Reaching for Largs, with just a hint of irony.

 It was flat calm when we left...

 ...the lee of the Little Cumbrae. The blood red sails stood out against the grey of the day.

 However, as we cleared Sheanawally Point at the island's north end...

 ...the wind began to pick up and...

 ...our sails filled below an anaemic winter sun and sky. We then sped across the Tan towards...

 ...the Hunterston ore terminal. The MV Key Action was offloading a load of iron ore and as we passed we could taste the iron dust in the air. She has a gross tonnage of  43,024t and a dead weight of 82,168t. She was built in 2010 and measures 229m by 32m.

Fortified by the iron, we managed a close reach all the way back...

...to Largs marina.

Boy, your going to carry that weight on the Cumbraes.

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight

Carry that weight a long time

Boy, you're gonna carry that weight

Carry that weight a long time

The Beatles

We made our way carefully down steep stairs from the lighthouse, passing...

 ...this old water standpipe. It must have been a welcome sight to the generations of thirsty keepers who toiled away, carrying heavy supplies on their backs, up the stairs from the jetty and the storerooms.

The others  got ahead as I struggled with the rough going underfoot. Even though I was not carrying anything, my "good" knee dislocated without warning and I fell heavily to the ground.

The guys helped me into the kayak... after the pain, it felt really good to glide away without weight on my knees. On the skyline you can see the crane that lifted oil and other really heavy supplies from the jetty up the steep cliff to the lighthouse. It must have been hard work.

Just north of the lighthouse jetty lies Port Nabbin. This provided an alternative landing spot for delivering supplies to the lighthouse. A track was blasted out of the rock to the sea and another railway built. This one bypassed the western cliffs and led a longer but direct route up to the north end of the lighthouse complex. Another windlass was used to haul the trucks up the long gradient.

It was a heavy job keeping the light burning.

The further decay of the Little Cumbrae lighthouse, nobody cares.

Some things on Little Cumbrae have stood the test of time: things like this old windlass for hauling supplies up from the jetty.

The beautiful sandstone houses  are suffering badly as their sash windows are falling down and letting the elements in.

 Despite the rain getting in, the rooms are still surviving because...

 ...they were built of such high quality materials. The cottages were last inhabited in 1977 when the keepers left after the light was automated.

The old light house was built by  Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson in 1793. 

 Climbing to the lantern room this window has been blown in.

 At one time the rotating lens and its motor were fitted here.

 There is an incredible view from the latern room across the Firth of Clyde.

 These little ports are connected to tubes that go right through the lighthouse wall...

...to the outside. They supplied fresh air to the lamp when it burned oil.

There are a number of wonderful  iron relief mouldings on the internal walls of the lantern room. This one is of a mother comforting a child beside an anchor.

This is the coat of arms of Glasgow. It consists of a tree with a bird, a bell and a fish hanging from it.

There's the tree that never grew, 

There's the bird that never flew, 

There's the fish that never swam, 

There's the bell that never rang.

 This is a square lighthouse tower standing on a wave washed rock.

 Under the lighthouse this panel controlled the...

 ...light until it was automated in 1977.

It was finally switched off in 1997 after being illuminated for 204 years. It was replaced by this rather attractive concrete block, which looks in worse condition after 15 years than its centuries old predecessor.

It is so sad that the only change, since our previous visit to Little Cumbrae lighthouse, is further decay. Nobody seems to care about this wonderful old piece of our maritime history.

The contents of a sea kayaker's grab bag.

The winter storms on the west coast of Little  Cumbrae  have not been kind to the old lighthouse slipway and railway. The slipway is now as smooth as the outline of Bute on the horizon.

David made his way carefully up to our chosen luncheon spot, clutching his emergency grab bag. Sea kayakers carry a wide variety of useful things in their BA pockets and some like David feel the need for the extra space, which a grab bag provides.

 Tony said, "Go on David, show us what's in your grab bag then."

 "Oh well" he replied "if I must!" David had clearly chosen to bring some extra supplies in case of emergency...

 ...as had I.

The lighthouse isn't lit, it's an emergency. The sun is over the yardarm, so cheers!

Aw pish, another landing fee!

A new sign greeted our arrival on the west of the Little Cumbrae. It warranted closer inspection.

It turns out that access to the island is now at the discretion of the PYPT, a charity led by guru Swamey Baba Ramdev who is very popular in India (especially with the tax authorities). Unlike the sign on the east of the island, on this side they are only asking for a donation of £5, presumably due to the lack of facilities. I hope everyone leaves a donation...  maybe the good guru could then afford to buy a copy of the Scottish Land Reform Act (2003).

