Ailsa calling!

On the way back from Ailsa Craig, Phil uncharacteristically fell behind,

He had some trouble with broaching as he had put all his gear in the front hatch and a Quest does not like being nose heavy! John very kindly stayed with him and gave words of encouragement. John Willacy is a true gentleman and it was our great pleasure to spend the day with him.

The 14km crossing passed all too soon and our keels kissed the sand at Lendalfoot again.

We stood on the beach gazing back at the great rock of Ailsa with memories of its teeming birdlife. The island was already calling us back. We knew we would be return soon...

John Willacy surfed my wake!

It was now time to leave Ailsa Craig and right on cue a nice F3-4 breeze got up from the NW to help us home. I used the sail to get in front of the others...

...and get some photos of the Arran mountains with Phil in the foreground.

Tony flashed by in his very sparkly  Cetus.

 Gradually the NW wind cleared the sky behind us.

John's Rockpool Taran surfed the waves very easily...

...as we slid down the waves back to Ayrshire.

At one point John and I went ahead of the others, John was surfing on my wake, his bow nudging my stern....

...but I had my sail up!

Circumnavigation of Ailsa Craig.

The regular staff of seakayakphoto.com are not the World's greatest circumnavigators...

...but our new honorary member, John Willacy, does have a reputation as a rather fast circumnavigator (Anglesey, Isle of Man etc.) so we felt we could not let the side down. Honour was at stake, so we set off on a circumnavigation of the Craig...

...all 3.84km of it! We soon passed Stranny Point and came to the Water Cave but as it was low tide, we could not paddle inside.

About 35-40,000 pairs of gannets breed on the rock...

...and the air was thick with them.

To the north, the sun broke through on Arran...

...but under the dark overhanging rocks of the Eagle's seat...

...we were still in the shade. The guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes that nest here had not yet arrived. We had completed our circumnavigation in good time.

Some long views from Ailsa Craig.

On previous visits to Ailsa Craig we have gone in a high pressure system and the visibility has been poor due to haze. On this occasion, the atmosphere was crystal clear. To the ESE Girvan was very clear but in the middle of the photo, the summit of the Merrick was hidden in the clouds. The dip to the right of the photo is Glen Trool.

The view to the S showed Stranraer at the head of Loch Ryan with the Rhins of Galloway and its wind farm on the right.

A telephoto view to the W showed Sanda Island with the Mull of Kintyre behind. In the distance, flat topped Rathlin Island is 68km away off the north coast of Ireland, on the far side of the North Channel.

To the north, this view shows little Pladda Island (with its lighthouse) off the south coast of Arran and the pointed peak of Holy Island to the east of Arran. Right of Holy Island the view is all the way up the Firth of Clyde to the white villas of Dunoon. Beyond that, the snow streaked peaks are Ben Ime, The Cobbler and Ben Narnain in the Arrochar Alps. Ben Ime is 112km away. To the right of Dunoon, the dark island is the Little Cumbrae. To its right you can just make out the chimney of the Inverkip power station. The snowy mountain at the right edge of the photo is Ben Lomond.

Alan (see comments) asked "could I ask if you have a higher resolution photo of the Arrochar Alps, or was this photo already cropped?" This is the highest resolution I have with a 1:1 pixel ratio. It was a remarkably clear day. To the left of Ben Ime, which is the highest point on the horizon, you can see the dark slopes of Beinn Dubh Craig then to its left, the snow flecked ridge of Ben Oss. Lastly, to the left of Ben Oss, you can just see the fine peak of Ben Lui rising above a nearer flat topped ridge. Ben Lui is 1130m high and is 130km from Ailsa Craig, a long view indeed!

Although they don't show up well  on these low resolution photographs, we were surprised by the number of wind farms that had sprouted on the hills all round us. This regularly updated kmz file from weatherman22 will open in Google Earth and show the number of opened and proposed wind farms in the Scottish hills and mountains.

