Longships at Largs: past and present.

The "Pencil" commemorates the site of the Battle of Largs in 1263. The Vikings in Orkney heard that the Scots had become interested in the "Lordship of the Isles", which consisted of the Hebrides and Kintyre. The Lordship was only nominally under Viking control but the thought of a Scots invasion sent their longships south.

After King Haakon IV of Norway made his way through Kyle Akin, the straight between Skye and the mainland, he led his fleet to the Firth of Clyde where King Alexander III of Scotland waited for him. An autumn gale got up and grounded some of the longships. While the Scots attacked the stricken vessels, the main Viking fleet was unable to land its troops in the storm. After five stormy, days King Haakon withdrew the rest of his fleet back to his base in Orkney. He planned to return in the spring but died during the winter. The balance of power had shifted and the Scots regained dominion over the Hebrides.

The Clan Donald were the successors of the Celtic hero Somerled (c1100 - 1164) who was the first "Lord of the Isles". They ruled the Hebrides at first under the Vikings and then under the Scots until 1493. Ironically, for a Celtic clan, their male descendents have been shown to carry a Viking Y chromosome.



Today Largs is one of the most popular venues for Scottish sea kayakers. The Cumbrae Islands are not far from shore and the Isles of Bute and Arran lie beyond. However, the apparently sheltered waters are subject to unpredictable winds, which channel through the islands and surrounding hills. Viking longships are not the only vessels to have come to grief here. Despite its attraction to beginners, many sea kayakers have found themselves taking an unexpected swim. On three separate occasions that I have been paddling here, there has been a swimmer.







Weather conditions are not the only thing sea kayakers need to be aware of. This is a busy deep water shipping channel. Note the kayaker under the bow of the ore carrier Aquabeauty.



Hunterston ore terminal is the deepest water dock in Europe. The jetty runs for one mile out into the channel and it can handle ships up to 350,000 tons. Aquabeauty is a relatively small 170,000 tons. The cranes can off load 2,400 tons of coal or iron ore per hour.

Sea Kayak by Gordon Brown

Pesda Press have announced a publication date of 7/12/2006 for a much awaited book. "Sea Kayak" is a modern guide to sea kayaking for intermediate to advanced sea kayakars. The author is Gordon Brown; authority, guru, maestro, mentor and all round good guy from Skye.

Two taster chapers have been posted on the Pesda website. Chapter 12 covers "Reading the water" while chapter 15 deals with "Big Swell". Both will have the sea kayaking community salivating with anticipation.

The opening photo of chapter 15 features Cailean on the crest of a wave. To quote from Gordon in chapter 15:

If you have a distant horizon the waves are less than one metre.
If your horizon is the crest of the wave immediately in front, the waves are over a metre.
Anything bigger than this is only talk for the party afterwards.

Some party Cailean!

"Over the sea to Skye"

The Skye Bridge gives the words of the old song new meaning. It spans the tidal narrows of Kyle Akin and in 1995 replaced the Skye ferry that ran between Kyle of Lochalsh and Kylakin. For the next 9 years it was the most expensive toll bridge in Europe. A return trip in a car cost about £12. Then in 2004 the Scottish Executive bought the bridge from the company that built it and the bridge is now toll free.

It was through Kyle Akin that a government warship made its way to destroy Eilean Donan castle in 1719. Four and a half centuries earlier, King Hakon of Norway led his longships through the same narows before his defeat by the Scots at the Battle of Largs in 1263. The kyle (narrow straight) was named after him.



The lighthouse stands on Eilean Ban. The author Gavin Maxwell spent the last year of his life here after his house, Camusfearna, was destroyed in a fire. It was situated at nearby Sandaig.



The tidal times, flow rates and even direction are very unpredictable and are affected by air pressure, rain fall and snow melt. The narrows run far faster than you can paddle and when wind is against tide can give challenging conditions.

Inshore Britain: first impression

Inshore Britain provides nearly all the information you need to plan your paddle round the coast of mainland Britain but it is much more. It is packed with details of history, geology, wild life and lots of other things to look out for on the way.

I seldom buy books unseen but I did so in this case because Stuart Fisher has already published a series of articles about his voyage round Britain in Canoeist magazine. Many years ago I found a dog eared copy of Canoeist magazine, issue 123, in a second hand bookshop. It contained Stuart's article on paddling the Solway coastline. It was one of the reasons I took up sea kayaking and it also inspired me to write about it. I have since published two articles about paddling the Solway coast in Paddles magazine.

