Tuesday, November 09, 2010

Clyde ore, prawns and peninsulas.

We set off across the Hunterston Channel for the Little Cumbrae. To our right a huge 225m bulk carrier, Grace Future, had just pulled away from the Hunterston ore terminal. We crossed well in front of it and soon came across the Campbeltown creel boat...

...Silver Spray III, lifting her pots on the far side of the channel.

We paddled past the southern tip of Little Cumbrae, we were bound for  Port Leithne which sits under St Blane's Hill on Bute.

To the west of Little Cumbrae we crossed the Firth of Clyde channel and came across another Cambeltown creel boat Five Sisters. The Firth of Clyde used to be full of fish but there are none left. The only thing these boats catch are prawns which have increased in numbers since the fall of  the fish populations.

We now caught sight of our landfall on Arran, Sannox, at the mouth of the great glen of the same name.

To the NW of Sannox, the Cock of Arran stretched away towards Kintyre, which is a somewhat less than priapic peninsula.

Looking back across the Firth of Clyde channel, we could still see...

...Five Sisters lifting her pots and Grace Future was by now well down the Hunterston Channel. She was floating high after having offloaded her cargo of ore.