Saturday dawned fine behind the priapic pencil of Largs. A small ridge of high pressure intervened between two massive low pressure systems to give us a small weather window for a 30 km paddle on the Firth of Clyde.
We set off just as banks of fog were lifting. It started very cold but warmed as the day progressed. I suffered a very heavy fall when I slipped on ice just outside my front door.
We set off from the industry of the Ayrshire coast. The Panamanian bulk carrier, Lotus Blossom, was unloading the last of her cargo at the Hunterston ore terminal. In the background the twin magnox reactor towers of Hunterston A nuclear power station have produced no electricity since 1990. They generated electricity for 25 years but their decommissioning will take much longer than that.
12/01/2008
