern tip of Scotland, without a doubt the best roads we’ve ever driven, down through the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, our emergency adventure was without a doubt the highlight of the summer. We lucked out on the weather on the most part, despite this our boards regrettably stayed in their bags for longer than we’d hoped for and with one good reason – MIDGES. We’ll be covering this topic in greater depth in another post in the near future, but it’s needless to say… they were relentless.

We initially started on the East Coast, after travelling up through the Cairngorms National Park, bound for inverness. With the intention of covering the simply stunning roads made famous by The Grand Tour when they visited Scotland. Along this road we discovered so many amazing SUP spots which we will be returning to when there’s less wee beasties flying about.

We soon reached the delights of the Isle of Skye, this was a very welcome relief as the island breeze was keeping the midges at bay, even just for a short while. Our first sup spot was sat right in front of us, windy enough to keep all of the beasties at bay – The Atlantic Ocean. The spot was out of this world, without a doubt the best spot we’ve ever paddled in. The sea marginally shadowed by the mighty Cuillin Ridge in a cove surrounded by rocky outcrops, waterfalls from mountain run off and views across to the Isle of Rum and beyond.

As shown above, the spot was like nothing else we had ever seen. Surrounded by the finest mountains to be found in the UK, crystal clear waters of the Atlantic Ocean and marbled sandy beaches, we couldn’t have asked for a better place to finally get our sups in the water. So much so we awoke early the following day to head out on a sunrise paddle, despite it being freezing cold in the shadow of the Black Cuillin, watching the sun crest the tips of the mountains was worth the cold and the very early wakeup call.

As we neared the end of our trip, we departed the Hebrides and headed south towards Glasgow, the plan being one last mini adventure paddle on Loch Lomond before crossing the border on the final day. As we headed south, the weather became somewhat less than favourable, by the time we reached Glencoe the wind was really shifting and Dougal was feeling lighter under the wheels. We were headed for our good friends at the PLYGUYS for their summer party (which was epic as always) so with the conditions not favouring getting our SUPs out on Loch Lomond, we opted for a refuel and a freshen up at the infamous Green Welly Stop ahead of the evenings antics.

Eryri National Park – Part 2

With us back home from our emergency adventure and busy work periods fast approaching, I jumped on the opportunity to head to North Wales in search of some late summer adventures. With mountains and climbing at the top of the agenda, I was still swayed towards packing my trusty HIKS SUP.

With the weather looking changeable but pleasant, mountain conditions varying and cloudy tops, this presented an amazing opportunity to get out on the board between climbs, surrounded by the best mountains in Eryri National Park. Another visit was made to the epic Llyn Padarn after our success earlier on in the year, unfortunately finding the local carpark covered in council literature informing its users of the impending doom of the car park becoming yet another cash cow – not impressed!

Later on in the week the weather improved dramatically and with a couple of climbs under my belt in the beginning part of the day, there was nothing left to do but find a spot to enjoy the heat of the afternoons sun. This led me to a little spot I cased out in poorer weather a few days prior, and one was another belter. Nestled in the one of the valley’s in the heart of Snowdonia, with views of Snowdon and Crib Goch in the distance, ill leave this one as a ‘if you know you know’ kind of vibe, as this is now one of the last remaining free paddling spots in the entirety of Snowdonia National Park.

Last of the summer wine

Just as we thought summer was all over, the weather turned for the better and we managed one last summer adventure out on our SUPs and it couldn’t have been a better sendoff to an awesome summer of fun, with this also presenting us with an amazing opportunity to test out our new electric pump that HIKS had kindly gifted us and I have to say – what a piece of kit! We rose very early in order to catch the sunrise on an awesome stretch of The Stour at Dedham in Essex, with our boards inflated with now only marginal effort, we were soon in the water and headed towards the first heat of the morning sun.

Whilst this is only a relatively short paddle, we were lucky enough to witness the mist rolling across the fields, the cows awakening and starting their pilgrimage for sweet dewy grass and the early morning birdsong before plotting up a short way down the river for coffee and croissants before making friends with the resident swans and cygnets certainly not the worst way to spend a Sunday morning.

Reflecting on the last few months

With our summer of adventure now almost certainly over, the first frost of the year on the ground and halloween not far away, looking back on our adventures has been incredible, we’ve travelled far and wide and explored so many new places. Likewise it has been a summer of rediscovery, seeing familiar lands from a new perspective, allowing us to deepen our adventures whilst being on the water and we owe it all to a very select few people.

With that in mind we’d both like to say the biggest THANK YOU to HIKS Paddleboards for supporting us on our summer of epic adventures, your kindness and enthusiasm for our travels and most of all, for our boards, kit and so much more that you have gifted us – We really couldn’t have done any of this without you. We are so ludicrously excited to keep working with you and we’ve got so many adventures planned already!

Now, if you’ve made it this far… I’m firstly super thankful that you’ve read all the way to the bottom (Bravo!), we do have a little something if we’ve inspired you to get out on some SUP adventures or you’re now considering purchasing a HIKS SUP – Use the HIKSDOUGAL for 20% off EVERYTHING (with a few small exceptions like gift cards) as a thank you to all of our followers!

We are SO excited to do all of this and so, so much more in 2024, we’ve got so many plans and some of them are pretty epic, we can’t wait to see you there!

Check some of our summer highlights below!