An unadventurous lot, down on Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast.

All too soon it was time to leave the shelter of the River Stinchar.

As it was near high tide, the bar at the river mouth was well covered...

 ...but still gave David an excuse to practice his air braces.

South of Ballantrae Bay the coastline is dominated by steep cliffs of dark Cambrian basaltic rocks. On this stretch we came across this particularly fine pillow lava. It looked like it had just oozed out of the volcano but that was about 500 million years ago.

We now entered a sea kayaker's wonderland, the coastline consisted of a complex series of gullies, geos and caves.

Each time we came to a headland we would say "that was the best bit of rockhopping ever" only to discover, once round the headland,...

 ...that the next bit...

 ...was even better.

 Waterfalls cascaded down the cliffs, only to be lost in piles of boulders above the sea.

 Ayrshire's Atlantic coast...

 ...just kept getting better and...

...better. In the SW of Scotland we tend not to travel far to enjoy sea kayaking in exotic locations. I wonder why we are such an unadventurous lot?

Oa my! It's a tight squeeze getting out of Bun an Easan!

From the beach at Lower Killeyan (where we had enjoyed first luncheon) we had paddled quite a long way along the Oa peninsula. It was now well past time for our second luncheon!

So we landed in the delightful cove of Bun an Easan "foot of the waterfall". We climbed up the slope behind the beach and enjoyed a tasty meal of Stilton cheese, oatcakes and red grapes washed down with a little Ardbeg. As we lay back in the sun, enjoying a postprandial doze, we looked over the sparkling blue waters of Loch Indaal to the distant Rinns of Islay.

After dining, we strolled back tdown o the beach and through a little cave to a hidden...

...valley with a burn. It is called Sruthan Bun an Easa or "little stream of the foot of the waterfall".

Tony and I found another cave entrance, high on the grassy slope above the beach. Its floor angled steeply downwards. Standing in the entrance, the cold air inside sighed back and forth past us, like the breath of a giant. Feeling the walls we descended into the darkness. At the bottom we came to a dark carven into which the unseen ocean swell was surging and booming.

Time passed too quickly at Bun an Easan and it was now time to leave. Tony was in for a surprise (I had been before):  the In Door is wider than the Out Door!

It was a tight squeeze and our paddles clattered and echoed on the rocky walls. We made it through, despite our large luncheons!

What a geo on Oa!

Soldier's Rock was barely out of our minds before we discovered the NW headland of the Oa peninsula on Islay was riven with a series of deep geos culminating in this one. It stretched for 100m, deep into the rocks and culminated in a slight opening with a steep beach behind. A lazy three foot swell was running into the geo and crashing on the steep beach in dumping surf. The repeated low BOOOMPHS reverberated along the narrow channel. We chose not to risk landing in this isolated spot and turned carefully just on the edge of the surf line and made our way back out towards the light and the open sea beyond. The hail had turned to rain but by the time we emerged it had turned to snow carried by a cold wind from the north.

We were now only 2.5km from our end point at Kintra. We had planned to stop for a well deserved second luncheon at the delightful little Port Alsaig but despite being ravenous, we decided to press on in the snowstorm.


We landed below Kintra farm at the south end of the Big Strand. This beach is the biggest on Islay and its sands stretch away for over 8km along the east shore of Loch Indaal. We were ravenous but there was little shelter in this open place so we ate our sandwiches as the snow fell. Misha had the biggest sandwich bag and ate it all! We recounted the highlights of our day as the snow fell and the light faded.


"The dolphins were this close!"


"Get away!"

What another great trip... the only fly in the ointment was that my car was 7km away at Port Ellen!