More from the cave of Mr Sawney Bean

The entrance to Sawney Bean's cave is at the foot of Bennane Head on the lower Firth of Clyde. It is in a fabulous, remote situation with the monolith of Ailsa Craig punctuating the horizon. At high tide, the cave is entered by a traverse on rocks above the sea, followed by a climb of about 10 metres to the entrance. As the walls of the cave are worn smooth it must have been created by the sea following the last ice age when sea levels were higher. The land had been depressed by the sheer weight of thousands of metres of ice. The ice had also worn away the ash cone of Ailsa Craig and transported erratic granite boulders from its volcanic plug as far south as Wales.



Grafitti pointing to the inner chamber of the cave where over 1,000 souls are reputed to have been murdered before being cannibalised by the Bean clan.



It was a welcome relief to escape to the open sea and sky.

A Kayaking Bean feast.

A trip to Bennane Head on the lower Clyde found us inside the cave and principal dwelling of a Mr Alexander Bean who frequented these parts in the 17th century. He was known as "Sawney" to his friends (most of his aquaintances had little time to develop friendship). Together with his brood of 48 butchers he is reputed to have cannibalised about 1,000 victims over a 25 year reign of terror. The Bean family were finally run to ground and the males were executed by amputation of the limbs and the females by burning. The walls of the cave have stood as silent witness to this horror for thee centuries. Today, they ran red with iron oxide, as if still bleeding in silent sympathy with those who had met their grisly end within. We found no femurs. Despite the ancient land of Alba having a past brim full of blood thirsty deeds, the historical veracity of Sawney Bean's place in Scottish history is in some doubt.





The coastline from Lendalfoot (where Mr Alastair Wilson of Lendal Paddles has a home) to Loch Ryan was a superb mixture of volcanic rocks, including pillow lavas, and huge shingle beaches. The section from Ballantrae south was a rockhopping paradise. The coast is commiting, being exposed to the NW Atlantic swells, and a force 4 to 5 SW wind developed as the day wore on. Entering Loch Ryan the Stenna Line HSS ferry threw up a 2 metre wake. We made sure we were well clear of the rocks but were nearly caught out by the rebound of her other wake which was reflected back across from the far side of the loch some time later.

The Cannibal's Cave and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo!

From Whilk Isle, we paddled towards the cliffs of Balcreuchan Head. Almost immediately we came across this blow hole. Unfortunately the swell wasn't quite big enough for real explosions but it still made a satisfying "boom, whoosh!"

We now cut inshore of Balcreuchan Stack...

...on our way towards Sawney Bean's Cave in Balcreuchan Port when, all of a sudden, Phil gave a great shout. Half expecting to see the Great Cannibal himself, we looked up as Phil pointed high on the hill...

..."Look, it's a real, red kangaroo....why it's, it's... I think it's Skippy!". We all nearly fell out our kayaks with laughter, Phil had seen a roe deer leaping up the side of the hill on its rear legs. It seemed to have hurt one of its front legs, which it held close to its chest, while leaping away on the other three.  At first glance it might have looked, a....bit..., like a kangarooo. But...

Clearly Phil has been spending too much time watching "Skippy, the complete collection (vol 1)" DVD, which David had given him for Christmas.

As a somewhat red faced Phil paddled on, a chorus of "Skippy, Skippy,....Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" gently wafted after him. Clearly we were going to have a good day out and we had hardly started!

By the way, the entrance to the Bean's cave is in the middle of the above photo with Skippy. It is entered by traversing the horizontal groove above the sea, lower right, then climbing the slanting curved gully up to the cave.

Call of the Clyde

I started sea kayaking 4 years ago. One of my first trips was along the Clyde coast of Ayrshire. It is a coast which is surprisingly remote from the coastal A77 trunk road between Glasgow and the ferry port of Stranraer. It is also steeped in history, ancient castles where such atrocities as the roasting of the Abbot of Crossraguel Abbey took place. Further down the coast is a cave where Sawney Bean and his family practiced cannibalism on poor travellers.

The Firth of Clyde, I hear it calling........