Skipness bombing range and the Tirpitz.

We made our way up from the beach at Skipness Point to the Old Chapel and its walled graveyard. Just to the east of the graveyard we came across this old concrete arrow.

It can be clearly seen in this view from Google Maps.

The arrow points straight down the Kilbrannan Sound and it formed part of the Skipness bombing range in WW2. RAF and Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm pilots based at nearby RAF Machrihanish practised dropping bombs and torpedoes here.

They were observed by a team of about 45 Wrens who recorded the bombing runs from a lookout post on the west side of Skipness Bay. In March 1944 the Skipness range was used to train squadrons for the attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz. After a series of partially successful raids using aircraft carrier based light aircraft, Tirpitz was eventually sunk by heavy RAF Lancaster bombers in Tromsø fjord on the 12th of November 1944. Afterwards, a RN Vice Admiral visited Skipness to congratulate the Wrens for their part in the effort to sink Tirpitz.

The horror of WW2 seemed very far away as lambs grazed the fresh spring grass growing round the old concrete arrow.

Ne'er cast a cloot till May be oot.

 After luncheon we proceeded down the delightful east coast of the Kintyre peninsula. We passed several beaches of ...

...light quartzite pebbles, backed by suitable camping spots but we were bound for further south.

After a little tidal assistance we were approaching slack water and a cold head wind picked up as the skies clouded over.

Although the temperature had dropped like a stone we were warmly attired in our dry suits and clooty thermals so we were able to enjoy the magnificent prospect down the Kilbrannan Sound, which separates Kintyre from the mountainous island of Arran.

 As we slipped through the reefs of Skipness Point...

 ...we passed these delightful turnstones, resplendent in summer breeding plumage despite the old adage ne'eer cast a cloot till May be oot!

 It was with some relief that we drew our kayaks onto the old red sandstone sands of Skipness Bay.

We decided to explore onshore but first we had to cross the green zone of death...slippery weed covered cobbles. Before my last knee operation I would have required assistance to cross this barrier. I was delighted to manage it on my own with apparently little more difficulty than Ian or Mike. If you ever need surgery on a limb, I commend you to follow your physiotherapist's instructions to the letter. "No gain without pain" is, I understand, the motto of this most excellent of professions!

You can follow Ian's account of our trip here....

Spring in Kintyre.

 From Ardlamont Point we paddled across the mouth of Loch Fyne in...

 ,,,glassy calm conditions.

The only thing that threatened our equilibrium was this fast speed boat which came weaving down the loch at high speed towards us. Ian hailed it three times on the VHF. There was no answer but to the helmsman's credit he dropped the boat off the plane and passed well clear of us.

 It was getting hotter as we approached Kintyre but we spotted the white shingle beach of...

...Croit Bagh. It was such a relief to hear the crunch of shingle on the keel and get my stiff and sore knees out for a stretch!

It was time for first luncheon which was washed down with some of Ian's 15 year old Dalwhinnie.

After lunch I went for a short walk. The bed rocks which plunged into the sea on either side of the beach were composed of...

 contorted schist. Above the rocks, the hillside was a beautiful...

 ...mixed deciduous woodland. Birch, alder oak and willow were all bursting into bud and the air was filled with the song of chiff-chaffs, willow warblers and a solitary cuckoo.

 Beneath the burgeoning canopy primroses had burst into flower. Althougth at first glance all primroses look the same there are actually two subtypes called pin and thrum. These are pin. All primroses have both male and female flower parts but they are arranged differently. In the pin form the stigma is at the mouth of the flower tube and in the thrum form the anther is at the mouth of the flower tube. As primroses are insect pollinated, this ensures that pin pollen tends to fertilize thrum flowers and vice versa.

Behind the beach this delightful stream emerged from the woodland behind the beach. I filled my flask but I always boil such water and never drink it directly.

Better Days #16 in West Loch Tarbert.

 Beyond West Tarbert pier we came across a graveyard of decaying...

 wooden fishing boats.

