Yes, one of the great things about being a parent is, of course, parental leave. And parental leave meant for us spending time together traveling as a family. And so at the end of July we traveled from Lake Constance to the North for two months. The first stop was England. We did not really have England on our inner kitesurfing map, but there are really great spots for shallow water and wave. We traveled the South Coast and stopped at spots like Camber Sands, Hayling Island and Weymouth. What surprised us was the English preference for kite clubs. You have to be a member somewhere at most spots in the south of England or pay harbor fees to kites …. Unfortunately, we did not have that much wind, but we still had very good days with excellent kite conditions and on windless days the wakeboarding facilities in New Forest and Liquid Leisure (London) are very nice. Unfortunately we had no wind in Cornwall. To kite there must be so amazing. The view from the water on the cliffs must be gigantic.
After a month and a still not so good-looking wind forecast, we packed the tents – or rather the motorhome – and headed back to the mainland. Maasvlakte near Rotterdam then provided us with a great lagoon and a lot of wind. Actually, we just wanted to make a short stopover here, but we liked it so much that we stayed for a week. The last month we spent in Denmark, where it was still very warm in September thanks to the summer of the century.
In summary, it can be said that traveling with a child and kiting is ideal in a motorhome. You always have everything you need, be it diapers, a place to hold a nap or something to eat. The motorhome offers the baby a retreat and a bit of “home”. Traveling together and the intense experience of everyday life has welded us together as a family even more.
It took me some time to dare to do full speed kiting again. Before the first S-Bend I had more than respect and it took a lot of effort to trust my body that it knows what it is doing. After the first successful landing, you can not understand why you were so scared. But after such a long break due to the pregnancy you have to kinda learn every trick again.
I hope to have some more good autum kite days now at home in Southern Germany or Switzerland, before we leave again in winter for part two of parental leave.