Inshore Britain arrived by post this morning. I was not disappointed. Published by Imray of Charts and Pilots fame, it is an A4 format and has 357 pages. On the back cover I was delighted to see a photo of a little known, but striking, rock arch on the Solway. Clearly Stuart has taken the time to paddle the coast and not gone from headland to headland as many circumnavigators have done to save time. It took him 15 years to complete his paddle round Britain. This is an author who has savoured his trips and his writing conveys his enjoyment and enthusiasm for exploring the coast by sea kayak.

The book is divided into 62 sections starting with west Cornwall and working clockwise round the coast. Each section consists of 4 to 8 pages and covers a distance varying from about 80 to 180km. The section of coast is outlined by very clear but large scale line maps (you will still need other more detailed maps or charts). There are very many of the authors own photographs. They include a number of really excellent A3 wide panoramas but most photographs are quite small, given the format of the book. There is a highlighted text box covering local information including tidal constants. Tidal flows are mentioned in the body of the text and as some sections are nearly 4,00o words long, it can take a moment or two to track them down.

Taking the Solway section as an example, it covers 131 km in 6 pages. The line map covers the central part of two adjacent A4 pages and the text has been overlaid on the inland areas. There are 11 photographs that include close range shots of distinctive buildings and rock features but I also like the wide angle shots of distinctive hills and islands which give a good idea of the look of the coast from a kayak. The text is about 3,500 words. It is very well written and gives a detailed account of things to see not just from the kayak but covers points of interest a short distance inland as well. Stuart gives a good account of the weather conditions he met: "into Wigtown Bay where southerly winds rise with little warning and bring heavy seas". This is something I know of very well! However, for one person to have local knowledge of all the differing conditions of the whole coast of Britain would be expecting too much. He does not mention the strong gusty NW winds which come down off the Galloway hills and have caused many recreational boating fatalities over the last years. Nor does he mention the seasonal inshore lifeboat stationed at Mossyard as a result of these accidents (after Stuart had published this section in Canoeist) but he does detail the all year inshore lifeboat at Kirkcudbright. From my local knowledge of this section it is clear to me that Stuart has thouroughly paddled and researched the area. The guide would thus be invaluable to anyone new to the area who might otherwise miss a great deal. He has resisted the temptation to detail what is round every corner and there will still be the satisfaction of exploring and finding the unexpected.

A reviewer has to try and identify any weakness in a book. Well that would be difficult in this case. I have checked the Solway tidal data and it is accurate. Several of the caravan and campsites mentioned are no longer open to non resident visitors. The most kayak friendly campsite, Brighouse Bay, is called Pennymuir in the book, a name even the locals no longer use and a name which is not on the OS map. There are one or two typos including a page number on the contents page, so as usual, I would always use more than one source to check tidal data. A couple of others I showed the book to this evening thought there was too much text and the photos should have been bigger. Some of the older members of the sea kayaking club felt that his original magazine articles were a bit wordy. I disagree, I loved the few original articles I had read. Now they are gathered together in a reference book, I am looking forward to a number of long winter evenings engrossed, reading about new areas. Do note that the title is "Inshore Britain". It does not detail islands such as the Isle of Wight, Anglesey, Isle of Man, Arran, Mull, Skye or the Outer Hebrides.

This book is essential reference for any sea kayaker. It will allow you to get enough backround information to help plan a paddle in a new area (without buying all the local pilots) and also give you a wealth of background knowledge of the coast. Highly recommended.

PS A delightful touch is the use of postage stamps as small fillers throughout the book. These either have a nautical theme or have local relevance, e.g. a stamp of the Queen Mother's 90 birthday is situated near her summer residence on the map of the Caithness coast.

Canna population grow again?

The rural idyll of Canna, which is one of the four "Small Isles" in the Inner Hebrides, is about to reverse a population decline. The National Trust for Scotland owns the island and is advertising for two new families to join the fifteen strong resident population. The Trust has received over 350 applications from all over the world!



Much of the island is surrounded by forbidding cliffs but there is a welcoming natural harbour at its SE corner and the interior of the island is surprisingly fertile and wooded. It has been inhabited for at least 7,000 years.



