Sea kayaking from Hamilton Isle to Brodick, Arran

Despite its size, Arran only has three satellite islands. Pladda on the south, Holy Island on the east and little Hamilton Isle, to the north of Holy Island. I am afraid we just call it Hamilton Rock!


As we made our way round Clauchlands Point the magnificent peak of Goatfell, 874m soared into view.


Round successive headlands, views of more of Arran's granite ridges pulled us on towards Brodick Bay.


Finally, we approached Corriegills Point round which lay our destination, Brodick and the ferry back to Ayrshire. We had nearly come to the end of a fantastic trip to Arran and Ailsa Craig. We had experienced two significant open crossings, some amazing bird life on the Craig and some superb coastal paddling under Arran's rocky ridges.

We covered 60km over the weekend, 42km of which were the open crossings. Our total paddling time was 12 hours and I lost 4lbs in weight. Now let's see, how far would I need to paddle....?

19/04/2009

Holy Island, the cave of St Molaise and modern day monks.

We entered the enclosure of Lamlash Bay. It was quite a contrast to the exposure of yesterday's open crossings. We were bound for Holy Island which encloses the east side of the bay.


We made landfall at the cave of St Molaise. The saint was born as a prince of Ulster in 588AD but renounced his throne and chose the life of a religious hermit in this cave. After about 10 years, he travelled to Rome and trained as a priest. On his return, he made his way to the monastery of Leighlin in Ireland. He eventually became its abbot and under his leadership it grew to house over 1500 monks.


Eider ducks were courting across the bay. This drake was not letting its duck out of his sight!


At the north end of the island, the monks of the Samye Ling Buddist monastery have extended the old farmhouse to create a visitor and study center.

There are eight white stupas on the path from the landing place to the centre (five can be seen in the photo). Stupas convey immeasurable benefits to any living thing that walks three times round one in a clockwise direction.

When we last visited in August 2007 there were "No Landing" signs round the island. I complained to the North Ayrshire Council Access Officer. She said that she had received a number of complaints and would be visiting the island to inform the monks of how they had to abide by the Land Reform Act (Scotland) just like any other landowner. I am delighted to report that the monks have now removed the signs, well done them.

However, their website still says "We strongly discourage camping anywhere on the island."
This is an unacceptable disregard of the Law of Scotland by the current owners of Holy Island.

The Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 and Scottish Outdoor Access Code became law on 9th February 2005. The Act establishes a statutory right to camp and the Code describes the responsibilities and best practice that should be followed when exercising a right to wild camp.

The section in the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865, which contained an offence of camping on land without the consent of the owner or occupier, has been repealed via Schedule 2 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. The Act confirms that camping is a lawful activity when done by a person in the exercise of the access rights created by the Land Reform Act.

The full Scottish Outdoor Access Code can be read here.

Soon we left the North entrance to Lamlash Bay, leaving the distinctive outline of Holy Island in our wakes.

19/04/2009

Red rocks at Kildonnan.

After a pretty late start on Sunday morning, we launched from the beach at Kildonan at half tide. The middle beach is composed of great slabs of old red sandstone. These sedimentary rocks were laid down when this part of Scotland lay on the equator. Their deep red colour still hints at the heat of ancient equatorial sunshine.


The ruined tower of Kildonan Castle sits on the cliff line of a raised beach. It was built by the Lords of the Isles but became a Royal Castle at the beginning of the 15th century. My careful framing of the photograph does not show that it is actually at the bottom of the garden of a private house.


We continued under the raised beach of Dippen Head. This is one of the few parts of Arran where the road does not hug the coast and it is a truly wild place.


Jennifer waited for us at Largybeg Point beyond which ...


... Holy Island came into view.


By the time we reached the dark red sands at the north end of Whiting Bay, it was time for a break. Jennifer went for a swim ...


... while David, Phil and I enjoyed a refreshing luncheon under the unaccustomed heat of the early Spring sunshine.

19/04/2009

To Arran via Ailsa Craig

We had originally intended going to Colonsay last Friday night but the easterly winds were up to 35 knots. The forecast for the Clyde on Saturday was for force 3 easterly and on Sunday force 3 southerly so we thought we would go on a little 42km trip to Arran via Ailsa Craig. We met at Lendalfoot on the south Ayrshire coast.