This one was FV Kreisker BA207, which was wrecked here about 1987. Their days of harvesting the oceans' bounty had long gone. In short they have seen better days.

We now came to where my friend had suggested we exit the loch to begin our portage across the isthmus into the Firth of Clyde. The West Loch Hotel and the road to Tarbert lay a short distance over a gently sloping grassy bank. It looked ideal, an easy exit with the prospect of a refreshing pint but the illusion was shattered when we paddled into a lagoon of raw sewage, which was bubbling out of the end of a sewage pipe. Yuk! We made a sharp exit.

A busy waterway at Kennacraig.

 We approached the pier at Kennacraig cautiously. It was 12:22 and the ferry was not due to leave until 13:00 but they do sometimes fit in extra sailings... So we went along the shore and before heading out past her stern noticed 3 things. 1. the MV Finlaggan was securely moored.. 2. They had not started loading the long queue of cars and lorries. 3. We were being watched from the bridge. So...

 ...we nipped round her stern without delay. The MV Finlaggan is one of the newer ferries in the Calmac fleet. She was built in Poland in 2011 specifically for the Islay route but she also provides winter relief for the Skye/North Uist/Harris route. She is 90m long with a gross tonnage of 5,209 tons and can carry 550 passengers and 85 cars.

 Once past Kennacraig we still had to keep a sharp lookout for other maritime traffic...

...such as FV Silver Lining III (TT37), a 16.6m wooden scallop dredger that was heading out from the quay at West Tarbert at the head of the loch. Her home port is Kilkeel in Northern Ireland and she was built in 1973.

A fair wind in West Loch Tarbert.

The weather forecast had been for a force 3 to 4 NE wind. This would have been a most unwelcome headwind in West Loch Tarbert. However, we were pleasantly surprised when a delightful tail wind picked up. I was especially pleased as my left shoulder was now "clicking" painfully with every stroke. It was a relief to hoist the sails and let them take some of the strain.

 We soon left the open sea and Gigha far in our wakes.

The enclosed nature of West Loch Tarbert was in complete contrast to the exposure we had experienced off the Mull of Kintyre earlier in the trip. As the shores of the loch closed round us we came across enchanting coves and...

 ...beaches backed by wooded slopes.

We trailed our fingers in the shallow, warm, clear waters as the sails carried us on towards the only sign of human activity... the Islay ferry, MV Finlaggan berthing at the Kennacraig ferry terminal.

Daisies , shells, pottery and a marble at Dunskeig Bay.

By the time we pulled our kayaks up the fair strand of Dunskeig Bay it was after 9:30am and way past breakfast time so we set...

 ...our stoves up on the rocks at the edge of the beach and cooked up a three course first breakfast. Favourite course was bacon, egg, tomato and edam cheese in a tortilla wrap. While we sat and enjoyed some postprandial sunshine, Jennifer went scavenging along the shore line.

She returned with a sting winkle, a periwinkle, a cowrie, a bit of an oyster shell, a variety of weathered pottery fragments and a marble!

After breakfast I enjoyed  a stroll on the daisy flecked machair that backs the shore and enjoyed...

...distant views to Gigha, Islay and Jura.

Much toing and froing on the crossing to West Loch Tarbert.

We set off across the Sound of Gigha towards the Kintyre mainland in glassy calm conditions but it is not always like this...

...as this photo, taken in the same place 6 yearrs previously (2007), shows all too clearly. Strong tides, shallow sea and wind against tide can soon rustle up some rough conditions.

 Although it was calm, our route lay along the course of the Islay ferries, the ...

 ...MV Flaggan passed on her way out and the...

 ...MV Hebridean Isles passed us on her way in to Kennacraig.  We kept well to the south of the ferries and...

...after a 10km crossing we entered the mouth of West Loch Tarbert.

We made landfall at the head of Dunskeig Bay. Dun Skeig hill towers above the bay and on its summit lie the remains of 3 successive hill forts or duns.

As we unpacked our breakfast things the MV Hebridean Isles made its way back out of the narrow entrance to West Loch Tarbert.