The east coast of Holy Island

 The north east coast of Holy Island is an area of...

...stark beauty and a turbulent geological past. A bed of Old Red Sandstone is overlaid by more recent Tertiary volcanic rocks.

The cap of hard igneous rock protects the softer sandstones below. Even so, great lumps of sandstone fall off the cliffs. This landslip happened over the last winter.

It is hard to believe that this remote spot is just 50km from my house in Glasgow.

At the north end of the island we came across these Buddhist prayer poles and caught sight of...

 ...distant Goatfell. We were nearing the end of our journey.

Seeing the light on Holy Island.

After lunch we set off across the south entrance of Lamlash Bay towards the Inner Light on Holy Island. The island is now owned by Buddhist monks who have built  an increasing number of meditation retreats on the south facing slope above the lighthouse.

The lighthouse buildings are also used for lesser retreats and at the other end of the island they have built a commercial hotel for those that wish to experience Buddhism lite.

Sailing as close to the wind as possible, Mike just managed to squeeze round the south end of the island where...

 ...we passed under the stony gaze of this gorilla with its eyes fixed out to sea. It seemed lost in meditation as it somewhat ignored our passing.

 We now came to Holy Island's Outer Light...

 ...which is also used for meditation.

Only the wild ponies disturb the meditation of devotees who may spend several years at a time in isolation here.

As other Scottish lighthouses such as Turnberry* are gradually being extinguished, it is good to know that some are being put to alternative use.

*The iconic Turnberry lighthouse is due to be switched off by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 2015.

Luncheon on the rocks at Kingscross.

 A force 3 southerly wind picked up as we rounded Largybeg Point.

 We wasted no time in hoisting our sails and...

...what followed was an exhilarating downwind dash across the expanse...

 of Whiting Bay towards Kingscross Point and Holy Island.

 We landed at Kingscross at...

 ...low water so it was a bit of a trek...

 ...to the top of the beach where we cooked first luncheon...

...among the remnants of the ancient mountains of Arran.

Rapid return to Arran.

After returning from our day trip to Arran on Sunday night, Jennifer, Mike and I spent Monday morning packing for a three night trip round the island. We arrived at Ardrossan in plenty of time for the !515 ferry across to Brodick.

The high pressure system was well in charge of the weather and the conditions looked glorious...

 ...as we entered Brodick Bay.

Away to the south, Holy Island showed the route of our return (in 4 days time) as we planned an anticlockwise circumnavigation.

We arrived in Brodick at 1610 but were on the water by 1645, just after the MV Caledonian Isles set off on her return to Ardrossan. We had about 3 hours of daylight to reach our intended camp site at the north end of the island. We were all set for another adventure on the isles and sea lochs of the West of Scotland.

P.S. Long term visitors to seakayakphoto.com may wonder why my recent trips have been mostly confined to the Firth of Clyde. Sadly my knees are not good and although I have made a remarkable recovery after a traumatic accident and some pretty major surgery, I still find driving uncomfortable. However, I hope this trip will illustrate how lucky we are in the West of Scotland to have such magnificent coastal scenery, less than an hour's drive from Glasgow (which is Scotland's largest city).

Sailing into the lee of Holy Island by sea kayak.

 From Kingscross Point we crosssed the southern entrance of Lamlash Bay to the south end of Holy Island.

 The brisk crossing was rewarded with a wonderful view from the Holy Island inner light into Lamlash Bay and the Arran mountains beyond. Since 2008 the north part of Lamlash Bay has been a protected marine reserve with a complete ban on commercial and recreational fishing. The great news is that fish, shellfish and sea weed stocks are recovering quickly after the bay had been turned into a virtual desert by scallop dredging.

The wind increased as we rounded the end of Holy Island and...

...we had great fun overtaking the waves. We hit 14km/hour here.

 The wind eased as we passed below the outer light and...

...entered the wind shadow of Holy Island. The east side of the island is a wild place with Tertiary lavas topping steep cliffs of Carboniferous red sandstone. We didn't see a soul, access was clearly too difficult for the legions of geology students that were visiting Arran on their Easter field trips.

As we approached the north end of Holy Island, Goatfell came into view again and the wind dropped. This brought to an end 37km of continuous sea kayak sailing. The final section of our round Arran trip was about to begin.

Running before the wind, below the sill.

Leaving Kildonan on the fourth day of our trip round Arran we hoisted our sails then paddled along a wild coastline. The scenery was dominated by an extensive tertiary sill, which extended...

...all the way to Dippen Head where we were...

...dwarfed by the scale of the cliffs.

Once round Dippen Head, we caught our first sight of Holy Island since the first day of our trip. We continued to sail all the way, mostly running before a southerly wind. The gusts round the headlands gave some exciting bursts of speed.

From Dippen Head we literally flew before the wind to Larybeg Point. Beyond the point we looked over Whiting Bay to Holy Island.

It was almost a relief to break out behind Lagybeg and take a last view of Ailsa Craig before continuing on our downwind blast.

Seakayaking in the shade of mountains.

The beach at the mouth of Glen Sannox usually has a deep covering of silvery granite sand, which has been washed down from the mountains. Recent storms have stripped much away and it was a rough landing on the exposed boulders. We were now in the chilly shade of the mountains.

We paddled down the east coast of Arran below rocky ridges that rose high into the blue vault of the sky. A couple of paragliders were soaring above the windward slope of Goatfell.

We emerged into the sunshine again as we approached Merkland Point, which guards the north entrance to Brodick Bay. The silhouette of Holy Island reminded us of another great sea kayaking destination in the Clyde.

The sun began to set behind the beautiful mixed woodland, which grows right down to the shore at Merkland Point.

Unfortunately the resident otters were nowhere to be seen, so we paddled out...

...into the broad expanse of Brodick Bay. The sun was now well below our horizon but high above us, the A'Chir ridge and Goatfell still caught the dying rays of the sun. It was now only a short paddle to the ferry terminal. We were in good in time for the 16:40 ferry to Ardrossan and a welcome hot meal aboard.

Guaranteed seal sighting at Corrie, or your money back!

 We left Sannox to paddle down the east coast of Arran to the ferry terminal at Brodick.

 We were surrounded by torrential rainstorms...

which turned the sky black and chilled the air.

We always see a seal basking on the rocks at Corrie. In the distance the MV Stadiongracht, a 172m cargo boat, was making its way from Brodick Bay up the Clyde to Greenock.

Off Merkland Point, we got a great view to Holy Island and the distant Ayrshire coast. The entrance to Loch Ryan could be seen to the left of the steep slopes of Holy Island.