Of course the forecast wasn't quite right and we had a fresh northerly on Saturday. At nearby Campbeltown airport it got up to 19 knots. It made for a bumpy crossing and I thought that we would need to abandon our attempt on Arran. You can see from our track to Ailsa Craig where we got blown down wind on two occasions when the wind really got up.


Instead, we decided to paddle round the Craig. On the sheltered southerly side we had amazing views...


... of thousands and thousands of nesting gannets and....


... amazing rock architecture like here at Stranny Point.

18/04/2009

On location Arran

David is quite tired out by his exertions and we still have 10km to go... 19/04/2009

On location in Arran

Yesterday paddled 40km across from Ayrshire via Ailsa Craig and Pladda. David holed double on Ailsa last 20km with flooded centre hatch. Arrived in dark! 19/04/2009

Seakayakphoto.com trip index 2009

For those who would like to follow the thread of a single trip, I hope this index will be useful. Unfortunately the Google "search this blog" function is not working properly at the moment so the link may not recover all the relevent posts.

2009 running total distance: 890km

December:
The Cumbraes, Firth of Clyde, 27km
The Mull of Galloway tide race, at full belt! 21km

November:
Sannox synchronicity: Portencross to Brodick, Arran, 31km

Maidens to Ayr, 20km

October:
A trinity of tide races: circumnavigation of Scarba 38km

September:
Fleet bay Solway Firth, 3km
Islay, Oronsay, Colonsay, Jura, Islay 109km

August:
Seafield, Ayr, Firth of Clyde, 7km
Lady Isle, Troon Firth of Clyde 9km

June:
Ardnamurchan to Coll, Gunna and Tiree
Inner Hebrides
15/06/09 Coll to Ardnamurchan, 18km
14/06/09 Gunna to Rubha Sgor-innis, Coll, 34km
13/06/09 NW Coll to Scarinish, Tiree, 40km
12/06/09 Ardnamurchan to the Cairns of Coll, 28km

A Solway smugglers' Ccave
Fleet Bay
09/06/09 Solway Firth 9km

Full Moon at Rumblekirn
Fleet Bay
08/06/09 Solway Firth 14km

Sea shells and egg shells
Fleet Bay
01/06/09 am Solway Firth 10km

The great dun of Carrick
Fleet Bay
31/05/09 pm Solway Firth 19km

Three Pillars of Knockbrex
Fleet Bay
31/05/09 am Solway Firth 12km

Plumage and blossom on the Solway
Fleet Bay
30/05/09 Solway Firth 13km

Sea eagles and coral sands
Loch Eishort
23/05/09 Isle of Skye 19km

A big day!
Portuairk to Mull and return.
10/05/09 Ardnamurchan Point 42km.

Surf's up on Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast
Finnarts Bay to Lendalfoot
02/05/09 Firth of Clyde 21km

Arran Direct, Firth of Clyde
19/04/09 Kildonnan to Brodick 19km
18/04/09 Lendalfoot to Ailsa Craig then Pladda then Kildonnan, Arran 41km

Dumfries to Southerness in search of the Nith bore!
13/04/09 Solway Firth 25km

The Islands of Fleet
11/04/09 Solway Firth 12km

Fairlie to Little Cumbrae
04/04/09 Firth of Clyde 20km

The Islands of Fleet
02/04/09 Solway Firth 11km

Troon Ballast Bank to Lady Isle
01/04/09 Firth of Clyde 11km

From Portencross to Bute and Arran
21/03/09 Firth of Clyde 31km

"End of the Winter timetable!"
By ferry to Loch Ranza on Arran and return to Portavadie
19/03/09 Firth of Clyde 30km

The Carrick coast, Maidens to Ayr
15/03/09 Firth of Clyde 20km

The islands of Loch Leven
01/03/09 Firth of Lorn 11km

Port Appin to Loch Leven
28/02/09 Firth of Lorn 29km

"Any port in a storm on Great Cumbrae"
21/02/09 Firth of Clyde 19km

Bute from Seamill.
15/02/09 Firth of Clyde 23km

Surfing from Turnberry Point to Carrick Shore
08/01/09 Firth of Clyde 9km

The MacCormaig Islands from Carsaig Bay
02/01/09 The Sound of Jura 35km