In the middle of a sunny spell in April, the day dawned grey and drizzly at
Portpatrick in SW Scotland. Tony and I met Jim (fresh from Skye) and Mark and Heather Rainsley who were visiting the area. Mark was keen to get some photos of Scottish coastal fortifications and Dunskey Castle fitted the bill!
We were headed south with the flood tide for the Mull of Logan, some 16km to the south. There is some excellent rock hopping on this stretch of coast.
Rounding Money Head, I put my sail up and nipped off to Ardwell Bay in front of the others as there was a nice little wind.
On the horizon some blue sky appeared...
...as the others came in to land.
Mark and Heather seemed to be enjoying their visit to Grey Galloway.
Despite the recent heatwave (it was 22C in Galloway the day before) the water temperature was only 6C. It was interesting to note that we all wore dry suits etc, unlike the recreational sit on top paddlers in Fleet Bay who were out in shorts and T shirts!
We didn't tell Mark about the
Devil's Bridge arch at the Mull of Logan and let him go round the corner first. All we heard was "WOW!".
At this point Tony and I took our farewells of the others. They were paddling on to Port Logan and lunch in the hotel before a taxi back to Portpatrick for the cars.
Tony and I now caught the ebb tide tide going north. There was still a force 3-4 northerly wind.
We knew there would be some excitement with wind against tide at Money Head, Knockienausk Head and Tandoo Point. We were right and got our faces wet, before facing the Easter Holiday crowds at Portpatrick!
