Time for a sharp exit at West Loch Tarbert Pier.

We planned to reach the head of West Loch Tarbert near high water as we planned to exit the loch near its muddy head and portage our kayaks over the isthmus to East Loch Tarbert on the Clyde. I had originally planned to exit here at West Loch Tarbert Pier where there is a public...

 ...slipway, which I had sussed out in December 2011. However, I was persuaded by a friend who had come this way last year that there was a much better exit 850m further up the loch. Well I will come to that but in the meantime, let me just say that if you come this way and plan to portage the isthmus to East Loch Tarbert, EXIT HERE.

As it was, we paddled past the busy pier towards the head of the loch. The towing vessel Mary M was tied up, she spends most of her time on the Clyde. Unlike us she would need to return to the Clyde by motoring round the Mull of Kintyre. At 7m wide she is nearly 1m too wide for the Crinan Canal further north. West Loch Tarbert is the homeport for trawler Fionnaghal, TT104, built in Berwick upon Tweed in 1989. She was tied alongside  Campbelltown based Silver Spray III, TT77. She was built in Stromness in 1986 and is licenced for prawns and scallops.