Sunny skies and calm seas

Earlier today...


...we decided to do ...


...a little light sea kayaking.


The staff of seakayak photo.com are renowned for their ability to seek out ...


...sunny skies and calm seas.

Where did that come from?

There we were, enjoying our sandwiches, when all of a sudden dark lines appeared out to sea.


Then Whumff.... surf crashed onto the beach.


There was a scramble for the boats (well those that were able) and Billy was first to wet his bows in the small but perfectly formed surf.

A Convivial Croy luncheon

We landed on Croy Bay, below its eponymous Electric Brae.


We enjoyed an uninterupted view to distant Ailsa Craig.


Before tucking into...


... a convivial luncheon with friends.


The distant hills of Holy Island and Arran seemed very close in the calm conditions as we recounted previous crossings to the islands, each stormier than the last!.

A missing monkey, a castle and an electric brae!

After crossing Maidenhead Bay we left Ailsa Craig astern and slipped through a gap into the lagoon behind Glasson Rock.


We found ourselves in the shelter of a delightful cove. The sands of Carrick shore lie at the foot of wooded Barwin Hill. A path at the back of the beach leads up to a pagoda in the woods. This was built in 1860 as a summerhouse by the Kennedy family of nearby Culzean castle. It is one of only three pagogas in Britain and is the only one built of stone. Its lower level hosed an aviary but a monkey was also kept here and Ayrshire folk still know it as the "monkey house". I worked at Culzean as a seasonal ranger/naturalist in the 1970's but by then it had become a ruin. It was expertly restored in 1998, though the National Trust for Scotland has drawn the line at reinstating a live monkey!


Leaving Carrick, we paddled on under the walls of Culzean Castle.


Children on the parapets pointed and waved excitedly at us, though I doubt we made up for the missing monkey!


After clearing the headland of Culzean, we were faced by another broad expanse of water, this time it was Culzean Bay. On the hillside above Phil's head can be found Croy Brae. This is an Electric Brae and if you are silly enough to listen to your kids and switch your car engine off when going downhill, powerful magnets in the earth will haul your car to a stop and another car load of kids will smack into the back of you. Highly entertaining stuff and all in all, South Ayrshire makes a great day out!

A sunny and calm Maidens morning, before the storm.

Back at the beginning of November we had a couple of sunny days before the wettest November on record in SW Scotland and NW England.


We set off from Maidens in Ayrshire. To the south, the distinctive outlines of Turnberry lighthouse and Ailsa Craig characterise this part of the Firth of Clyde.


To the west the equally distinctive outline of the magical island of Arran floated dreamily on the other side of the Firth.


It was calling strongly to us... but a crossing to it would need to wait for another day.


Instead we were bound to the north, along the rocky fastnesses of Culzean and Carrick to the little fishing hamlet of Dunure. There we would meet David in the pub!

Sannox Synchronicity: a day trip to Arran.

A day trip to Arran, a 30.7km paddle from Portencross and return by the Brodick/Ardrossan ferry. November 2009.


The approach to Glen Sannox on Arran from the Isle of Bute.

Dawn till dusk

A new dawn for Portencross castle

Queuing up the Clyde!

Crossing the bows of Dauntless

Sannox synchronicity

Approach to Sannox

Paddling under a cloud

A glimpse of winter sun

End of a winter's day on Arran

And then our boat came in, without chips!

And then our boat came in, without chips!

We had landed on a little sandy beach right beside the ferry terminal at Brodick. We had not long to wait until the MV Caledonian Isles arrived from Ardrossan. One of the great pleasures of sea kayaking in Scotland is being able to make use of the ferries that serve the islands or cross the long sea lochs. We frequently use them instead of a car shuttle and they open up a number of longer routes to paddle on a short winter day.


Calmac has two advantages as a ferry company. First of all they carry sea kayaks for free. Secondly, they serve an excellent chicken curry. My usual request is for curry with half rice and half chips. This simple request is usually met but not on this occasion. I was told it would need to be all rice or all chips but not both!


Half chips apart, we had enjoyed a really fabulous winter day's paddle to Arran. We left a car at Ardrossan at 8am, shuttled up to Portencross where we left the other cars and were on the water by 0905. We landed at Brodick at 1530 after 31km and had plenty of time for the 1640 ferry home. The vista of the Glen Sannox hills on the approach from Bute must be one of the best sea kayaking views in Scotland. We had it to ourselves, you should give it a try!