It was now time to make our way back down the steep path to the kayaks.

A little rusty on Ailsa Craig.

From the shore of Ailsa Craig, we made our way up past the now solar powered (2001) and automated (1990) lighthouse.

The lighthouse was completed in 1886 by Thomas and David Stevenson. It originally had 3 keepers and was an oil burning light. A little railway was used to haul cans of oil up from the jetty. Unfortunately the bogey was now overturned and rusting away. The railway was also used by the quarrymen who moved blocks of the fine granite down to the jetty. They were exported to Ayrshire to manufacture curling stones.

Behind the lighthouse we came to the old gasworks that powered the two giant foghorns at the north and south ends of the islands. The gas was stored in two gasometers that sat in pits that are situated beyond the works, behind the fence to its left.

We climbed up to the castle. Tony, John and Jennifer disappeared upwards at a great rate of knots. I hadn't tackled anything like this since my knee injury (nearly two years ago) and even with walking poles was a bit rusty. Phil stayed to keep me company.

Jennifer and John were attracted by a loud hail from the top of the castle.

It was Tony, the wind carried away most of his words but we were pretty sure "dirty rascals" featured somewhere. The castle was built by the monks of Crossraguel in the 15th century. The Kennedy's took it in over in 1560. Thomas Hamilton renovated it in 1580. During the Scottish Reformation, in 1597, Hew Barclay seized it in the mistaken hope that the Spanish Navy would use it as a foothold to restore Roman Catholicism  to Scotland.

The castle well was crystal clear but later in the season will be full of feathers and bird poo. Despite the hot climb we did not feel thirsty enough to sample its waters. We had plenty of water back at the kayaks, which you can see just beyond the lighthouse.

Clearing the air on the way to Ailsa Craig.

Gradually the mist cleared and Ailsa Craig emerged on the Horizon. A stream of cloud from its summit made it look as if it was still an active volcano.

It takes a long time for the rock to get much bigger.

A light NW breeze got up and  brought some low clouds across the sky but at sea level the air became extraordinarily clear. We picked out the castle, which is about 1/3 of the way up to the summit from the shore. Gradually we became aware of the enormous number of gannets that were in the air round the rock.

We landed below the lighthouse...

...where the slimy green boulders are notorious for slipping on. When I first came here after my knee operation last year, Phil helped me out the kayak and I sat down on the green boulders to eat my lunch. This time, I not only negotiated the boulders but I decided I would try to make it to the castle, with the aid of my walking poles.

Looking back to the distant Ayrshire coast we saw heavy showers lashing the hills. Hundreds of gannets were wheeling in the sky.

Keeping fast company on the crossing to Ailsa Craig.

Last Sunday, Phil, Tony, Jennifer and I met at Lendalfoot on the Ayrshire coast. We were bound for Ailsa Craig, a huge monolith of granite, which is situated at the entrance to the Firth of Clyde, some 14km offshore.

The staff of seakayakphoto.com have a new honorary member. John Willacy is the designer of the Rockpool Taran, which has something of a reputation as a speed machine, especially with John aboard! John was in the area after a little paddle the day before and so he was keen to do some more paddling before returning to Anglesey. Of course John's idea of a little paddle is not necessarily the same as most people's. On Saturday he had broken the record for an unsupported crossing from Portpatrick in Scotland to Donaghadee in Northern Ireland. Then, he just paddled back over to Portpatrick again!

We set off into the mist on a bearing of 320 degrees, Ailsa was hiding in the mist.

 It wasn't long until the Ayrshire coast was also swallowed in the mist and we were all alone at sea...

...well not quite alone. We heard the roar of the approaching high speed ferry, which leaves Troon at 10:05 for Larne in Northern Ireland.

It does the 110km crossing in just two hours and has a maximum speed of 41knots. Fortunately it usually goes down the far side of Ailsa Craig. But not always...