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Monday, January 23, 2012

A balancing act and a gyrocopter at Dunure.

Andrew and Jim, the Lomo twins, weaved their way steadily through the boats on the hard standing on their way from the Dunure Inn...

...back to the harbour. It is a bit of a novelty for us to exit this harbour in January in a calm.

In contrast, this what met us in January 2010. Maintaining one's equilibrium in such conditions is all part of the fun of sea kayaking.

A stange buzzing noise overlaid with a "wop wop wop" echoed round the walls of the harbour and the castle.
It was an autogyro, possibly a Montgomerie Merlin. These are built just a few miles away from Dunure at Crosshill. After circling us a few times it buzzed off in the direction of Turnberry airfield...

...leaving us in silence as we paddled up the Ayrshire coast...

...towards the Heads of Ayr. Somehow we felt safer balancing at sea level.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Douglas, greetings from australia. I have noted your difficulty with knee issues. Have you looked into knee replacement surgery? Some active friends of mine have had it done and returned to downhill skiing and mountain bike riding without restriction. regards, James B

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  2. Hello James, it is very good to hear from you. My brother and brother in law both emigrated to Australia.

    Unfortunately knee replacement is not an option for me, it's not the joint surfaces that have worn out. It is the ligaments that hold the lot together. In March 2010 I had an "end of line" operation in which 5 different things were done, involving sacrificing muscles and harvesting their tendons. A hammer and chisel took the tibial tuberosity off my tibia and it was screwed back on in a different place. Three 7mm diameter holes were drilled in the tibia, femur and patella and the harvested tendons threaded through and knotted. My knee is now very stable but painful. I am trying to avoid similar surgery on the other knee that is now dislocating. I will be quite happy to get out sea kayaking but I do miss mountaineering, mountain biking and windsurfing.

    Keep well.

    :o)

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  3. Douglas,

    Sorry to hear it isnt an option as it would see to offer less pain than what you have. Knee injuries are close to my heart as I am still rehabilitating from a high tibial osteotemy to one knee. This is the precurser to a knee replacement later on. Good luck. regards, James B

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