Friday, March 26, 2010

Sea kayaking Ayrshire's Atlantic coast from Ballantrae


A 19km paddle from Ballantrae to Portandea and back along Ayrshire's Atlantic coast, Firth of Clyde, February 2010.





Off for the day to Ballantrae

Tony's special cave vision spectacles.

Curarrie Port, any port in a storm.

Fast birds and boats...

A pillow for a tired sea kayaker's head

The Master of Ballantrae


Photo album map.

End of day in Loch Creran


As the sun was now low on the SW horizon we set off again on the return leg of our exploration of Loch Creran.


The sun was setting right in the gap between the hills on either side of Loch Spelvie on Mull.


We floated gently on the golden waters of Loch Creran...


...until the sun disappeared and a chill sun-downer breeze got up. It was time to press on.


The ebb tide was taking us through the entrance narrows at a decent lick when we spotted the navigation lights of the Lady Heather coming in through the narrows. Lady Heather and her sister ship, Lady Fiona, are high speed launches that ferry workers back and forwards to the Glen Sanda quarry on Morvern. They run from Port Appin and also Rubha Garbh on the south shore of Loch Creran. You can just see the quarry lights high on the distant Morvern mountainside.

As soon as we saw the launch, we cut into the channel edge. We had our head torches showing white lights and the Lady Heather spotted us and, very considerately, slowed right down to reduce her wake while passing. She then sped up again to take the Glen Sanda workers back home in time for tea.