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is a pretty quiet place these days at various times it has had a huge fishing fleet, a coalmine, a canal which was superseded by a railway, 30 odd whisky distilleries, a huge military airbase and extensive farms in the surrounding countryside.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

Alien rocks but no OCD in Brodick Bay.

 South of Corrie, on Arran's east coast, the woodland comes right down to the...

 ...red sandstone rocks that line the shore. The rocks have eroded into...

 ...the most amazing contorted shapes.The rocks looked like something out of the Queen's lair in a hive of Aliens

We driftede into Brodick Bay under the wooded lower slopes of Goatfell.
.

 This fine beach tree stands in the grounds of Brodick Castle.

We were not really trying to catch the 12:30 ferry  which is probably just as well as we missed it. Our good friends Andrew and Colin (who also sea kayaked to Brodick that morning) did make it and waved to us as the MV Isle of Arran pulled out of the dock. At this point we noted that we had covered something like 96.6 km since we had started our trip .We had plenty of time to paddle round the bay for a little to take our trip up to 100 km but we took a savage delight in paddling straight to the pier. Never let anyone accuse us of being obsessional about such things.

After a relaxed unpacking we were in plenty of time for the 13:50 MV Caledonian Isles back to the cars at Ardrossan on the mainland.

Despite very mixed weather we had enjoyed a fantastic circumnavigation of Arran. Ian, Mike and I were sorry our trip had ended and were already looking forward to the next time we could paddle together....

Consternation in Corrie, guaranteed sheep and seal sightings threatened.

From the wilds of Sannox on NE coast of Arran we came to the little village of Corrie. For such a small place...

 ...it has a surprising three harbours. This old sea wall survived the severe storms of last winter almost unscathed but some of the more recent walls were not so well built and suffered badly in the storms last winter.

This old fishing boat is now a house boat in one of the harbours.. She has seen better days.

Towards the south end of the village you are (almost) guaranteed to see a seal.

This wooden seal is usually fixed to a rock just offshore. It was carved by Marvin Elliot who lives and works in the village. During the last winter there was great consternation in Corrie. Visitors to the village were no longer guaranteed a seal sighting. The Corrie seal was carried away by the winter storms but was rescued by a couple who found it on Turnberry beach some 52 kilometres away to the SE. Fortunately for Corrie. The finders appear not to have had a wood burning stove.

The southern harbour of Corrie has three sheep for bollards.

 The one at the north end is black and has turned its back on the other two....

We spent some time drifting in the calm off Corrie. As we enjoyed a hazy view of Holy Island we reflected on the last few days of exploration and companionship and realised that our trip would soon be over.

Preaching to the converted in Blackwaterfoot Harbour.

 From Corriecravie we came to Aird nan Ron (Seal Point) and true to its name, the point was a haven for common seals.

  At the next headland, Kilpatrick Point we passed the Preaching Cave in the low cliffs behind the shore. The only sermon we heard were a few singing common seals.

Leaving the hamlet of Kilpatrick we set off across...

...Drumadoon Bay towards the...

 ...village of Blackwaterfoot.

The sands of the village beach are backed by The Doon, a dramatic basalt sill which once had an extensive Iron Age settlement perched on its summit.

Nowadays the settlement of Blackwaterfoot is at sea level and clusters round a tiny harbour at the mouth of....

 ...the Clauchan Water. I explored this waterfall which is the limit of navigation as the local bus rumbled over the bridge.

As we paddled round the little harbour, the family in the VW camper from the camp site gave us a big wave. I think they were surprised we had arrived in Blackwaterfoot before them! From the sea it would be all too easy to miss this tiny harbour. It is worth keeping your eyes open, fortunately I did not have to persuade either Ian or Mike to take a detour. Neither of them are headland to headland types either.

Planing a a fully loaded expedition sea kayak: paddle sailing through the Pladda tide race.

I was just timing my departure from the little harbour at Pladda when a baby seal popped up right in front of me (it's just below the highest bit of the wave). I hung back before powering....

 ...through the narrow entrance into the Sound of Pladda which was...

 ...surprisingly bumpy.

 Once out of the harbour we turned SE to circumnavigate Pladda clockwise.

 The spring tide had nearly finished its fourth hour but...

 ....the water was still stirred up a bit.

 We got some good runs...

 ...running diagonally down the waves.

 The water stirred itself some more as we approached....

....the east point of Pladda then...

 ....yee hahh...

 

 ...I just love sea kayaking.

 Rounding the east point freed the wind so it was time to launch the sail...

 ...and the speed picked up even more.

 What a great feeling, .flying down wind,...

 ...overtaking the waves in front and...

 ...planing a fully loaded expedition  kayak for...

 ....hundreds of meters at a time.

 Sadly the bouncy bits...

 ...all too soon came to an end as....

 ...we broke out into the lee of Pladda.

 We completed our circumnavigation in calm conditions before...

 ...crossing theSound of Pladda and landing...

...on a sandstone slab between basalt dykes on the Kildonan Shore of Arran. Time to do luncheon!

If you fancy expedition sea kayaking with a sail, we use Flat Earth Kayak Sails from Australia. In Europe they are available from Kari-tek and P&H also supply their sea kayaks with sailing rigs.