Being handy with tools is a necessary attribute for any incomer. The island's post office, telephone box and satellite telephone link are all powered by a genertator just along the road at the farm. It breaks down quite often.



Humans are not the only inhabitants who are returning to the isle. Manx shearwaters (pictured above off the north coast of Canna) have now returned to breed after the island's rats were exterminated in a similar exercise to that on Ailsa Craig.

Unlocked island doors.

For centuries the unlocked door has been a feature of the hospitality of remote Highland and Island communities. Perhaps it has grown from an inate trust in human nature, or the need to take shelter from the frequent and sudden deteriorations in the weather. Some unkind commentators have said the houses had nothing worth stealing. Whatever, it is an enduring sign of an alternative approach to life in remote communities that has survived to the 21st century.



The lovely little island of Colonsay which lies in the Inner Hebrides between Jura and Mull, is studded with dazzling white shell sand beaches. On the machair behind the beaches lives the corncrake which is one the rarest birds in Britain. It shares the island with some wild goats, descended from those who survived the wrecking of a Spanish warship from the Armada. There are also 100 human residents who do not lock their doors.

Unfortunately the island has just suffered its first crime in 7 years. A visiting workman from Glasgow sold a crofter a bag of wood. After the crofter left the house, the workman returned and stole £60 from the money tin. (There is no bank on the island.) Fortunately the loss was discovered on a day when there was no ferry. The workman was detained by the island's joiner who is also a special constable. The thief was escorted to the ferry the next day and was arrested by police on the mainland.

A resident said "We are a close-knit community and we won't change our lifestyle."

Eilean Donan castle

A particular feature of Scottish sea kayaking is being able to paddle right up under the walls of many of the great castles which are dotted round the coastline. In the past, the sea was the main transport artery for the people living around Scotland. Eilean Donan castle is strategically placed at the head of Loch Alsh where it splits into Loch Long and Loch Duich. The mouth of Loch Alsh faces the island of Skye so it has two exits to the sea through the tidal races of Kyleakin and Kylerea. The castle dates from 1230 but was destroyed by an English warship in 1719 when it was being held by the Jacobites. They wished to see the return of a Stuart king to the throne of Great Britain. The Jacobite garrison thought they were safe, protected from large warships by the powerful tidal races but a local pilot, sympathetic to the government, guided the warship to the castle. Its cannon reduced the ancient walls to rubble and it was not restored to its present state until 1932.

The bottlenose dolphins of Gigha and the Brownie of Cara

Recent talk of community buyouts takes us south again to the islands of Gigha and Cara. They lie at the south end of the Sound of Jura off the west coast of the Kintyre peninsula. There is a pod of bottlenosed dolphins which are frequently seen in these waters. One has a distinctive lateral curve to the dorsal fin and I have also seen them 60km further north in the Sound of Luing.

Although Gigha and Cara are not far from the mainland, the waters off their southern points can be very rough as they are exposed to westerly swells from the Atlantic.





The only house on Cara is haunted by a spirit called the "Brownie". It pays to be polite and doff a cap and greet the Brownie on arrival. If this is done, the Brownie can be a helpful spirit who can tidy up and make sure kayaks are above high water etc. However, if you upset him or if you are a Campbell, then he can be very mischievous and hide things in places you have already looked for them or even wake you with a hard slap.



If you sit round a fire, you would be advised to leave an empty space for the Brownie....



The three Paps of Jura lie across the Sound of Jura from Gigha. From further north, there is a more anatomically correct view which shows only two Paps.

Hebridean roots and island community buyout.

Benbecula



South Uist



Eriskay

My daughters have ancestral roots in several places in the outer Hebrides including Solas and Greinetobht in North Uist, Baile a' Mhanaich and Cill Eireabhagh on Benbecula and Loch a'Charnain and Staoniebrig in South Uist. Generations of depopulation have led to our family leaving the islands for places like Glasgow, Australia and New Zealand. My friend Cailean is a more recent emigrant from Lewis to Inverness which is near where I grew up in Dingwall.

I was delighted to hear that the remaining residents of the South Uist Estate, which includes Eriskay and parts of Benbecula, have been awarded £2 million Lottery funding towards a community buy out of the estate.

