There is pretty much an App for everything, so being a bit of a techno geek I thought it would be useful to have a run through just some of the Apps that I am currently using that have an outdoor/kayaking theme.

Firstly it’s fair to say I am a huge Apple fan and have been since my first encounter with a Mac Classic when I was at sixth form in ’91. The follow apps are used on my iPhone, they may or may not be available for other smart phones.

Rescue Knots



This is £0.69 App that shows a range of knots that could be used in range of situations including possible rescues. The interface is clean and easy to use. Each knot has a series of images that are very clear to follow/understand.

Climbing Knots

This another £0.69 App from Coffee Entertainment Inc who are also the makers of Rescue Knots.

Scottish Midge Forecast

The little buggers just love me. So being able to get a picture of how favourable conditions are for the little blighters has proved useful over the last couple of years.

This App offers you a daily and 7 day Midge Forecast for Scotland. Based on Google Maps you can use it to tell you where midges are at their worst. It rates over 50 locations in Scotland on a scale of 1 to 5 depending on the number of biting insects there are. With level 5 being the most annoying.

You can also contribute to the Midge Map and help fellow adventurers by Tweeting back midge readings. The App uses geolocation to locate your exact position and lists your reading. You can choose to view the map with only the official data, or with additional tweets from the Smidge Forecast community.

Met Office Weather App

A really nice App from the UK’s Met Office. The App features – Five-day forecasts, National severe weather alerts, Daily national and regional weather maps, UK rainfall radar and satellite imagery. Cost = Free.