How sweet is the Clyde?

It was time to be back on the water but to begin with, our hulls stayed dry.


We took the ferry crossing to the Cowal peninsula on the west side of the Firth of Clyde. This is Western Ferries' MV Sound of Scarba which runs from McInroys Point to Hunter's Quay. If you plan to use this crossing, you can get discount tickets in Paul's Food and Wine shop at 94, Shore St, Gourock. A return ticket for car and driver is £27.20 if bought on the ferry or £15 bought in Paul's! If you are travelling from the Cowal side you can get the same discount tickets at Sandbank General Store and Post Office.


It was a great morning to be out on the Clyde with views in every direction. As the MV Scarba motored out of McInroys Point at 7am, we passed the MV Nordstrand at anchor. She is an 88.3m grain carrier and was waiting for high tide to make her way up to Glasgow. In the distance, the mouth of Loch Long leads into the Argyll mountains.


A few moments later, the Calmac ferry, MV Saturn, passed on her way from Dunoon to Gourock.


The view to the south showed the Cloch lighthouse and the distant hills of Arran above Bute. MV Aasli, a bulk carrier was making her way up the Clyde with a cargo of granite aggregate from Glen Sanda.


Straight ahead, the houses of Hunter's Quay and Strone flanked the entrance to the Holy Loch.


As we crossed into the middle of the Clyde we saw the Inverkip power station chimney behind the Cloch lighthouse and the steep slopes of Little Cumbrae island on the horizon.


Looking back up the Clyde, past the MV Nordstar, we could see the Maersk Line ship, SeaLand Performance at anchor off Greenock. She was being readied for sea after having spent the recession laid up in Loch Striven for nearly a year. She was finally towed out of Loch Striven on 21st May 2010. Just behind the SL Performance, you can see the capsized hull of the MV Captayannis, which was wrecked here in a storm in 1974. She is known locally as "the sugar boat" and is a popular sea kayaking destination. Her full cargo of sugar soon dissolved in the murky waters of the Clyde.

A tour of the Clyde Lochs and rocks

A tour of the Clyde lochs and rocks from Lunderston Bay, Firth of Clyde, 30km, January 2010.


The Cloch lighthouse.

Two iconic, but ultimately impotent, towers on the Clyde

Keeping an eye open for ferries at Gourock

Little and Large on the Clyde: Ocean terminal and Kilcreggan pier

A warm glow in a wintery Loch Long

The number 475 bus and an occasional sea kayaker

A nice shade of grey, in Hunter's Quay

Dunoon, and her unused new pier

The Gantock Rocks

Passing ships in the night.


Photo album map.

Ganavan, a launch site for sea kayaks and seaplanes

On Saturday 23rd January, a high pressure area sat across Scotland. As we drove north towards Oban, the forecast was for coastal fog. We took a detour over to Arrochar at the head of Loch Long and since there was no fog we decided to press on.


At Connel bridge over the tidal narrows of Loch Etive, the fog was firmly down. The Falls of Lora were not in evidence because it was the last hour of the flood.


At Ganavan Sands, to the NE of Oban, the fog rolled in just as we were launching. We could hear the booming of the MV Isle of Mull's foghorn as she made her unseen approach to Oban from Craignure on Mull. Our plan to nip across to Mull for the day would need to wait!

Ganavan is a very convenient launch site near Oban. Car parking is free in the winter but there are often pay and display meters. There is a public convenience with water at the back of the car park. The very wide slip way betrays Ganavan's past. In WW2 it was the maintenance base for No. 209 Squadron RAF. The squadron moved to Oban in 1939 and flew antisubmarine missions over the North Atlantic shipping lanes. From 1940 they used troublesome Saunders Roe Lerwick aircraft but changed to PYB Catalinas in 1941.

There would have been no danger of a flying boat landing on us today. They would be grounded. Actually, although the Catalinas are long gone, Oban does have a current seaplane service to and from Glasgow.

A warm glow in a wintery Loch Long

From Kilcreggan on the Rosneath peninsula we proceeded west to Baron's Point. Here we turned to the north and entered Loch Long. Loch Long is indeed long it stretches north from here, in a narrow fjord like ribbon, for 26km. For most of its length it is between about 50m and 95m deep. Its head at Arrochar is 130km from the mouth of the Firth of Clyde. All the lochs at the head of the Firth have been gouged out by glaciers during the Ice Age.


Just turning a corner revealed mountain scenery, which was a complete contrast to the industrial landscape we had just left. Low, snow carrying clouds hung over the mountains and flurries of snow threatened to turn into a full snow storm at any moment. It was very cold.


Past the delightful village of Cove, we came to the 4* Knockderry House Hotel. This hotel is sea kayak friendly and is a regular haunt of Pam and her friends. The hotel staff seemed to be expecting us because, on our approach, a piper emerged onto the snow covered grounds of the hotel and started to play the first of several tunes. The skirl of the pipes echoing round the snow covered mountains was a truly magnificent experience, to which we added a dram of single malt Scotch whisky...


Unfortunately we had no time to partake of luncheon and refreshments in this lovely establishment's hallowed halls or comfort ourselves next to the warm glow of its fire. The sun was already dipping to the horizon. So after a quick flask of soup, washed down with a 12 year old GlenLivet, a Bruichladdich 3D and a 10 year old Springbank, we continued on our way.


Refreshed but frozen, despite the warm glow in both our stomachs and the sky, we crossed to the far side of Loch Long.


Our destination was Strone Point behind which lay the Holy Loch.