The Small Isles and Loch nan Mile, Jura.

From Craighouse on Jura we entered Small Isles Bay. The Small Isles  are a delightful chain of islands that lie across the broad entrance to Loch na Mile. We On calm waters we glided silently over the shallow sandy bottom as heron, eider duck and divers largely ignored our passage. The eiders in particular were engrossed in mating displays.

At the north end of Eilean nan Gabhar all was calm as we passed but the sloop Agnes of Campbeltown was wrecked here in December 1858.

 On the shore of Loch nan Mile the Forest Estate lies below the Paps of Jura. It belongs to Lord Vestey.

At the last of the Small Isles chain , Eilean Bhride, we came to the northern entrance to Loch nan Mile.

Before leaving the loch we turned to look back at the Small Isles, Craighouse on Jura and the Islay hills beyond.

Amid the decay, something brought a smile to our faces.

 A few weeks ago, David, Mike, Phil and myself set off from the open Firth of Clyde up the confluence of the Irvine and Garnock estuaries.

At first things did not look too promising. This old boat had clearly seen better days and decay seemed to be...

...the order of the day as we passed long abandoned jetties.

 Then as we...

...passed under an old bridge in the Garnock estuary ...

 ...our mood lightened and...

...something brought a smile to our faces.

Bennan Head; ancient footprints, hidden harbours and wrecks.

 The wind and the rain battered the tents during the night. I arose shortly after dawn about 04:15 and looking west Bennan Head was looking rather wild as the flood tide met the NE wind. I went back to bed but we got up at 6am before any of the other campers had stirred. This is the view east to the Ayrshire coast and this...

 is the view south to Ailsa Craig and Pladda. We decided to miss breakfast but boiled some water in the camp site kettle for coffee.

 We were on the water shortly after seven so we would round Bennan Head about slack water.

 The wind was from the NE and was cross offshore. It was very gusty about F4-5.

 It was not long before Kildonan Point and Pladda...

...disappeared in our wakes and...

,,,Bennan Head loomed ahead. It woul;d have been fun for Mike and I to to hoist sails but above F4...

...Ian would never have been able to keep up. It seems difficult to believe but there is a hidden harbour on this inhospitable shore. It is called Port a' Ghille Ghlais but we did not feel much like taking time out to explore on this occasion. Our minds were on the approaching headland. Recently footprints of Isochirotherium herculis have been found in the Triassic sedimentary rock between the basalt dykes.

 The seas round the Head had fortunately calmed somewhat since  I had seen them at 04:15 and...

 ...we were able to admire the bold blade of rock of the headland and the Black Cave (which has a blow hole at the top).A tumbling waterfall completed the wild scene as we turned the most southerly point of  Arran.

Round the head we entered the lee of the land and we could relax on the next stage of the paddle to Cleats Shore.  This shore is sandy at high tide but very rocky at low tide so many potential camping spots are high tide only. A line of cliffs sits back from a raised beach and numerous basalt dykes radiate out from the shore. This coastline has been the scene of many ship wrecks not only because of the tides and rough waters but because many of the dykes extend for more than half a kilometre from the shore.

Sad ships and wrecks at Rosneath Pier.

We crossed Rosneath Bay in a flat calm. Another MOD Police launch  made her way slowly and steadily up to the Rhu narrows. It is not always so calm here. The Sugar  Boat is not the only wreck in these waters. In 1947, the motor launch Ocean sheltered here from atrocious wind over tide conditions off Rosneath Point. After a while she tried to round the point again but foundered and 20 people drowned.

At Rosneath Pier we came across MV Saturn. She was one of three "streaker" ferries in the Calmac Clyde fleet.

We often saw her on our sea kayaking trips. This was in January 2010 off Dunoon. Sadly she has sailed off into the sunset as far as Calmac is concerned, just like the Inverkip power station chimney which was demolished in July 2013, MV Saturn is no longer part of the Dunoon scene.

So Saturn is slowly deteriorating at Rosneath pier, how her star has faded. Now she shares a berth with the sad remains of ...

 ,,,the tank barge Furness Fisher. She was nearly 100m long and was originally built in the Netherlands in 1955 as a Rhine barge.

She was sold to a buyer in Lerwick in about 1976 but was based in Liverpool since 1982. She is currently being broken up and was only about half her original length when we saw her.

