ATLANTIC SHORES SEA KAYAKING

Atlantic Shores is committed to giving you a sublime sea kayak journey experience.

Most of our expeditions & trips have cultural, creative and other experiences as part of the journey.
So if you want to sea kayak expedition in remote wild places, but also want to sample local malt whiskies, photograph or draw some seascapes, climb a couple of peaks, explore local culture & history, flora & fauna, experience foraging & camp cooking, visit a folk festival or just sing a few shanties round a campfire, you could well find something suitable in one of our events.
Everything we do aims to give you a great experience in an informal, supportive, welcoming & inclusive environment.

Who are we?

Atlantic Shores is run by Alan Ashby. Alan is a British Canoeing Advanced Sea Leader & Guide, who has many years of experience of organising and leading sea kayaking activities with groups of all sorts of ability levels.
When younger Alan competed at top division levels in both slalom and white water racing, and returned to the sport after spending 30 years working as a director developing surgical orthopaedic products for major multinational healthcare companies.
For the last five years Alan has run Sea Kayaking activities for British Canoeing's Cumbria Region, winning British Canoeing's volunteer of the year award in 2016.
Alan works with a small team of additional guides and subject matter experts who bring specific expertise and capabilities for particular events.

Where do we operate?

We are based in the English Lake district, but operate mainly on the west and north west coasts of Scotland and the Inner and Outer Hebrides.
We also offers trips in Anglesey, Orkney, Shetland, and other prime sea kayaking destinations around the UK.
Each year we arrange International expeditions to Brittany, Norway and other European destinations.

What do we offer?

We offer sea kayaking journeys and expeditions of varying durations and difficulty to prime sea kayaking locations in the UK and Europe.
Many of our trip events offer a lot more than just a sea kayaking journey. These events are themed and can be assisted by subject matter experts to give you the benefit of their experience and knowledge.
Have a look at our calendar for events for the coming season. Most of these trips are tried and tested, but we regularly add new events that will be new experiences both for us and our participants.
One of our most popular themes is around Whisky and the variations found as you travel around the Hebrides. Other popular themes are drawing & photography, great camp food, folk music, coastal history & ecology.

You can find our upcoming events calendar here.

Ethos & Philosophy

Our only purpose is that you have a great time (and of course stay safe). We have a relaxed informal and welcoming supportive approach.
We involve participants in the experience of authentic journeying by kayak in the wild.
We want you to learn skills and develop personally through the journey. We want you to experience wild nature harmoniously.
On journeys we are one team and we will all have allocated roles for the day - whether that's our turn to cook, or to set up a campfire, or to put up a tarp for shelter for the group.
Sharing the experience together in this way really adds to the experience of the journey.

The Environment

As travellers in wild places we want to ensure they remain as unspoiled as possible, especially by our visit there. So we leave no trace, except some temporary steps in the sand, and take nothing but photographs (or drawings). We disturb wildlife as little as possible.
We also try to ensure that our generation of waste and use of resources has as light an effect on the planet as possible. We encourage participants to share transport, we buy local products with as little packaging as possible, we reuse all our storage containers.