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

In search of the Nith bore!

Easter Monday dawned fair over Fleet Bay in the Solway Firth.


Time for an adventure! I drove to Southerness where I met Mike and left a car before driving on to Dumfries. The farm land round Southerness plays host to thousands of overwintering barnacle geese from Svalbard archipelago, high above the Arctic Circle.


We were off in search of the Nith bore. The Nith is one of the few rivers in the world to have a tidal bore. As you can see in the aerial photo, a funnel shaped estuary concentrates and accelerates the incoming tide into a narrow river mouth. High tide at Hestan Island (further west on the Solway Firth) was at 14:47 BST and I reckoned that the bore would arrive in the narrow section of river mouth near Glencaple about 2 hours before this.



This photo was taken by Dr Werner Kissling in 1958. He describes it thus "At Glencaple, close to the mouth of the river Nith, on the north shore of the Solway the flood tide, under certain conditions, comes in as a bore which may move at a rate of five knots, or even more."


We couldn't wait!

13/04/2009

En route to Bute, in the mist.

After our recent crossing from Loch Ranza on Arran back to Portavadie on the mainland, we thought it only decent to paddle back across to Arran. Our choice of route was from Portencross (to the NW of Ardrossan) over to Little Cumbrae then across to Bute, then across the Sound of Bute to Sannox on Arran and finally down the east coast of Arran to Brodick. The ferry would then take us back to Ardrossan where we had left a shuttle car.


There was not a breath of wind when we left and we were half way across Fairlie Roads before Little Cumbrae loomed out of the mist. We kept a sharp ear open as we crossed the shipping channel as some of the biggest bulk carriers in the world frequent these waters.


At gull point all the gulls were roosting with their heads under their wings. Perhaps they had heard about the forecast for a force 5 westerly by lunchtime!


We made our way up the SW coast of Little Cumbrae before heading off on a compass bearing for our next destination, the as yet unseen island of Bute. Just as we were about to cross the shipping lane the thudding of a heavy engine announced the arrival of a bulk carrier which was making her way up the Clyde. We were pleased to let her pass.


Our landfall on Bute was at the cobble beach of Port Leithne where we enjoyed a first luncheon. Of Arran, our destination, there was as yet no sign!

21/03/2009

A Fyne cetacean sunset

We made our way steadily up Loch Fyne as the sun was setting. We could not resist stopping at this little shingle beach which was guarded by a ring of boulders.


Setting off once more, we were accompanied by a school of porpoises as we paddled up Loch Fyne. We knew we would not see the dolphins again that night as porpoises keep well clear of them.


As the day day slipped away...


...the sky and the sea turned to gold.


By this time the wind had died completely and...


...only our wakes disturbed the surface of the sea.


Even the courting eider ducks and oyster catchers fell silent and the only sound was the dripping of our paddles.


The embers of the wonderful day that been finally died away in the west and we finished our journey in darkness.

What a day!

19/03/2009

Alan's sunset view of Bute!

Alan, a recent addition to seakayakphoto.com team, as just sent this photo by MMS into Seakayakphoto Towers. He was disappointed not to be able to join our recent windy sortie to the Little Cumbrae at the weekend so he has headed off on a solo trip today and is camping on the Little Cumbrae tonight. He originally planned to go round Bute in two days but has changed his plans due to increasing swell. He is currently on the beach enjoying a whisky by the camp fire. I hope my text with tomorrow's forecast of force 6 southerly doesn't spoil the enjoyment of the moment.

His photo shows the south end of Bute with Arran and Kintyre in the distance.

Updated 09/04/2009:
Alan is now spending a second storm bound night on Little Cumbrae. Today ferry traffic on the Clyde was severely disrupted by winds of up to 37knots. Hopefully the wind will drop tomorow.

Night time in Troon harbour

In the darkness we swung round the outer harbour wall at Troon. The moon and constellation Plaedes could be seen behind the lighthouse.


From far out at sea, we had heard a strange roaring noise. It turned out to be a huge shredder which was chipping logs. This grab crane was feeding about 20 logs at a time into this tree slaughter-house. There was no fine end as bedroom furniture for these pine trees!


Recently we had seen a huge pile of logs on Portavadie pier. Perhaps it was these ones which were now being chipped. By shipping logs to Troon, the west coast roads are spared a lot of heavy timber lorry traffic.


We made paddled past the High Speed Ferry terminal and made our way into the inner harbour where the fishing fleet was unloading.


The welcoming lights of the Wee Hurry fish and chip shop can be seen on the quay. Fresh fish is cooked to order, it is well worth a visit. They serve a variety of seafood dishes including things like cullen skink soup, squat lobster-tails in spring rolls, battered langoustines and of course haddock and chips! For those with a more sophisticated palate, McCallum's Oyster Bar is right next door.


We then explored the rest of the harbour. At low tide a series of tunnels, linking the inner and outer harbour, are big enough to paddle through but do so on a falling tide! We then paddled past the Trent class RNLI lifeboat. In the distance multi coloured containers under floodlights marked the RORO freight ferry terminal for Ireland. This opened in 2001. In the 1960's this was a ship breaking quay and I remember destroyers and submarines meeting their end here.


Finally it was time to go home and we paddled round from the harbour back to the Ballast Bank. The lights of the rest of the returning fishing fleet stretched away into the darkness of the Firth of Clyde.

Please note this is a busy working harbour, even at night. Look up the P&O ferry timetable before you come and avoid ferry arrival and departure times. Fishing boats and yachts can arrive or leave at any time so keep a sharp lookout and have a bright white light on each kayak.

01/04/2009

Petition to save the clipper ship City of Adelaide.

I have previously written about the clipper City of Adelaide whose hulk lies on a slipway in Irvine on the Clyde coast. There is a real threat that she will now be broken up.

Adrian Brown of Clipper Ship City of Adelaide Preservation Trust has created a petion to 10 Downing Street for UK residents or UK expats living in South Australia.

'We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to acquire the world heritage clipper ship ‘City of Adelaide’ and offer her as a cultural gift to the people of South Australia for their 175th birthday in 2011, or to the Royal Australian Navy for its 100th Birthday also in 2011.'

He provides further details of her current situation.

The Scottish Maritime Museum (SMM), which owns the ‘City of Adelaide’, has been served notice to vacate the site where the clipper is located. The SMM cannot afford to move her and have applied to demolish her with money from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). Preserving the clipper by gifting her to the people of South Australia would be a far nobler outcome than the international community witnessing HLF funds being used to destroy this important piece of British and Australian history. Historic Scotland describes the ‘City of Adelaide’ as a vessel of high cultural significance at international level. Eminent History Professors have described her “as the only surviving sailing ship built to give regular passenger and cargo service between Europe and Australia, she represents a whole foundation era of Australian social and economic history. It is difficult to imagine a more vital icon of the making of modern Australia and of the relationship between Britain and the Australian colonies.”

The petion can be accessed here.

Read more about Australians' view of the City of Adelaide here.