Generations of geology students have swarmed over his unconformity on the way to the Cock of Arran,.

We made our way out of Loch Ranza and turned north along...

...the Newton shore where we chose to stop for second breakfast near the site of a considerable nonconformity.

Just below the wreck of this old boat (which has seen better days) lies an interesting geological feature,.It attracted the interest of the 18th century Scottish geologist James Hutton. He observed dipping old metamorphic rocks which were immediately overlain by gently sloping layers of much younger sedimentary rocks. There was no evidence of any intermediary rocks between the layers despite them being separated by 160 million years. Hutton used this unconformity to deduce that the underlying metamorphic rock had been created, metamorphosed, (altered by great forces) then uplifted and eroded before the later sedimentary rocks were overlain. Lastly, the two layers were then further uplifted then eroded to expose their junction on what is now Newton shore. He deduced from all this that the World was much older than had been previously thought.

Generations of geology students have followed Hutton to swarm all over his unconformity.

Leaving the unnconformity we passed the Fairy Glen on our way north.

This rock pippit was hopping between great...

...priapic boulders of conglomerate...

... which lay on the old red sandstone of the Cock of Arran.

For the full StereoVision experience read Ian's account here.

Anchors aweigh at Lochranza castle.

Although Lochranza castle has stood since  it was built by the MasSweens as a two storey hall house in the mid 13th century...

 ...it was heavily modified by the Mongomeries in the 16th century to become a tower house. Indeed this is not even the original door, which was initially on the other side of the castle.

 The interior is well worth exploring and it is fun to try and work out what function the various parts of the castle had served.

 Some of the stairways are still open so it is possible to climb to some of the upper levels.

 Helpful plaques highlight features of the castle's construction and history.

Although the sun shines in now, originally the interior would have been very dark.

 Some light now spills into this store but the claustrophobic prison was still in complete darkness so...

 ...it was a relief to escape through the tiny door to...

...the brightness of the day outside. It would have been nice to stay in this wonderful location for second breakfast but a bitterly cold wind had sprung up and not even...

...this wonderful old anchor could hold us there. It was time to move on to an unconventional alternative....

For the full StereoVision experience see Ian's account here.

A cuckoo in every corrie... a cacophony round the castle..

 The peace of our crossing to Loch Ranza in NW Arran was temporarily broken by the rumble of the MV Loch Tarbert's engines. She was running on the route from Lochranza to Claonaig on Kintyre. She soon passed on and silence returned....well not quite. The eerie calls of the divers in mid-channel were replaced by a cacophony of cuckoos calling from the corries..

There seemed to be at least four cuckoos. One in Glen Catacol to the south. One in the Coille Mor corrie, high above Lochranza village,...

...one from a corrie high on the slopes above the NE side of Loch Ranza and...

 ...at least one more, high in one of the corries above Glen Chalmadale. What an aural welcome the cuckoos made as we paddled into misty Loch Ranza as these...

 ...two yachts were preparing to leave. It was with some satisfaction that I told their crew we had been up early and had already crossed from Kintyre!

We continued up Loch Ranza as far as the peninsula upon which...

 ...the ancient walls of...

 Lochranza Castle had stood for centuries..

Like Skipness Castle across the Kilbrannan Sound (which we had passed the previous day), Lochranza Castle had originally been built by the MacSweens to control the north end of the Kilbrannan Sound. With the sound of the Lochranza cuckoos echoing round the hills, we decided to stop and explore....

Forty minutes in the natural theatre of the Kilbrannan Sound.

In the middle of the Kilbrannan Sound  the fog slowly began to clear and we could at last see which way we were going.

This guillemot seemed surprised to see us at it emerged from a thick patch of fog but it not been responsible for the haunting calls that came from an undefinable direction in the mist. Those had come from an unseen diver.

 Slowly the mountains of Arran began no emerge from the fog and we could...

...identify the hills to the south of Catacol.

 We now experienced one of the most wondrous sights we have ever experienced while crossing to Arran.
Slowly the small gap in the fog opened revealing clear blue sky to the south.

  It was as if a celestial zipper was being undone as the fog...

 ...steadily pulled back revealing....

 ...more and more of the...

 ...mountainous west Arran coast.

As we were paddling at about the same speed and direction as the receding edge of the fog, it was like being in a day of two halves and we were on the dividing line.

 At first we continued paddling in the shade but ever so slowly the edge of the fog...

 ...pulled away in front leaving us...

in full sun. We were speechless with wonder and appreciation of this natural show in the theatre of the Kilbrannan Sound. Any applause would have been both unnecessary and would have broken the spell that held us captivated on this unforgettable crossing. From the time that a peak first loomed out of a break in the fog, to when we finally entered full sunshine, this natural performance lasted for forty minutes. Those special forty minutes will last in our memories for ever.

For the full StereoVision experience see Ian's account here.

Disappearing breakfasts, otters, sharks and islands in the Kilbrannan Sound.

We awoke the following morning to low water. A feature of the Firth of Clyde is that spring tides tend to occur at midday and midnight.Arriving at a campsite in the early evening and leaving in early morning is therefore associated with LW and a long carry. Many of the "beaches" you see on Google Earth are only accessible at HW.

This is the long rocky gully we carried our boats up the previous night. It was taken with a telephoto lens so it is foreshortened and is longer than it looks.

A decent number of calories were required for our forthcoming labours. In case any one is concerned about any dietary imbalance, I consumed this lot in a whole meal wrap. Yum Yum!

Although the sun attempted to break through, a thick bank of fog rolled in. I just missed the otter in this photo but with the eye of...

...considerable faith I hope you can see the large basking shark through the fog!. I have never seen them in the Clyde so early.

After considerable humphing we set off from Rubh a na h-Airde Baine which roughly translated means "point of the pale high beach"
.

We set off across the Kilbrannan Sound but of the Isle of Arran, which is...

surprisingly large, there was not a sign!

15 year old malt and baked potatoes in the Kilbrannan Sound.

From Skipness Point we continued our voyage down the Kintyre coast of Kilbrannan Sound. A pesky headwind had got up which slowed our progress somewhat. Being gentle-persons of a certain age, we decided not to continue to our original destination, which was still over an hour away.

We had spotted a good camp site, sheltered from the prevailing wind, above a shingle storm beach. However, it was low water and the only access to the beach was a 77 meter long, slippery, rocky channel which narrowed to less than 1 meter. We unloaded our gear into our trusty IKEA bags at the water's edge and made several journeys up to the HW mark. We then used one Karitek portage strap to allow the three of us to carry each empty boat up the beach.

 Somewhat exhausted, it took a little while to set up camp and get changed.

 It was good to get the evening meal on. I was grateful that Ian and Mike gathered wood for the fire as my knees were rather painful by this stage.

After dinner it was time to crack open the whisky. It was challenging deciding which we preferred, the 15 year old Dalmore or the 15 year old Dalwhinnie. As the night wore on we declared a draw...

...as we tucked into baked potatoes and salted butter.