Also tied up at the Rosneath Pier was this sad old fishing boat. Ruaridh Morrison at West Coast Fishing Boats (Past and Present) thinks she is the "LK purser Zephyr built by Forbes in Sandhaven mid 70's, I'm 100 per cent sure of her builders but stand to be corrected on the name."

 We paddled under Rosneath Pier and...

...came across the ferry MV Isle of Cumbrae.

Again we have crossed wakes with the MV Isle of Cumbrae many times such as in Oban in March 2010....

...and crossing between Portavadie and Tarbert on a summer evening in June 2013. I hope she is just resting rather than waiting to be broken up.

Our compass needles gave hardly a flicker.

 A little breeze got up as we left the wreck of the MV Captayannis and we wasted no time...

 ..in hoisting the sails. Despite low pressure all around the west coast of Scotland, the wind didn't stay or get up as hoped and sadly...

 ...it turned into a flat calm. This had its advantages as we spotted black guillemot, guilliemot and razorbills on the crossing.

We were not the only ones doing some spotting. An MOD Police launch and 4 MOD Police RIBs  had given us the once over as we crossed the shipping channel from the wreck of the Sugar boat. Their job is to escort Royal Naval vessels to and from HMS Neptune at Faslane in the Gare Loch. They also escort too curious others from the premises.

A momentary blink of sun lit up Helensburgh (from where we had embarked) but we were headed for the Rosneath peninsula where we made landfall at...

  ...MOD Rosneath at the Green Isle.  This facility offers electromagnetic signature services to ships and submarines at both 9m and 20m depths in the channel just offshore. Our compass needles gave hardly a flicker and so we passed on feeling completely un-degaussed but in need of some luncheon.

Betwixt and between two points on the Clyde.

Before we left the wreck of the MV Capytannis we savoured her fine position in the Firth of Clyde. Away to the west the Firth divides into three. On the left the exit to the open sea, Straight ahead the entrance to the Holy Loch and to the right, the entrance to Loch Long.The two points pointing together on the cardinal buoy mean it is safe to pass to its west.

The cranes of Greenock's container terminal rose into the mist to the south. Sugar refining, which brought the Sugar Boat to Greenock, began here in 1765. At one time Greenock had 12 sugar refineries but Tate and Lyle, the last, closed in 1997. Since then there have been no more sugar boats on the Clyde.

To the east lay the dark outline of Ardmore Point beyond which,.the Clyde stretches  upstream to Glasgow. Ardmore Point lies on the Highland Boundary Fault.which separates the Central Lowlands of Scotland from the Highlands. Ardmore has some very interesting geology including ancient conglomerate rocks. These are also found away...

...on Rosneath Point, which is on the opposite side of the outer entrance to the Gare Loch. The ancient rocks between the two points were cut away by the glacier which formed the Gare Loch in the relatively recent geological past.

The Highland Boundary Fault stretches right across Scotland and this view is taken from further NE along the fault. It is looking SW from the summit of Conic Hill across the islands of Loch Lomond. The fault line can be easily seen and Ardmore Point is just behind the hill beyond the islands. Both Conic Hill and the islands share the same...

...conglomerate rocks that are found at Ardmore and Rosneath Points. Conglomerate rocks were formed when Scotland was situated about the equator.The various sized pebbles that are trapped in the sedimentary sandstone are mostly greenish schist and whitish quartz.

Interestingly Loch Lomond, which is now a fresh water loch, was once a sea loch off the Firth of Clyde (just like the Gare Loch and Loch Long are today). After the last Ice Age, sea levels were higher and sea water covered the lip (that is 9m above sea level) that retainsLoch Lomond today. As sea levels dropped, Loch Lomond was cut off from the sea, isolating many shoals of marine fish. As the water gradually became fresher most of the sea fish died out but some survived and gradually evolved to live in what is now totally fresh water. These are called powan a freash water "herring" which are descended from a common salt water ancestor of present day herring in the sea. Powan are found in only a handful of lochs and lakes in the British Isles. They are only naturally found in one other Scottish loch, Loch Eck, which once connected to the Firth of Clyde through the Holy Loch. Each of the British Powan species is genetically distinct as they have been isolated from each other since they were trapped in their loch or lake.

Sandpipers on the Sugar Boat.

Before we left the wreck of the MV Captayannis (the Sugar Boat)  we spotted a number of ...

...sandpipers hopping round the barnacles on the wreck's stern.

When we got closer we realised there were two separate species. We saw dunlin in their winter plumage and...

...they were accompanied by purple sandpipers.