Gob smacked by the fine scenery at the mouth of Loch Fyne.

NW of Portavadie we came to a delightful number of islands. This isle is Eilean a' Bhuic. It lies off the beautiful...

...Glenan Bay which is backed by...

...verdant wooded hills above which a pair of eagles were gliding on a thermal.

Further north we came to all that remains of a great Iron Age dun called Caisteal Aoidhe which sits atop its little tidal island. Most people would not look twice at it but once you have an eye for such relics they are easy to spot.

Another isle, Eilean Buidhe, is surrounded by a maze of...

...low lying reefs and submerged skerries in which a colony of seals can be found.

As we paddled deeper into the confines of Loch Fyne we left the open waters of the Sound of Bute and the mountains of Arran far behind. We came to many bays and inlets. Loch Fyne is a great location for yacht racing and...

...in one remote bay we came across this racing yacht with an impossibly tall mast.

Between the bays the coast of Loch Fyne is characterised by bold rocky headlands that plunge steeply into the sea. Loch Fyne is the largest sea Loch in Scotland and was cut by a huge glacier. Just off this headland south of Auchalick Bay, the loch is 150m deep.

Auchalick Bay proved to be an ideal stop for third luncheon and a snooze in the sun...

...on the rocks above the sands. The sea pinks were in full flower.

  Further north we passed further rocky headlands such as this one at...

 ...the wonderfully named Gob a' Bharra.

After a long and tiring, day involving three luncheons, we made landfall for a camp at Kilfinan Bay. The site was sheltered from the northerly wind by a headland and we were soon perspiring. While the others set up their tents, I went for a quick swim which certainly cooled me down.

No restriction on draft at Portavadie Marina.

 From Asgog Bay, Mike and I took a little detour...

 ...round the island of Sgat Mor and its little lighthouse before turning north into the mouth of Loch Fyne, the biggest sea loch in Britain,...

 ...towards Portavadie Marina where we had...

 ...booked lunch for 12:30. The marina is the largest man made hole in the World. It was made to construct giant...

...concrete oil rigs even bigger than this one at nearby Ardyne, which I photographed when it was near complete in 1977.

 The huge dock cost £14 million to excavate in the late '70s but by the time it was completed the industry had moved on to cheaper steel rigs. Portavadie never built a single rig! For a while it was used by a fish farm but it has been home to the excellent Portavadie Marina for quite a few years now. The hole is so deep that the marina proudly boast "There is no restriction on draft"

We paddled to the head of the marina and there we met David and Phil. We had originally planned a trip to Islay or Tiree but last minute commitments meant David and Phil could only manage 2 days and one night. Mike and I then decided to go for a more local paddle so that David and Phil could join us.

Where better to meet than the Portavadie Marina restaurant and bar? No restriction on draft? We can test that. We'll start with four pints of Guinness please.

We decided to go for a two course dinner and I started with the Taste of “Argyll Smokery” seafood and shellfish, pickled vegetables, watercress and wasabi cream. Service was excellent, so what a great second luncheon, highly recommended.Yes, sea kayaking can be a most arduous activity when one can be exposed to great hardships.

Some considerable time passed before we set off once more on our sea kayaking exploration of Argyll's secret coast.

A popular luncheon spot in Asgog Bay.

 We left the wide strand of Kilbride Bay and paddled round the Ardlamont coast and through the...

...reefs that connect the island of Sgat Beag to the mainland.

We then arrived in beautiful Asgog Bay where we passed an old motor cruiser. Her skipper was making good use of the fine weather and varnishing her wooden topsides.

Unfortunately the tide was ebbing fast and the tide goes out a long way in Asgog Bay. With loaded boats it would have been hard work carrying them back over the near level sands so we went on...

 ...and stopped for first luncheon at a rock inlet at the mouth of the bay.

The rock pools were filled with interest...

...and we were clearly not the only ones to enjoy lunch here. I had already spotted the trickle of fresh water draining into the gully where we landed. These fragments of sea urchin shell clinched it. This was otter territory. They favour spots near fresh water so that they can rinse their fur after diving in the sea.