Laughing in the lee of Little Cumbrae.

You will just need to imagine the fun we had at the south end of the Little Cumbrae. It was too rough to get the camera out but I think David's face tells how good it was. My GPs showed a maximum of 24km /hour on one particularly good wave.

 We now entered the calm...

 ...under the lee of the Little Cumbrae cliffs.

 We passed below first the new and...

...then the old lighthouses and decided to stop for a well earned luncheon.

Sea kayaking heaven.

I took a last photo while the sea was still calm enough. Phil's sail stood out against the dark outline of the Little Cumbrae, which rose out of the increasing waves in the channel ahead. In the distance the summits of the Arran mountains were dusted with snow. We were truly paddling in sea kayaking heaven, yet I was only 35km from my front door!

I then put the 5D mk3 away in its waterproof bag and we enjoyed a roller coaster ride of steep 2m waves in the tide race to the east of Little Cumbrae.

We finally got off the roller coaster by breaking out into the calm behind Trail Isle, a low rocky reef that lies to the south east of the castle. I knew that beyond its shelter the south end of the Little Cumbrae would be rough. The wind had now settled into a good force 4 south easterly and the flags at the house were board straight and snapping in the wind.

It was now three hours past HW and at the height of the ebb which was running out against the wind. I checked my camera bag a last time then we set off round the heaving wind against waves at the south end of the island. As we bore off round Gull Point, we picked up speed and  bows of our kayaks rose and fell as they sliced through the irregular waves. With the wind now behind us the spray was no longer stinging our eyes and we savoured the view as Arran's rocky ridges gradually revealed themselves from behind the cliffs of the Little Cumbrae.

We set off in the general direction of Little Cumbrae.

We set off from Largs in the general direction of the  Little Cumbrae.

We had originally intended launching at Portencross, 9km south of Largs because the wind was forecast to be F3-4 SW, backing 4-5 SE increasing 6. When we arrived at Portencros,s the wind had already gone round to the south and was a fitful F4 gusting to 25knots. We decided to move up to Largs, which would allow a reach out to Little Cumbrae and back in a SE wind.

In the shelter of the Largs hills, the wind was a lot less than at Portencross (well beyond the cranes on the horizon). However, it had already gone round to the SE, which allowed us to lay the end of the Little Cumbrae on a very tight reach.

 As we approached Hunterston, Phil noticed...

 ...two new masts. They are anemometer towers to test the wind prior to building 3 huge (198.5m) test offshore wind turbines for the SSE company. About £180 per year of every UK electricity bill is used to subsidise building such monstrous devices.

As we drew level with the port no 9 buoy of the Hunterston Channel, off the south end of the Great Cumbrae, it was apparent just how much all the recent flood water had increased the flow of the neap ebb tide. It was now two and a half hours after HW and the tide was zipping past the buoy. With the increasing wind against the tide, we knew we would be in for a rough crossing to the Little Cumbrae....yippee!

RNLB Grace Ritchie 70-002

Just as we set off from Largs, the former RNLI lifeboat, Grace Ritchie 70-002, left her berth at the marina. She is a steel hulled Clyde class lifeboat and was built by Yarrows on the Clyde in 1965. She is 70 feet long and weighs 85 tons. She is powered by two 230 BHP Gardner diesel engines giving her a top speed of just over 11knots. She is now privately owned but has a very interesting service history.

In the winter of 1988/69 she was based in Kirkwall, Orkney for winter trials. On the tragic night of 17/3/1969 she launched together with the Longhope lifeboat, TGB, to help the Liberian steamer Irene, which was drifting out of control in the Pentland Firth. The two lifeboats entered the Firth, south of Ronaldsay, at the worst possible time. The race was running at 9 knots against a force 9 wind. At one point Grace Ritchie climbed a huge wave, broke through the crest then fell for nine seconds. Waves that night were estimated to be 60 to 120 feet high. She survived the giant waves but sadly the TGB did not and all eight aboard her died. Seven bodies were recovered the next day and their coffins were returned to the grief stricken community at Longhope aboard the Grace Ritchie.

TGB has been restored and can be seen at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine.

As a water user I am pleased to be an RNLI supporter. The volunteer crews are prepared to risk their own lives to assist those at peril on the sea. In the UK and Republic of Ireland the RNLI operate a lifeboat service that is a charity, dependant on public donations. It is not a government organisation.

Thank you to the brave volunteers.