Do Holy Island monks think they are above the Law of Scotland?

Well the Calmac bacon and sausage rolls had barely settled before it was time for second breakfast. We decided to land at the north end of Holy Island. Unfortunately it was low tide and there were innumerable slippy boulders to negotiate. No sooner had he got out his kayak than Jim made his way over to assist me. He helped me to the top of the beach while Tony and Phil carried my kayak.


My knee nearly dislocated again as I winced, just watching Phil try to negotiate his way up the slippy beach!


Soon we were sitting enjoying second breakfast and a wonderful view over Lamlash Bay as the MV Caledonian Isles made her second approach to Arran of the day.


Then Phil went for a stroll but soon returned in a rather agitated state. "Come and see what I have found!"


Just a short way along the beach, Phil showed us this. Right on an ideal spot for wild camping, which is a legal activity under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, the monks have built a little cairn round this illegal sign.

If you wish to camp here, do not be intimidated by these Buddhist monks, who have an excessive attachment to the land and a disregard for Scottish law. This is a perfectly legal place to exercise your right to responsible wild camping. If this possession of and attachment to the land is typical of Buddhist behaviour, then it is easy to understand why Mao Tse-Tung was so hostile towards the religion.

Scottish history has many landlords who have enjoyed possession of the land. Well it looks like the monks of Holy Island are on their way joining the company of Elizabeth, 19th Countess of Sutherland et al. Fortunately for the monks, Scotland is a democratic and law abiding country, which has not undergone a People's Revolution.

Little and Large in Lamlash Bay.

Jim, Tony, Phil and myself left the shelter of Brodick Bay at Corriegills Point where we met a fresh offshore wind.


It was exhilarating paddling in the sunshine, under blue skies and snow capped mountains.


Nearing Clauchlands Point, our destination, Holy Island came into view. It lies in the middle of Arran's Lamlash Bay


Despite its size, Arran only has three satellite islands. Holy Island is the largest and the highest, next is Pladda off the south coast and the smallest is little Hamilton Isle, seen here just off Clauchlands Point. It is completely dwarfed by its larger neighbour, a case of Little and Large in Lamlash Bay.

Egalitarian cruising on the Clyde

After arrival at Brodick, we trollied the kayaks off the ferry and turned hard left at the top of the ramp. This took us to a little beach of reddish Arran sand.


We were on the water quickly, almost as soon as the MV Caledonian Isles took to turn around.


We launched into light winds and flat water which was in total contrast yo the conditions on the far side of the Clyde. We had not only made the right navigational decision, we had enjoyed a nutritious breakfast on board the ferry!


Beyond the MV Caledonian Isles we spotted the MV Hebridean Princess at anchor on the other side of Brodick Bay.


The MV Hebridean Princess is a former CalMac ferry that has been converted into a small luxury cruise liner. Don't expect to get much change from £2,500 per week in the cheap cabins. However, I understand the cuisine is in a different league to the fare we enjoy on the Arran ferry! Note the freshly painted navy blue hull which was previously black. Hebridean Princess has just undergone a major refit and this was her first outing in her smart new livery.

She was built in 1964 and, as MV Columba, she served on many routes out of Oban. Latterly she was a relief vessel for more modern RoRo ferries. When she was sold to Hebridean Island Cruises in 1988, she was the last hoist loading ferry in CalMac's Western Isles fleet. Originally she took 50 cars and 870 passengers. In her current role she carries only 49 passengers.


Cruising on the Clyde can be enjoyed by rich and poor, it's a very egalitarian activity.

We were looking forward to our yummy SPAM sandwiches, here is what those cruising on Hebridean Princess could look forward to:

Fresh Hand Dived Scallops
With a Thai green curry sauce

Isle of Mull Cheddar Cheese and Red Onion Tart

Carrot and Orange Soup

——‡——

Fresh Fillet of Sea Bream, Savoury Pancake
With red pepper dressing and sautéed greens

Guinea Fowl with a Herb Mash and Ribbons of Courgette

——‡——

Chocolate Nemesis with Crème Chantilly
And mint syrup

Strawberry Pavlova with a Duo of Coulis

Selection of Cheeses

——‡——

Coffee and Petits-fours
Will be served in the Tiree Lounge, the Conservatory and the Look Out Lounge

YUM YUM YUM!

Seeking shelter in Brodick Bay.

As the Arran ferry, MV Caledonian Isles, approached her terminal at the head of Brodick Bay, the snow covered mountains crowded round us and the sea in their lee flattened.


Lying at anchor, in front of the decorative turrets of Brodick castle, we saw an unusual ship. She was the MV Hartland Point. One of a fleet of six Royal Fleet Auxiliary Point class sealift ships. These are RoRo cargo and personnel vessels. When not being used for Royal Navy purposes, they can be contracted out for commercial trading and ferry duties. Hartland Point was the second of the class to enter service in 2002, after being built at the Harland and Wolff yard in Belfast. She displaces 23,235 tons and can cruise at 18 knots with a maximum speed of 21.5knots . She is 193m long, 26m beam and 7.6m draught.

Like us sea kayakers, the MV Hartland Point was taking shelter in Brodick Bay, which is sheltered from the prevailing SW winds. She was waiting to berth at the MOD Glenmallan jetty (alt. Glen Mallen) in Loch Long before making her way across the Atlantic to Becancour in Canada's St Lawrence River system. Glenmallan jetty is licenced to handle up to 44,000kg of explosives at any one time.

