Windmills not millstones round our necks in an Independent Scotland.

As we left the shelter of Glencallum Bay on Bute and 

 ...passed Rubh'an Eun lighthouse we met a most pleasing wind in the channel between Bute and Little Cumbrae Island.

We made excellent progress past the end of the little Cumbrae beyond which the new Hunterston wind turbine could be clearly seen. At 177m tall it is currently the biggest wind turbine in the UK. At the moment Scotland has the majority of UK wind turbines. They are heavily subsidised by all electricity customers throughout the UK. If Scotland were to vote for independence I doubt that subsidy would continue and I have not heard from the Yes Campaign how they would be funded and one possible outcome is that relatively few Scots will end up with windmills round our necks.

 Anyway the wind soon had us approaching Great Cumbrae and its delightful...

 ...town of Millport. Millport provides excellent fish suppers and ice creams but we decided to take...
 

 ...our first luncheon on the wonderfully situated The Eileans...

...in the middle of Millport bay. There is a lovely sandy beach (except at high tide) and it was on the sheltered side of the islands.The biz of  Millport and the problems of the world seemed a million miles away.

Temptation in the Tan and a very verdant Little Cumbrae.

We slid across a glassy sea towards...

...the Tan which is that...

...narrow strip of water which separates Little Cumbrae from Great Cumbrae. Beyond the Tan the Arran mountains rose steeply from the sea.

As we cleared Farland Point on Great Cumbrae we were able to look back at the little town of Millport but we were not tempted by its ice cream shops and chip shops and...

...we continued across the Tan towards a...

...very verdant looking...

...Little Cumbrae.

The Tan was uncommonly calm and it was easy...

...to spot the many porpoises that inhabit these waters. In the distance the Arran Ferry MV Caledonian Isles was crossing from Brodick to Ardrossan and Ailsa Craig rose temptingly in splendid isolation on the horizon. So tempting was it that Phil, Tony and I paddled out and camped on the rock just 12 days later.

We could now see our destination for second breakfast...

 
...the Little Cumbrae castle.

The clarity of light and reflected clouds at Little Cumbrae.

We paddled east across the Firth of Clyde towards the Little Cumbrae island. To its north we could just make out the Victorian Villas of Millport on the neighbouring Great Cumbrae.As we approached...

 ...the wind gradually died away leaving a glassy calm sea upon which...
.

 ...the reflections of clouds gently rolled on the gentle swell.

 It was 5pm and the sun was well round to the west, which gave a wonderful light on the south west side of the Little Cumbrae.

The Stevenson lighthouse was clearly illuminated as was the distant PV Audacia and accompanying tug Battler. Audacia is a 225m pipe laying vessel.

 The clarity of the evening light added to the sharpness of the reflected clouds which lined up over the Little Cumbrae.

As we passed the south end of Little Cumbrae we embarked on the second last leg of our trip, the crossing of Fairlie Roads to Farland Head on the Ayrshire coast.

Doon the watter and head in the clouds at the Cumbraes.

We set off from the beach at the island resort of Millport...

...passing the shops and...

...houses that cluster round the bay. Before the days of jet travel, thousands of Glaswegians would arrive by steamer at the Clyde resorts for the Glasgow Fair fortnight at the end of July. July is a particularly wet month in the west of Scotland. This type of holiday was known as "doon the watter". You can decide whether this referred to sailing doon the waters of the Clyde or spending one's annual fortnight with the rain pissing doon.

Beyond the end of the harbour wall lay our destination the Little Cumbrae. Its summit was lost in the clouds.

Phil was soon off in the Malin Gometra kayak which we have on long term test for a coming review in Ocean Paddler magazine.

After racing off at high speed, Phil stopped to...

...let the rest of us including Ian and myself catch up...

...but he was enjoying the new kayak so much that he was soon racing ahead again.

Misty morning melé in Millport!

It was a misty morning when we arrived at Largs on the Firth of Clyde. We had arranged to meet Ian in Millport Bay. Ian was going to cross over from Kilchattan Bay on the Island of Bute. Before I left, I checked ShipAIS as we would both need to cross shipping channels.  Fortunately there was nothing approaching the Hunterston Channel on our side of the Clyde but Ian had to contend with all 158,555 tons of the loaded tanker Yasa Scorpion which was heading up the Firth of Clyde Channel to Finnart.

After we loaded our gear, Phil went through the preflight check list, carefully counting to make sure he carried the requisite number of refreshment tins.

 Soon we were hitting the water, note where I left the spare pins for the Kari-tek Easy load roof rack!

The mist began to lift as we set off past the safe water buoy off the entrance to Largs marina.

We made good time down the Hunterson Channel past...

...the empty ore terminal.

The wind dropped as we crossed the channel to the Great Cumbrae.

Our arrival at the Eileans was greeted by these squabbling guard geese. They were not going to tolerate any landing on their turf.

However, we had raised Ian on the VHF and he was already at Millport, eating a hot sausage roll!

It was great to catch up and Ian had brought some really excellent Jura Superstition. Cheers!

Winter sunset over the Cumbraes.

 Leaving the Eileans and their grey seal colony we set off on our return journey to Largs.

The fair isle of Little Cumbrae and the mountains of Arran gradually...

 ...slipped astern as the sun began to set in the SW.

 Once we rounded Farland Point on Great Cumbrae...

 ...the sun developed a warm reddish tinge but...

...don't be fooled it was bitterly...

...cold as we paddle sailed the last few kilometres...

 ...into Largs.

Surprisingly, given our late start, we arrived back before sunset. The Arran mountains were looking fantastic behind the rounded outline of the Great Cumbrae.

This was another fantastic trip. I am glad we did not launch at Ayr with our original intention of paddling south to Culzean. The NW wind on our arrival was a bit strong for mid winter paddling which is why we chose this route which was sheltered by the islands. While we were enjoying ourselves an unfortunate (but lucky) kayaker capsized in Culzean Bay and required hospitalisation for hypothermia after being rescued by helicopter.