Alan Wilson is about to set off on his round Scotland trip.

Our good friend Alan Wilson is about to set off on his sea kayaking expedition round Scotland. He launches from East Tarbert, Mull of Galloway on Sunday 8th April 2012.

Alan is raising money for three charities, The Erbs Palsy Group, The Childrens Hand Surgery Education Fund and Microsurgical Reconstruction. You can visit his charity page here.

Good luck Alan and have a safe adventure. :o)

Kayak Caledonia

My good friends, Tony Page and Gavin Gerrard, are about to embark on a fundraising paddle of at least 800km round northern Scotland: "Kayak Caledonia".


Tony Page.


Gavin Gerrard.

They are raising money for MacMillan Cancer Support and also for Childline.

I wish them a great trip!

:o)

The sun sets over Craignish; the cradle of the Scotland.

As we left the head of Loch Craignish, the road south climbed steeply up the Bealach Mor (the big pass). Before the road turned inland we enjoyed this amazing view over the loch to the ridges of Craignish and to the rocky outlines of Jura and Scarba beyond. The lights of Ardfern twinkled in the shelter of Eilean Mhic Chrion.

Craignish lies in the parish of Kilmartin which is the first village to the south of the Bealach Mor. This area of Scotland has been settled for over 4,000 years, since Neolithic times. In the vicinity of the village there are over 350 ancient sites within a radius of 10 kilometres. Not for nothing, is this area known as the Valley of Ghosts!

Much later, about 400AD, the Scots who lived round the coast of this part of Argyll, Kintyre, Islay and North Ireland, founded their kingdom of Dalriada here. Their capital was Dunadd fort which was built on a rocky outcrop. This rose from the Great Moss, the flat land behind present day Crinan. Gradually their influence extended throughout the rest of Scotland. The first King of all Scotland was Kenneth Macalpine, he was crowned at Dunadd in 843AD.

12/02/2008

Snow falls on Seakayakphoto Towers

The Scottish mainland lies between 54 degrees and 58 degrees north and Shetland extends to 60 degrees north. By rights we should be frozen solid in winter but we have a temperate maritime climate thanks to the Gulf stream. This means that it is usually windy, wet and mild year round, with little differentiation between the seasons. This also means we can sea kayak year round, on the fair days.

Several regular readers of this blog, who reside furth of Scotland, may think we Scots live in a sea kayaking paradise and yes I think we do. However, it is not all light winds and sunshine. This was Glasgow this morning. Despite appearances I have only managed two days paddling in January and a further two in February.

But what a fantastic set of four days they were!!

:o)