We had tried on two occasions to go paddling with John,
our friend from Swanage, who was up visiting family over the Christmas holiday.
Unfortunately the snows came down on both occasions. On the first, I didn't even get out my drive. On the second, some main roads were clearer of snow and I made it to
Largs on the Ayrshire coast by avoiding the 31m direct route over the hills and taking a 48mile detour by
Greenock and the coast. Unfortunately, John was well and truly snowed in at
Aberfoyle in the
Trossachs hills.
It was freezing cold when I met with the Ayrshire contingent yesterday morning at the
public slipway at Largs Marina on the Clyde.
The bulk carrier
Wah Shan (length 289m, breadth 45m) had just made her way down the
Largs Channel to
Hunterston Jetty where she would offload her cargo of coal. She was accompanied by the tugs
Svitzer Milford (30m x 11m) and
Ayton Cross (31m x 12m).
The next vessel to cross our bows was the
UK Border Agency cutter
HMCC Seeker.
She was on the prowl for smugglers or illegal aliens. We may have kept a low profile but so did she. She was not transmitting any
AIS information. She is 42m long and has a top speed of 26 knots.
We still hadn't cleared the
Largs channel and now the
Calmac Great
Cumbrae ferry, the
MV Loch
Shira. Unlike the other ships we saw, the Loch
Shira was Clyde built (2007) in the Ferguson's yard, just up the coast in Port Glasgow. She is 54m x14m.
