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Tuesday, December 14, 2010

A new dawn on a favourite paddle.

On Sunday we went for one of our favourite local paddles. We met in darkness  at Ardrossan ferry  terminal where we left shuttle cars. We then drove north to Portencross as the sun was coming up.
It was low water at Portencross, where we met the Castle Craig Kayaking Club who were planning a similar trip. At low tide this is one of the most awkward launches on the Ayrshire coast. An alternative is to carry or trolley the kayaks 300m to the little beach to the north of the castle...
...talking of which... Portencross Castle has now been restored and will be open to the public on limited occasions from April 2011.
Phil and...
Jim were quickly on the water.
Bruce from CCKC soon caught up with Tony and they swapped stories about their recent 5* sessions on Skye.
Although Harvey and Rob are both from CCKC, Harvey had just come from Ardrossan but Rob had driven 3 hours from Selkirk on the other side of Scotland!

Kathryn also CCKC was more sensible, she comes from Largs just 10 minutes up the road!

Introductions over, it was time to go. We were bound for Arran via the Wee Cumbrae and Bute. Yes, I know we did this just a few weeks ago, but I did say it was one of our favourite paddles!
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3 comments:

  1. Tony14/12/2010, 12:50

    When you paddle so much after a while its all been covered. Sometimes we struggle with new places to paddle but there's nothing wrong with paddling in convenient or favourite places. Its after all another chance to get on the water.

    Tony :-)

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  2. Rob14/12/2010, 17:57

    Worth the drive across ... The drive back had a sting in the tail. Driving through Glasgow, the road signs highlighted that the M8 was closed at J12. Not knowing where J12 was ( and you can hardly pull in at the side and look at the map ! ), plan B of heading down the M74 to Moffat was out, so had a 'tour' of the central belt on the way home ...

    Hopefully meet you again sometime. And if you are ever heading across East ...

    Cheers

    Rob

    ReplyDelete
  3. Douglas Wilcox16/12/2010, 19:40

    Hi Tony, icy and snowy roads can also mean a local paddle makes sense!

    Hi Rob, Arran wasn't very local to you! J12 is before M74 so you did the right thing to avoid it. It was blocked with multiple crashes on sheet ice. Hope to see you again soon. :o)

    ReplyDelete