On Sunday 28th December a brief ridge of high pressure appeared over the west coast of Scotland. We decided to make the most of the short winter day and paddle the 30km over to Arran then get the ferry back. We met before dawn at Ardrossan ferry terminal where we left a shuttle car.
In the pre-dawn light, we could see the snowy summits of the Arran mountains over the harbour wall.
It did not take long to load Maurice's and Phil's kayaks onto my trailer and we then drove with Tony to...
.
..Portencross, where we got ready in the freezing...
...cold.
Across the Firth of Clyde a lovely pink glow appeared in the clouds above the Arran mountains.
As it was low tide and the rocks below the car park are covered in slippery green slime, we trolleyed the kayaks 250m round to the
little bay by the castle. We were on the water by 9am and slipped out of the narrow...
...channel below the dark walls of Portencross castle.
As the sun rose, the summits of the mountains caught the sun while we...
...were still in deep shade but then...
...the sun literally exploded above the horizon.
Despite the cold, it looked like we would have a good day.