The last train to Ardlamont on Argyll's Secret Coast.

 We woke on the shores of Ardlamont to discover that the wind had dropped overnight and the midges were all round the tents. They were not too bad on the beach so that is where we set up our breakfast things.

 We were not the only ones to be up early. The crane barge Forth Constructor was making her way down the Sound of Bute.

 We were on the water by 08:30 and paddled from Ardlamont Bay round to Kilbride Bay. Three eagles were soaring high overhead but that was not the only thing that caught our attention.

We came across this standard gauge railway track that curved gracefully into the waters of Kilbride Bay.

 We decided to land and investigate.

I had first heard about this railway to nowhere in Kilbride Bay back in the 1970's but had only found it a few years ago. I had heard about it from an old man in the bar at the Colintraive Hotel while I was on a yacht trip. The skipper of the yacht I had been crewing in had been in the Army and ended up as a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp. The old man had been a in the Royal Navy and had been involved with WW2 naval training exercises in the Cowal area prior to the D day landings. So it wasn't long before the pair of them were swapping yarns.

He told us the the railway was for launching  and recovering midget submarines on a wheeled trolley. Elsewhere on the internet you will find some who believe it was used to deploy an anti-submarine boom across Loch Fyne. However, this would not be a sensible place to run a boom across as the mouth of Loch Fyne is 4km to the west and then the loch is a further 3km wide at that point. The submarine boom was actually deployed 22km further up Loch Fyne, where the spit at Otter Ferry narrows the loch to 1km. The shore structure identified with the Otter Ferry boom is listed on the Canmore website site 205007.

Nowadays, this area is marketed to tourists as Argyll's Secret Coast. In the dark days of WW2 it really was a secret coast. Ardlamont Estate (and much of the Cowal peninsula) was requisitioned for Combined Operations training in Naval and amphibious landing warfare. About a quarter of a million troops were trained here and Lord Louis Mountbatten, the head of Combined Ops even stayed in the nearby Kilfinan Hotel.

Whatever, if you find yourself on the last train to Ardlamont, I suggest you get off at the stop before Kilbride Bay. It is a pretty wet journey after that.

Putting our feet up in Ardlamont Bay.

We were looking for somewhere out of the wind to set up camp and found a suitable spot on the shore of the Sound of Bute in the lee of Rubha na Peileig (porpoise point). The NW wind had veered round to the north so it was now straight offshore.

Despite being hardened athletes, we had found the headwind quite tiring so it was good to relax for a bit and where better?

We spent a while watching this yacht tacking backwards and forwards while making her way up to Tarbert.

 We soon regathered our composure and set about building a little fire and getting...

 ...comfortable round it before...

...putting the baked potatoes in the embers. This humble spud may look very plain but with a little butter and salt it was a taste sensation. The wind even kept the dreaded midges at bay!

An unexpected wind out of a clear blue sky.

 When we left Port nam Mullaich we were in the lee of Ardlamont point but...

 ...as soon as we rounded the point into the Sound of Bute we were straight into the teeth of the...

 ...NW wind which the VHF "sécurité" call had warned about.

 It was one of those unexpected northerly winds that came out of...

 ...a clear blue sky. Though as we had a high pressure to the west and a low pressure to the east, the direction was not totally unexpected though it was a good bit stronger than the forecasts.

Sécurité in the Kyles of Bute.

From Rubha Dubh on Bute we were bound for Ardlamont Point on the Cowal peninsula.

It was on the run down to Ardlamont that Belfast coastguard issued a "sécurité" strong wind warning on the VHF. The effect on the local yacht population was dramatic. Most dropped their sails and started motoring back into the shelter of the West Kyle. We just kept going to Ardlamont point...

...where we stopped for second luncheon on a beautiful beach at Port nam Muileach.

After eating, we climbed up to the top of Ardlamont Point to get a view of the conditions round the corner.

Beyond the point it was a tad breezy out in the Sound of Bute and it was blowing directly from where we wanted to go.