Diverse plans, sills and dykes at Drumadoon.

After leaving King's Cave we paddled sailed south on Arran's remote west coast towards...

 ...the great basalt sill known as The Doon. The flat summit was an extensive Iron Age hill fort.As we passed below basalt columns of The Doon...

 ...towards Drumadoon Point, we caught sight of our destination for the following evening....

 ...Ailsa Craig was still 32km distant.

 There was some tide running round Drumadoon Point but...

 ....to its east the clear green water was calm in Drumadoon Bay where we...

...stopped for first luncheon on a convenient basalt dyke on Blackwaterfoot beach. The dunes above the beach gave some shelter from the rather chilly north wind. There was a little further diversity in the weather forecasts. Some were predicting F2-4 northerly the following day others were predicting F4-5 northerly. We decided to go for Ailsa Craig if it turned out to be the former. At F4-5 northerly the 24 km crossing to Ailsa Craig followed by a 16km crossing to Girvan would be a bit out of our comfort zone so we would head north to Brodick instead. We spent some time texting our plans home and to Phil who hoped to paddle solo out to Ailsa Craig the following day and join us for an overnight camp on the rock.

Reflections on freedom in the King's Cave Arran.

Tony and I found ourselves on a very rough beach below the King's Cave on the west coast of Arran.

 It is a popular place with walkers and many have built stone towers.

There are a whole series of caves and arches here and we followed a subterranean route to the entrance of...

 ,,,the King's Cave. On this occasion the large gate was not locked and we entered ...

...the cool darkness of the cave.

Once our eyes had adjusted to the lack of light we were able to get right to the back of the cave and...

 ...see some Victorian and...

 ...early Christian graffiti. This is one of the caves in which Robert the Bruce was supposed to have been inspired by a spider during his long struggle to win Scottish Independence. Robert the Bruce was of Norman rather than Scottish ancestry. Nowhere in the cave did I see the initials R de B or indeed a spider! I don't suppose the proletariat had much say in the Scottish Wars of Independence in the late 13th and early 14th centuries.except when their blood was spilt.

At least no blood was spilt in the recent referendum on Scottish Independence. After a record turnout of 84.59% at the polls, Scots decided by 2,001,926 to 1,617,989 to remain within the United Kingdom. Members of my family and close friends voted on either side of the referendum. I am pleased to say none of us have fallen out over the result. We realize that we are so very fortunate to live in a mature democracy where people have the freedom to vote for who or what they want and respect each other's decisions. Scotland was not always like this. We used to burn people at the stake if they held different opinions and last century in Europe, Germany fell into the clutches of  the Nazi party and the World suffered. I don't suppose people in areas controlled by Islamic State today have much freedom of expression or anything else for that matter. What a troubled World, is it too much to hope for peace and tolerance?

 Tony and I made our way carefully back over the slippery rocks to...

...our waiting kayaks and the blue waters of the Kilbrannan Sound. We were very much enjoying our freedom.

Across the Kilbrannan Sound to the King's Cave.

Tony and I set off on a 10 km crossing of the Kilbrannan Sound from Carradale Bay in Kintyre towards the...

 ...west coast of Arran.

We made landfall on a wooded shore which lies...

 ...just to the north of a sandstone cliff. The cliff rises above a raised beach.

 During and after the last Ice Age the sea level was higher and a dramatic...

...series of caves and arches were cut into the relatively soft rock. The largest is called King's Cave and is one of several rival caves in Scotland and Ireland which lay claim to being the one in which Robert the Bruce was inspired by a spider.

We decided to stop and explore. I was particularly glad that Tony hopped out first. My knees are not too good...

...on slippery green stuff like this.

Plucky paddlers work their way to weather past Pluck Point.

We awoke to a beautiful morning in Saddell Bay. Unfortunately so did the midges and their morning was made by our presence (not to mention blood).

 As a result we did not dally and were on the water below the old castle walls by 07:50.

 Initially we were in the shelter of the lee of Pluck Point but...

 ...as we rounded the point we were me by a north wind which blew straight down...

