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Thursday, December 03, 2009

Approach to Sannox

As we approached Arran, we paddled under the layer of cloud...

...that was swirling round the mountains of Glen Sannox. We made a good speed of 9km/hr with tidal assistance on the crossing.

Once we were out of the sunshine, the temperature dropped quickly. Away to the south, the steep slopes of Holy Island were silhouetted against the distant sunshine further down the Firth of Clyde. We would soon set foot on the sands of Sannox.

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Sannox synchronicity

As we left Garroch Head on Bute, the clouds began to clear from the summits of the Glen Sannox hills. I thought they would make a great backdrop to some kayaking photos. First Phil was a solo paddler. It looked good, but memories of solo synchronised swimming meant I was looking for something else.

Then Jennifer and Tony paddled into the frame and I even got a shot of their paddles nearly parallel.

Phil and Jim nipped past hoping to get in frame.

I managed three kayakers in this shot...

...then four in this one, but it still wasn't quite right.

Unfortunately the team soon twigged I was looking for a "parallel paddles" shot and did everything possible to prevent it! But patience is a great virtue and it was a long way across the Sound of Bute to Sannox...

...then at last, perfect Sannox synchronicity!

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Crossing the bows of Dauntless

As we left the shelter of Little Cumbrae, we were hit by a light, but chill, wind from the NE. It blew down off the snow covered slopes of Ben Lomond, which was some 57km distant. On the sea horizon I spotted a light grey tower, "Strange", I thought, "I don't remember a buoy there."

We then passed a marker buoy for a wreck, 1km SW of the lighthouse. It was dancing in the current and making impressive gurgling noises. Again I was surprised, it was only 90 minutes after neap high water and even the maximum the spring ebb is only 1 to 1.5 knots. The dark brown colour of the water gave it away. This was all the flood water from the recent rains, making its way to the open sea.

I stopped paddling and the drift speed was just over 2 knots. We were going to have an interesting crossing. We set off on a very high ferry angle and half way across it looked like we would be swept south of our destination, Garroch Head on Bute.

The mystery of the grey tower soon revealed itself. It turned out to be HMS Dauntless. At first she was heading straight for us (we were in the middle of the Firth of Clyde Channel) and we had to calculate whether to maintain our high ferry angle and cross the channel more slowly or head straight across the channel more quickly and risk being swept down tide of Garroch Head. Not wishing to get in the way of Dauntless, we headed straight across the channel, until we saw her starboard side. In a test of her Samson radar (in the dome on top of her tower) it apparently managed to simultaneously track all aircraft flying into and out of Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead, Paris CDG, Schiphol and Berlin. Despite this processing power, we thought five kayaks might just be under her radar, so we were rather pleased to clear her bows.

HMS Dauntless, D33, is a type 45 destroyer. She was built on the Clyde at Scotstoun where she has been recently fitting out. This was her maiden voyage to the Naval dockyard at Portsmouth.

After crossing in front of Dauntless's bows we then had to paddle very hard indeed to keep out of the Garroch Head tide race. On taking a breather we saw from the left: Cameron (a mooring vessel), Svitzer Mercia (a tug) and Dauntless all leaving the Clyde and Bellatrix (bulk carrier) waiting to enter the channel. There were also a couple of small fishing boats.

We were pleased to have got safely across the channel and enjoyed our second breakfast on the beach at Port Leithne on Garroch Head.

Monday, November 30, 2009

Queuing up the Clyde!

As we left the dark rocks of Portencross...

...we could see the vast bulk of the Bellatrix, a 225m bulk carrier, coming up the Clyde behind us.

It looked like she was heading up the Hunterston Channel between Ayrshire and the Little Cumbrae. We were headed across this channel to the distant isle of Bute beyond.

Rather than cutting straight across, we went well up the channel towards the channel marker buoys. Big ships keep between them, so it is quite safe to sit there and wait until they pass.

It turned out that Bellatrix wanted to go up the main Firth of Clyde channel, on the far side of Little Cumbrae. We realized this when we saw the Navigo emerging from behind Little Cumbrae. The Navigo is a 142m Swedish tanker and she was the first of many ships to make her way down the Clyde that morning. Bellatrix was in for a long wait!

We were not sure if Bellatrix would so patiently wait for us, so we nipped across the channel as quickly as we could!

Sunday, November 29, 2009

A new dawn for Portencross castle

After leaving two cars at Ardrossan ferry terminal, we drove 10km up the Ayrshire coast to Portencross.

It was high tide, so most of the evil, slippy rocks that characterise this shore were covered. Tony and Phil launched my kayak, then helped me into the cockpit. My recently injured knee was hurting, just at the sight of those rocks.

A lovely dawn light reflected on the little waves.

Soon we were on our way, paddling past Portencross castle, which is currently swathed in scaffolding. Centuries of weather and neglect had caused the castle walls to decay to a perilous state. It is now undergoing a restoration thanks to the Friends of Portencross Castle.