End of winter timetable.

Hidden away in the Calmac winter timetable is a little known ferry service. It only runs once per day, if places are reserved in advance, and it stops for the summer season on 26th of March. The ferry leaves Tarbert on the remote Kintyre peninsula at 1215 and arrives at Loch Ranza on Arran at 1340. I have often hoped for a settled spell at this time of year when the sun sets at 1830. This would allow just enough time to paddle back after taking the ferry to Loch Ranza.


We took the car over on the ferry from Gourock to Hunters Quay then drove past Loch Striven and the Kyles of Bute to Portavadie. We then enjoyed a wind assisted blast across the mouth of Loch Fyne to Tarbert where we planned to board the ferry to Arran.


Altogether we paddled 30km and on the way over to Tarbert we hit a maximum speed of 12km/hr.

19/03/2009

Spring is sprung in Skipness

Just paddled from Arran to Kintyre. We are sitting here in Heaven!

19/03/2009

En route to Arran

The ferry from Tarbert should arrive in Loch Ranza shortly. Then we will paddle back to Portavaddie. Just seen a pod of bottlenosed dolpins.

The sound of running water...

Tony and I slipped into the shelter of Dunure Harbour. Just before hand, in the fantastic mixture of swell and clapotis among the Dunure skerries, Tony said "isn't it great how much fun you can have only 10 miles from your front door?" I replied "and we're only 200 yards from the pub!"


We had arrived early and David and Phil were still loading their boats. Deck bags with flares and electric pumps and cans of ballast were carefully distributed. We were clearly ahead of schedule and so found ourselves within the portals of the pub! It had just opened after being closed for the winter. However, it will need to improve its service, we almost died of thirst before the Guinness arrived. It was a pleasure to be able to toast the good St Patrick and the arrival of Phil's new kayak.


We were soon heading north for Ayr. As the wind and swell were coming from the south, we were now sheltered by the headland at Dunure. A bottle was drifting towards the rocks but we did not stop to see if it contained a message.


Phil was pleased as punch with his new Quest. It was one of the first out of the mould but the previous owner had hardly used it.


The coastline was composed of low wooded cliffs over which a series of delightful burns...


...cascaded and splashed noisily into the sea.


The sound of running water has a certain physiological effect on men of a certain age. It was time for a stop at a convenient beach.

15/03/2009


Remember, alcohol and sea water do not mix!

A free ride to Dunure.

Within minutes from launching in the shelter of Maidens, we emerged into a fun ride of wind and swell that would carry us to Dunure at speeds of up to 15.4km/hr.


The coastline is formed of a series of underwater and raised beaches. Swells speed up when they hit the sunken beach and give some great paddling.


On Saturday the wind had being blowing from the SW at 20 to 30 knots but by Sunday it had dropped to a much more manageable 12 to 15 knots.


The swells from the day before gave us free ride after free ride and we were in Dunure about an hour before we had planned to meet David and Phil.



15/03/2009

Sea kayaking on home waters.

It has been a windy week but at last, today the wind dropped. Tony and I launched from Maidens on the Clyde coast and...


...made our way past Culzean towards Dunure. We had arranged to meet David and Phil there.

We had only just left the shore when the adventure began. Even on home waters, it's great to get out.

15/03/2009

Watch out for stolen Rockpool sea kayak in UK!

Here is a message from Graham King. I hope the low life that did this get caught soon.

"Please keep an eye out for my boat, stolen from outside my tent at Sheerness (Isle of Sheppey) in the small hours of this morning. It is a Rockpool Alaw Bach, with the following distinctive features:

white hull, yellow deck with slight glitter; 1/2 inch hole in back deck just abaft the rear hatch, with cable from solar panel sikaflexed in; Silva 70une compass on foredeck; Two black velcro strips abreast of day hatch (for tow bag), with cam cleat and fairlead; SOLAS tape on hull near bow and stern; "Musequality" charity stickers and "freelunchlog.blogspot.com" lettering on hull amidships.

Taken with the boat was a large quantity of kit, including:
Uniden Mystic VHF handset; GME MT410G Accusat GPS Personal Locator Beacon; Two Lendal paddles (four-piece carbon), including a set of Lendal wings with distinctive cream-coloured epoxy added protection to the tips; and much more stuff too numerous (and upsetting) to list. As you can see, the boat was set up for a major expedition in support of charity, for which I had been preparing for a long time. I was two days into a six month trip, and I'm just a tad upset!

Coastguard is aware of loss of VHF and PLB (EPIRB). Please report any sightings to Kent police on 01622 690690, quoting crime number CY-4422-09. Pictures will follow once I've worked out how."