The best sea kayaking day trip.

Photo by Ian Johnston.

After our hot descent from the summit of Ailsa Craig it was a relief to cool off by plunging into the cool clear water off the granite spit. Two grey seals swam alongside us but were fortunately not too inquisitive.

 We then set off on an anticlockwise circumnavigation...

...below increasingly vertiginous cliffs. This area is the site of the former green  granite quarry. You can see the large number of quarried blocks to the side of the south foghorn.

 Great columns of rock soared into the sky though what we see today is just the volcanic plug. The original cone was 3500m high but was carried away by the glaciation of the Ice Ages. Erratic Ailsa Craig rock can be found all the way down the Irish sea coasts.

 This is where the gannet colonies begin, the flat tops...

...of rock columns are particularly favoured.

 It is possible to walk right round Ailsa Craig but only at spring low water as Stranny Point and...

 ...the Water Cave pose a formidable barrier at other states of the tide.

Beyond the Water Cave is the main gannet colony and the deafening croaking and overpowering smell ads to the spectacle...

...of thousands of wheeling birds in the air. It is literally raining with bird shit so bring a hat.

 Some gannets were fishing and...

 ...a fish would be lucky to escape their stuka dives.

 ...and plunge into the depths.

 This one could hardly take off, its gizzard was so full of fish.

Next we came to the green slope where...

 ...the puffins hang out! Their numbers are steadily increasing since the island's  rats were exterminated.

 A steady stream were flying in with sand eels in their beaks for hungry chicks.

After the puffins came...

...guillemot city.

 " I am not quite sure he is one of us..."

 Then it was the cormorants. 1st cormorant on a rock: "I look down on him because I am upper class."

2nd cormorant on a rock: "I look up to him because he is upper class but I look down on him because he is lower class."

3rd cormorant on a rock: "I know my place."

 As you swing round the NW of Ailsa Craig the vertical cliffs become...

 ...even more vertical, if that is possible!

 Next we came to the grey seals, some were very big and...

...some were very small.

 This one is called Gollum, it followed us right round the Craig.

 We rounded the great cliffs of the Eagle's Seat which tower over the...

 ...north fog horn and the Swine Cave.

Next on our tour was the blue hone granite quarry which had a narrow gauge tramway back to the lighthouse area.

All too soon we were back at the lighthouse. This is where photographs stop. Despite a forecast of light winds we left Ailsa Craig into a line of breaking white water. Out of nowhere a wind at the top end of F4 got up from the SE which was 45 degrees off our bows. The tide between Ailsa Craig moves in great swirls and sometimes tide was with the wind and sometimes against. Occasional braces were required in the breaking waves. As the sky to the SE grew darker we pushed on and despite the partial headwind completed the crossing in 1hr 55 minutes which was considerably faster than our usual time of 2 hours 45 minutes. It's amazing what a little adrenaline can do!

So our mission to Ailsa Craig had been accomplished, Ian had made it despite missing our last camping trip to the Craig. He had left his home near Aberdeen at 04:30 on the Friday and managed to get back by 01:30 the following morning. Ailsa Craig...a day trip from Grampian, who would have thought?

Ian and I cannot think of a better day paddle, stiff hill walk and incredible wild life experience than a trip to Ailsa Craig!

On foot on Ailsa Craig.

As we ate our sandwiches on the granite rubble spit we noticed that there were many blocks of granite that had been bored to produce the plugs of granite from which curling stones are cut. Kays of Mauchline visit every 10 years or so to remove about 2000 tons of granite that were blasted land quarried last century. Green, blue hone and red hone granite is all collected by a digger with a grabber arm and loaded onto large wheeled dumper trucks for transport to a landing craft at the spit. The last granite was collected in 2013.

After a very pleasant luncheon below the lighthouse Ian and I set off through the industrial archaeology of the lighthouse area. The railway line runs from the jetty to the lighthouse and the gas works. The points still work.

We climbed up to the 15th century castle...

...then up steep bracken covered slopes...

...to the castle well. At this time of year it is very easy to miss the path as it is obscured by chest high bracken but I have been up so many times that we made few wrong turnings and...

We emerged onto the summit (338m) ridge where we enjoyed a stunning view

...to Arran some 24km away to the north. It was from Arran's Kildonan shore (below Goatfell the highest mountain) that Tony and I had crossed to Ailsa Craig just 18 days previously. Even with a telephoto lens, it looked a long way off.