Other remote Scottish estates have been successfully bought by their communities. Gigha for example is now thriving again. I wish the residents of South Uist Estate good fortune in the future.

PS 14/11/2006 Highlands and Islands Enterprise has donated a further £2 million to the buy out fund.

Ailsa Craig and the return of its puffins.

Having teased you with remote glimpses of Ailsa Craig from the Clyde coast of Ayrshire, I think it is time for a closer look. It is best to choose a day with a good forecast as the volcanic plug stands in spendid isolation, 15km from the nearest land. It is also known as Paddy's Milestone as it is half way between Belfast and Glasgow. It is on the sea route taken by many Irish families who travelled to Scotland following famine in Ireland. Its microgranite has been quarried for the production of curling stones used in a popular Scottish winter pastime.



We went in May when the thousands of seabirds had returned to their breeding grounds on its precipitous cliffs. We paddled past colonies of gannets, fulmars, guillemots, black guillemots. and razorbills.



A particular treat was to see a small group of colourful puffins. Last century, a colony of over 30,000 pairs had been wiped out by rats which escaped from a ship wreck. The puffin burrows were too accessible and the rats preyed on the chicks and eggs in the spring and summer then cannibalised each other during the autumn and winter. The rats were recently exterminated using poisoned grain. Within a few years, a small breeding colony of puffins has reestablished itself. They are now a welcome sight, evidence, on a very small scale, that what man has done, he can undo. Let's just hope the climate is as fortunate as a few puffins.

More from the cave of Mr Sawney Bean

The entrance to Sawney Bean's cave is at the foot of Bennane Head on the lower Firth of Clyde. It is in a fabulous, remote situation with the monolith of Ailsa Craig punctuating the horizon. At high tide, the cave is entered by a traverse on rocks above the sea, followed by a climb of about 10 metres to the entrance. As the walls of the cave are worn smooth it must have been created by the sea following the last ice age when sea levels were higher. The land had been depressed by the sheer weight of thousands of metres of ice. The ice had also worn away the ash cone of Ailsa Craig and transported erratic granite boulders from its volcanic plug as far south as Wales.



Grafitti pointing to the inner chamber of the cave where over 1,000 souls are reputed to have been murdered before being cannibalised by the Bean clan.



It was a welcome relief to escape to the open sea and sky.

A Kayaking Bean feast.

A trip to Bennane Head on the lower Clyde found us inside the cave and principal dwelling of a Mr Alexander Bean who frequented these parts in the 17th century. He was known as "Sawney" to his friends (most of his aquaintances had little time to develop friendship). Together with his brood of 48 butchers he is reputed to have cannibalised about 1,000 victims over a 25 year reign of terror. The Bean family were finally run to ground and the males were executed by amputation of the limbs and the females by burning. The walls of the cave have stood as silent witness to this horror for thee centuries. Today, they ran red with iron oxide, as if still bleeding in silent sympathy with those who had met their grisly end within. We found no femurs. Despite the ancient land of Alba having a past brim full of blood thirsty deeds, the historical veracity of Sawney Bean's place in Scottish history is in some doubt.





The coastline from Lendalfoot (where Mr Alastair Wilson of Lendal Paddles has a home) to Loch Ryan was a superb mixture of volcanic rocks, including pillow lavas, and huge shingle beaches. The section from Ballantrae south was a rockhopping paradise. The coast is commiting, being exposed to the NW Atlantic swells, and a force 4 to 5 SW wind developed as the day wore on. Entering Loch Ryan the Stenna Line HSS ferry threw up a 2 metre wake. We made sure we were well clear of the rocks but were nearly caught out by the rebound of her other wake which was reflected back across from the far side of the loch some time later.

Call of the Clyde

I started sea kayaking 4 years ago. One of my first trips was along the Clyde coast of Ayrshire. It is a coast which is surprisingly remote from the coastal A77 trunk road between Glasgow and the ferry port of Stranraer. It is also steeped in history, ancient castles where such atrocities as the roasting of the Abbot of Crossraguel Abbey took place. Further down the coast is a cave where Sawney Bean and his family practiced cannibalism on poor travellers.

The Firth of Clyde, I hear it calling........

Hydro Skeg from Ayrshire!