No egos at Portencross!

When we arrived at Ardrossan on sunny morning in early March, the flags in the ferry's rigging were snapping in the wind. But we were protected by the high sea wall and could not see the sea, so we left two shuttle cars and drove the other two cars with the kayaks to Portencross. We planned our usual route, Wee Cumbrae, Bute, Sannox, Brodick and ferry home. There were white horses to the horizon as SW F5 wind blew across the Clyde from Arran. The waves were crashing in on the rocks. It looked like it might be a tricky launch. Tony, Jim, Phil and I looked at one another and, as one, shook our heads. There are no egos at seakayakphoto.com. We are at the gentlemen end of the sea kayaking spectrum. There was just time to return to Ardrossan! Plan B was to ferry glide across to Brodick on Arran and enjoy a Calmac breakfast aboard MV Caledonian Isles!

Unusually we were asked to to tie the kayaks up to the ferry's sides on the car deck. The crew expected a rough crossing. Phil felt a little queasy after his second sausage but later as the ferry pulled into the shelter of Brodick Bay, her motion eased and stomachs settled.

Sea kayak sailing

Sea kayaking has a long history in Scotland. In the last half of the 19th century decked, doubled ended clinker built "canoes" were popular. The majority had sails, like this one making her way up Loch Long under the rocky summit of the Cobbler.


Make no mistake, despite the Scottish nomenclature of "canoe", these were kayaks. They were paddled facing forward with double ended paddles like this one on an island in Loch Lomond, they also had small cockpits with coamings. By 1873 the sport had become so popular that the Clyde Canoe Club was formed.

The above two photos are from the Loch Lomond Sailing Club web site.


As late as 1951, by which time kayaks were of canvas on wooden frames, masts and sails were still an integral part of sea canoeing in Scotland. This photo is from the book Kayak to Cape Wrath by J Lewis Henderson.


Somewhere along the way sails have all but disappeared from the Scottish sea kayaking scene (apart from some very complicated rigs with outriggers that take longer to assemble than a sailing dinghy and are designed primarily for sailing). Indeed, in his excellent book Sea Kayak, Scottish guru Gordon Brown makes not a single mention of using a sail on a sea kayak. (The above photo is from the Knoydart website.)

David and I have both been windsurfing since the late 70's and I have been sailing since 1959. Although we came into sea kayaking to get away from all the faff associated with sailing, David and I have often talked about trying a sail on a sea kayak. Last year when on a long crossing from Colonsay to Jura, we had a wonderful force 4 wind on our rear quarter. That was it we searched the Internet and found that canoe sailing was very big in Australia and New Zealand. These images of sea kayak sailing are provided by GnarlyDog who also has an excellent blog page on the technicalities of fitting a sail to a kayak. It was difficult to source a sail in the UK but eventually Geoff from Kari-tek sourced a Pacific Action sail.


Our first test was in David's Aleut Sea II in a force 5 SW wind off Ayr in the Clyde.


After we got upwind we turned towards the shore, a loop of shock cord was released and resulted in all 2.2sqm of sail leaping into the air. What a blast. We both carried on paddling but it was so easy to stay with the waves. At one point on a particularly good wave we hit 22km/hr. We were hooked!


However, the Pacific Action is very much a downwind sail so it was with great excitement that the staff of seakayakphoto.com learned that Mick McRobb from Australia's Flat Earth Sails is going to send us two Bermudan rigs to test. (Photo from Flat Earth Sails web site.)

All we can say is, watch this space, kayak sailing is coming back to Scotland!

Sea kayaking round the Mull of Oa, Islay

A 26km paddle from Port Ellen to Kintra round the Mull of Oa Islay early March 2010.

Tidal streams 200m off the Oa peninsula at spring tides run at 4-5knots:
NW going flood begins HW Dover (11:31 on the day) overfalls off Rubha nan Leacan
SE going ebb begins -0610 HW Dover overfalls off Mull of Oa

However, we found that close inshore, the NW stream begins at least -0100 HW Dover.


A bottle nose dolphin off Sgeirean Buidhe.


Bottle nose dolphins


Soldier's Rock.


This was a day trip from Glasgow, made possible by a temporary late evening sailing from Port Askaig. I do not normally make such a rigid timetable but given the distances, ferry times and tide times it was essential. As it happened, we arrived at Kintra at 15:45 and used a taxi to recover the car. What a day!

I have mentioned both before but two really excellent sources of information on Islay are:

Armin's Islay Blog

Ron's Islay Weblog


This was the tidal atlas, marked up with the times for the day. We were there 2 days before springs.

Day return to Islay, please.

The most southern point of the Hebrides.

Oa what a beautiful morning, Oa what a beautiful day!

The SE coast of the Mull of Oa, Islay

The point of no return, Rubha an Leacan to Gob an Rubha Dhuibh, Oa, Islay

Sea kayaking with dolphins at the Mull of Oa

Going with the flow, round the Mull of Oa!

A glimpse of distant white shell sand promised a break.

Oa what a paradise!

The most southerly Gargoyles in all of the Hebrides

Oa speak no evil

Threading the Oa of a needle

All hail Soldier's Rock, Islay

What a geo on Oa!

End of an Islay day.

Oa, I'm so sorry about all the dreadfull puns.

Photo album map.