Far below FPV Minna cruised by while nearer at hand...

...we discovered dog rock just below the summit.

On the way down we saw several of these beautiful magpie moths (Abraxas grossulariata) they are particularly fond of elder trees and a few stunted specimens are found on Ailsa Craig where in the local vernacular they are known as bour trees. Soon we would discover more wildlife in near incredible numbers...

Big boats and wee boats, all headed for Ailsa Craig!

It was an overcast morning when Ian and I met at Lendalfoot on the Ayrshire coast for a trip out to Ailsa Craig. It was actually my third trip of the year but Ian had missed the last trip so any excuse as they say. We were not the only ones interested in the Craig. The cruise liner MV Discovery beat us too it despite Ian's 04:30 start from Aberdeenshire!

A telephoto lens makes Ailsa Craig appear tantalisingly close but it is...

...14.2km from Lendalfoot. We are not fast paddlers and normally allow 2hours 45minutes for the crossing.  The cloud of the early morning soon...

...burned off and it proved to be a hot crossing.

Slowly, slowly Ailsa Craig spreads over...

 ...the western horizon and detail such as...

...the castle and the lighthouse.

A roar broke the peace of the morning which had only been disturbed by the dripping of our paddles. It was...

...the high speed ferry en route from Troon to Larne.

The best place to land is the spit of granite rubble which extends to the east of the Craig. The smallest boulders are on the north of the spit but in early season grey seals haul out here and it is best to land on the SE of the spit.

As we approached we could see no seals and so we decided to land on the north of the spit just as...

MV Glorious the tour boat from Girvan was arriving.

Wuite a bit of tide runs past the spit and we were so taken by the scenery that we rather overshot the spit on our final approach.

We delayed a little to allow the wash from the high speed ferry to subside, you can see how high up the beach  the waves reached.

We hauled the up to a ledge on the storm beach but not before Ian's kayak escaped and shot down the steep beach into the see. Ian has better knees than I and he leapt after it catching it just before it glided out of reach.

We enjoyed our lunch in the sun as the passengers on the tour explored the lighthouse area and the crew of Glorious had their tea.

We may have left the shelter of the Eileans in Millport Bay on a millpond but...

We left the shelter of The Eileans in Millport Bay on a millpond to find somewhat different conditions off...

 ...Farland Point where the wind was at the top end of F4 against an ebb spring tide in its third hour.

 These photos can only give an inkling...

 ...of the fun conditions we experienced.

Once round the point we entered the main tide race with the wind behind us.

There were some great waves to catch and the combination of the Flat Earth kayak sail and paddling very hard (I do like these VE paddles) meant we could get onto the plane (in fully loaded sea kayaks!) and overtake the waves in front.

 It is a great feeling accelerating down a wave face then breaking...

....through the wave in front then resurfacing with spray flying everywhere.

I hope this video will give some idea of the speed and fun.

Unfortunately not everyone was having fun. As we paddled into the shelter of Largs the VHF radio traffic was busy with calls as the Largs inshore lifeboat and a Sea King helicopter from HMS Gannet were called to assist a small motor boat that had got swamped south of the Great Cumbrae.

All in all our overnight trip to Inchmarnock had proved a wonderful experience. Camping, bonfire, good company, a swim, a pilgrimage to Saint Blane's monastery and some wind over  tide race fun all made it unforgettable.

Windmills not millstones round our necks in an Independent Scotland.

As we left the shelter of Glencallum Bay on Bute and 

 ...passed Rubh'an Eun lighthouse we met a most pleasing wind in the channel between Bute and Little Cumbrae Island.

We made excellent progress past the end of the little Cumbrae beyond which the new Hunterston wind turbine could be clearly seen. At 177m tall it is currently the biggest wind turbine in the UK. At the moment Scotland has the majority of UK wind turbines. They are heavily subsidised by all electricity customers throughout the UK. If Scotland were to vote for independence I doubt that subsidy would continue and I have not heard from the Yes Campaign how they would be funded and one possible outcome is that relatively few Scots will end up with windmills round our necks.

 Anyway the wind soon had us approaching Great Cumbrae and its delightful...

 ...town of Millport. Millport provides excellent fish suppers and ice creams but we decided to take...
 

 ...our first luncheon on the wonderfully situated The Eileans...

...in the middle of Millport bay. There is a lovely sandy beach (except at high tide) and it was on the sheltered side of the islands.The biz of  Millport and the problems of the world seemed a million miles away.