Ayrshire on Scotland's west coast is famous in sea kayaking circles not only for its spectacular sunsets behind the silhouette of Arran's "Sleeping Warrior" across the Firth of Clyde. It also supports two kayaking businesses that are renowned for their ingenious design skills. Alistair Wilson's Lendal Paddles is the longest established but I wish to draw your attention to Jeff Turner's Kari-tek.



In July this year Jeff fitted one of his skegs to my wife's Alaw Bach, a skegless design. So at the Perth show, I was surprised to spot this Rockpool Alaw Bach fitted with a skeg from the factory.



Jeff sells Hydro Skegs as aftermarket kits to add to a skegless boat like the Alaw Bach or to replace wire or rope skegs. The above photo shows the hydraulic slider and pipes which Jeff fitted to my wife's Alaw Bach.

I have kinked the skeg wire on every boat I have owned and it is a real hassle if you are away on a trip. The kink usually happens in the unsuported flexible wire that is exposed above the skeg when it is in the down position. If there is any resitance in the cable run, the the wire can kink preventing the skeg from retracting.

Kinks can also happen if the wire is exposed at the cockpit slider. If a pebble jams the skeg, an unsympathetic paddler can bend the wire by forcing the slider. I am not going to say anything about rope skegs other than that they are less desirable than wire skegs and midges.

In comparison, the Hydro Skeg works so smoothly and never requires lubrication. If you hit the bottom with the skeg, it just retracts and the slider moves into the up position ready to redeploy the skeg. I have been using the Hydro Skeg since July with no mechanical problems whatsoever.



The Rockpool Alaw Bach is a great rough water play boat and in that role does not need a skeg. However, if you are using it on longer crossings, with the wind from the rear quarter, then it does weather cock. A skilled paddler will compensate by edging and sliding the paddle shaft to the upwind side for more leverage. This can get tiring and less skilled paddlers might appreciate a skeg. The Hydro Skeg has transformed the Alaw Bach for my wife and I also benefit from it. The Rockpool can be trimmed to paddle straight using varying amounts of skeg, regardless of wind strength or direction. I have never had to use the standard Hydro Skeg in the fully down position in the Rockpool.



I note that the version now supplied as an original fit by Rockpool is smaller.

All in all, the Hydro Skeg is a really excellent bit of kit and I recommend it highly. One day all skegs will work this way!

SKoogle!

SKoogle is a really excellent new sea kayaking search tool from Graeme Burton. Not only can you search for key words, it has a clickable map section. This will highlight many other sites with web pages that include photos, narrative, information, audio and video about places to paddle. Many European countries are already covered.

I used it to search my own site, the Scottish Sea Kayaking Photo Gallery, to find the above photo of Loch Caolisport.

I have been developing an index for the SSPG. Now I do not need to bother. Thank you Graeme!

Friends reunited at a coo palace.

I had been unwell since the summer and had not been on the water. Neither had my beloved Nordkapp LV as she had developed a leak in the rear compartment. Mike Thomson from Scottish Paddler Supplies whisked her off to Valley for repair. She was only away for three days but ill health kept us apart till this lovely October day on the Solway Firth. I went for a solo paddle out across Fleet Bay and past Murray's Isles then Ardwall Island.



The sands of Barlocco beach made a welcome landfall. Mine were the only footprints on the pristine sands. I sat by the old fort and watched the low October sun sink towards the horizon. The fort is actually a folly or a "coo (cow) palace" in Gallovidian vernacular.



Life is very, very good I thought to myself. There was no point in saying it out loud as I was completely alone. As I departed, the flood tide erased all trace of my steps and transitory prescence. I paddled home in the gathering chill of dusk, feeling at one with the Nordkapp LV....and the sea.

It is good to be back on the water.

Paddle '06 exhibition, Perth

It was great to see so many friends and drool over all the nice shiny new kit at the Scottish Canoe Association Paddle '06 exhibition in Perth. Thanks to all at SCA!





Mike gets busy with the polish on the Valley and Scottish Paddler Supply stand. (Does your wife know that you know what to do with one of those dustery things, Mike?) Jason told me that Valley have now taken over North Shore sea kayaks and have already started manufacturing updated models with Valley fittings. In addition to the delectable glass Nordkapp LV, the polyethylene Nordkapp RM attracted a lot of deserved interest. Can you imagine if holiday hire companies had boats this good?



