Out of the saddle at Saddell Bay.

We were well tired by paddling into the headwind that blew at us straight from our destination...

...at Saddell Bay which we finally arrived at just before sunset.

Saddell House is now in the care of the Landmark Trust. It was originally built in 1774 by Colonel Donald Campbell as a more comfortable abode than the existing Saddell castle at the south end of the bay.

After a long hard paddle it was a relief to get out of the saddle onto the sands of Saddell Bay.

It was a delight to pitch our tents on sweet smelling machair, laced with clover.

We even managed to enjoy our dinner and Guinness before the sun set. Our Kintyre, Arran, Ailsa Craig, Ayrshire trip was well underway.

Heads down into the wind on the Kilbrannan Sound.

Once Tony and I left Campbeltown Loch and turned our bows north towards the Kilbrannan Sound we found that the wind became increasingly a head wind. We paddle sailed close hauled for some time but...

...it soon came round to hit us right on the nose and we had to drop sails and get our heads down for...

...a stiff paddle into the wind.

At Ballymenach we passed the remains of a WW2 antiaircraft gun emplacement that defended Campbeltown Loch and Machrihanish Air Base.

It was a relief to catch our breath on a cobbled shore at Black Bay but rather worryingly, our goal, Ailsa Craig, was becoming more and more distant and was now little more than a slight blip on the horizon.

We gained a little shelter as we approached Kildonand Point and Island Ross. Some potential campsites in this area proved to be inaccessible at low tide so we continued up the Kilbrannan Sound which was becoming narrower as the coast of Arran drew closer.

Rounding the point we found ourselves back in the teeth of the wind. There was still no break in the dark rocks but fortunately we spotted the inviting sweep of the sands at Saddell Bay which was still 5 km away beyond Ugadale Point. It was getting late so there was nothing for it but to get our heads down again and make what progress we could against the wind.

A flying visit to Campbeltown.

The MV Isle of Arran entered Campbeltown Loch to the north of Davaar Island and it's lighthouse. The fishing boat CN17 Perserverance was dropping her pots not far offshore.

Tony and I made our way down to the car deck to get ready to embark at 16:30.

We launched from this slipway just to the north of the ferry terminal. Amazingly we were on the water by 16:56. This was to be a flying visit to Campbeltown as we hoped to get well up the east coast of Kintyre before nightfall. Leaving the slipway we passed MV Fame from Bergen. She is a general cargo ship and is often seen round the Clyde.

Although Campbeltown is a pretty quiet place these days at various times it has had a huge fishing fleet, a coalmine, a canal which was superseded by a railway, 30 odd whisky distilleries, a huge military airbase and extensive farms in the surrounding countryside.

It was not just the ferry that was bringing visitors to Cambeltown. This was the 18:05 FlyBE flight coming in from Glasgow.

The MV Isle of Arran soon swept out of Cambeltown Loch...

...and we followed in her wake, leaving Campbeltown quickly behind. A nice little tail wind got up so we wasted no time in...

...launching our Flat Earth kayak sails.

In no time we were at the mouth of the loch and caught sight of a distant Ailsa Craig on which we hoped to camp in three nights time but...

...for now we turned our bows north to paddle sail up the east coast of Kintyre towards the Kilbrannan Sound and the soaring granite peaks of Arran beyond. Our adventure had started...

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) 

Disappearing breakfasts, otters, sharks and islands in the Kilbrannan Sound.

We awoke the following morning to low water. A feature of the Firth of Clyde is that spring tides tend to occur at midday and midnight.Arriving at a campsite in the early evening and leaving in early morning is therefore associated with LW and a long carry. Many of the "beaches" you see on Google Earth are only accessible at HW.

This is the long rocky gully we carried our boats up the previous night. It was taken with a telephoto lens so it is foreshortened and is longer than it looks.

A decent number of calories were required for our forthcoming labours. In case any one is concerned about any dietary imbalance, I consumed this lot in a whole meal wrap. Yum Yum!

Although the sun attempted to break through, a thick bank of fog rolled in. I just missed the otter in this photo but with the eye of...

...considerable faith I hope you can see the large basking shark through the fog!. I have never seen them in the Clyde so early.

After considerable humphing we set off from Rubh a na h-Airde Baine which roughly translated means "point of the pale high beach"
.

We set off across the Kilbrannan Sound but of the Isle of Arran, which is...

surprisingly large, there was not a sign!

15 year old malt and baked potatoes in the Kilbrannan Sound.

From Skipness Point we continued our voyage down the Kintyre coast of Kilbrannan Sound. A pesky headwind had got up which slowed our progress somewhat. Being gentle-persons of a certain age, we decided not to continue to our original destination, which was still over an hour away.

We had spotted a good camp site, sheltered from the prevailing wind, above a shingle storm beach. However, it was low water and the only access to the beach was a 77 meter long, slippery, rocky channel which narrowed to less than 1 meter. We unloaded our gear into our trusty IKEA bags at the water's edge and made several journeys up to the HW mark. We then used one Karitek portage strap to allow the three of us to carry each empty boat up the beach.

 Somewhat exhausted, it took a little while to set up camp and get changed.

 It was good to get the evening meal on. I was grateful that Ian and Mike gathered wood for the fire as my knees were rather painful by this stage.

After dinner it was time to crack open the whisky. It was challenging deciding which we preferred, the 15 year old Dalmore or the 15 year old Dalwhinnie. As the night wore on we declared a draw...

...as we tucked into baked potatoes and salted butter.

Je suis prest in Skipness Chapel graveyard.

 Skipness or Kilbrannan Chapel is a short walk from the beach at Skipness Point on the Kintyre peninsula.

 The chapel dates from the 13th century though details like this lancet window in old red sandstone probably date from later. It was dedicated to St Brendan (Kilbrannan means church of  Brendan).                                    

 The chapel was abandoned for regular worship in the 18th century but the graveyard is still in use.

 There oldest memorials are carved mediaeval grave slabs and...

...the older grave stones date from the early 18th century. This one was erected in 1710 to the memory of Archibald JOHNSTON sailer and Agnes McMILEN his spows. 

Later stones date from the late 19th century like this Fraser stone with the clan crest and motto "Je suis prest". This  translates as "I am ready" which is rather appropriate on a grave stone.

As we left the environs of the chapel we looked over to Skipness Castle which also dates from the 13th century. The oldest parts were built by Sven the Red, a Viking who founded the McSween clan. The castle is open to the public but time was getting on, so we made our way back to the boats.