 ...the Kilbrannan Sound against us.

 We kept going without stopping for a rest as the coastline was rather inhospitable for landing.

Eventually we reached the broad sweep of Carradale Bay. We reckoned we had now got upwind enough...

...to launch the sails for a crossing to the King's Cave on Arran.

Friends reunited on the way to Kintyre.

Back in mid June, Tony and I set off on what was to be a fantastic sea kayaking trip from Campbeltown across the mouth of the Firth of Clyde to Arran, Ailsa Craig and finally to Girvan in Ayrshire.

We set off on the Sunday evening ferry from Ardrossan to Campbeltown.

The ferry passes to the SE of Arran and we got good views of Holy Island and...

...Pladda with its Stevenson lighthouse on the way. Ian, Mike and I had landed on both of these islands on our recent circumnavigation of Arran.

The great rock of Aila Craig lies some 24km from the south of Arran and we hoped to use this as a stepping stone back to Ayrshire. Tony and I were just discussing our route strategy when it was both a surprise...

...and a very great pleasure to meet the family of the late Jim Broadfoot. Jim was our longstanding and very great sea kayaking friend with whom we had paddled extensively in the Solway Firth, the Mull of Galloway, the Firth of Clyde, the Sound of Jura, the Firth of Lorn, the Southern Inner Hebrides, Ardnamurchan, the Sound of Arisaig, Skye, Wester Ross and St Abbs Head. I am pretty sure there were other places as well! In January 2010 Jim steadied my kayak while I buried my father's ashes at sea off Balcarry Point on the Solway. Although we miss Jim very much, we were fortunate to share so many wonderful trips with such a good friend. It was great to see his family looking so very well.

I knew it was Jim's birthday because we had celebrated Jim's 50th birthday on this day in 2009 on the north end of the Isle of Coll after paddling out to Coll and Tiree from Ardnamurchan. It turns out that Jim's family take a little trip on the water together each year on Jim's birthday. What a great thing to do! They were taking the ferry out to Campbeltown then returning to Ardrossan as a summer evening cruise. Mind you it must have been a bit of a busperson's holiday for Jim's daughter Lorna as she had spent part of her training to be a Merchant Navy Deck Officer on board the very ship we were on... the MV Isle of Arran!

Jim would have been so pleased to see his family enjoying themselves on his birthday, especially on the water :o) 

Appearances can be deceptive in the Sound of Bute: Clyde bananas and a Cock.

We were not the only ones in the Sound of Bute on that lovely afternoon. MRV Scotia was quartering the area off Garroch Head that was used by boats such as the SS Shieldhall to dump Clyde bananas from 1908 until 1998. For those who think that there is a tropical fruit industry on the Clyde, please follow the SS Shieldhall link to discover the true meaning of the phrase "Clyde bananas". Presumably MRV Scotia  is measuring changes in the chemical composition of the sea bed sediments. It is hard to believe but the sea bed in this...

...beautiful spot has been despoiled by 140 million tons of sewage sludge. From Port Leithne we set off...

...round Garroch Head into the Sound of Bute with...

 ...Arran's rocky ridges soaring into the sky.

The north end of the isle is called the Cock of Arran...

...but for the life of me I cannot think why.

Catching sight of the Delectable Mountains as our Pilgrimage to St Blane's progresses.

 At the south end of Little Cumbrae island you come to...

 ...the imaginatively named Gull Point.

 Gulls do congregate on this point but what really catches the eye of the itinerant pilgrim is...

 ...the view of the Delectable Mountains of Arran.

There now follows a short intermission. It was a spring tide and it was about 3 hours after slack at high water. The ebb was streaming down the west coast of Little Cumbrae where it met a light SW wind. A surprising lively sea was kicked up which reminded me of the cost of the Canon 5Dmk3.

We were well across the Firth of Clyde channel between Little Cumbrae and Bute before the sea calmed.

We arrived at Port Leithne on Bute for second luncheon and to embark upon the final part of our Pilgrimage to St Blane's Monastery and Church.