I left the SPS stand with more gear to test: an Advanced Elements 1/2 man convertible inflatable kayak. I have already tested the one man version. This is quality kit and is not a toy.





Fresh from dealing with floods in my old home town of Dingwall, Cailean was manning the Coastguard stand and looked very smart in his new uniform! Unfortunately I was waylaid by so many people that I did not get to Cailean's rescue workshop but I heard very good reports.





On the Rockpool/Knoydart stand I met Mike (above) Aled and Rob. The glitter in the stars was actually made up of lots and lots of tiny stars! How cool is that? Mike and Aled showed me their new lightweight plastic bulkeads. These are dished at the edges and have a layer of foam between the edge and the hull and deck. On the cockpit side, there is an additional Sikaflex seal. These bulkheads cut 0.75kg weight and should also solve the problem of gel coat cracking which can plague many older boats (from all manufacturers) with traditional bulkheads.





What's this?? A skeg on a Rockpool? Yes! now it is just like mine which uses Hydroskeg technology from Karitek.






Karitek's Jeff Turner had built this comparator rig to let you test hydro, wire and rope skegs. The alloy pedal controls a rotating skeg, the "hydro rudder". It is really well engineered, I can't wait to try it on the water.

Bruce and the Lomo team had their gear on sale at their regular but super low prices. Value for money oozes out of every Lomo box! Their dive boots are the perfect sea kayaking footwear.






Paul on the Palm stand extolled the finer points of their new Aleutian sea kayaking dry suit. I liked the articulating design of the hood. I particularly liked the reinforced bootees which look much more robust than the lightweight items on my Kokatat suit. These are showing wear after only 10 days use. He also showed me a prototype of their new sea PFD. The attention to detail and design was excellent.





On the P&H stand ,a very well finished Quest LV had nice new cockpit adjustable footrests with decent sized pedals. I was never a fan of the previous Yakima alloy tracks which tended to jam with sand.







Point 65 kayaks showed this new rolled edge to the cockpit rim. A nice touch.

I had a great chat with Franco and Gordon on the Pesda Press/ Skyak stand. Franco really has built up a fine collection of kayaking books; with more exciting sea kayaking volumes in the pipeline. The first of these is Gordon's new book Sea kayak for intermediate to advanced paddlers. Gordon told me about a bold and secret open water route through the Corryvreckan on flood. It takes you on a narrow conveyor belt of flat (sic) water within spitting distance of 20 foot standing waves on one side and on the other, a counter eddy speeding the other way. I can't wait to give it a go.........really! Sounds like northshore seakayaing!

There were lots of retail stands from the likes of Brookbanks, Tiso, Kyak Byre etc. I heard several people complaining there were no bargains but there were many 10% to 20% discount offers and the chance to compare so many different brands' latest kit was excellent. I found it much easier to do this at Perth than at the Birmingham show which was just too crowded.

Unfortunately, I had to leave before Duncan Winnings's talk, The History & Development of Scottish Sea Kayaking. There is no one more knowledgable than Duncan and I am sure it would have been a fascinating insight.

Lastly, thanks to all who braved my talk, Scottish sea kayaking: a photo tour. Your response was really appreciated.

Autumn days.

It has been a lovely autumn here in the south west of Scotland. This fungus was growing under some birch and hawthorn trees just behind the beach on the Solway. The air was full of robin's autumn territorial song.

Night time paddling

Well the clocks go back this weekend, bringing darker evening once again. No doubt we will have a few more night time epic returns as winter paddles run out of daylight. At least I had a nice full moon to illuminate my return on this solo paddle on the Solway.

P&H Quest LV

I have just written up a long term test of the P&H Quest LV for UK Paddles magazine. It will be published in the December issue which hits the shops at the beginning of November. The Quest LV is a superb all round sea kayak. It is just as fast as the Quest but is much more manouverable and responsive to edging. The finish on the test boat was faultless. Unlike my favourite day trip boat, the Valley Nordkapp LV, there is plenty of room for campers who are not minimalists! It covers a wide range of user weights and all but the biggest and heaviest of paddlers should consider the Quest LV before the Quest. My one reservation is the padded plastic seat which is mounted very high in the boat. A no cost GRP option is mounted much lower and gives much more stability when paddling unloaded.