A winter paradise.

 We rock-hopped along the remote...

...coastline until we came to...

...the point round which some big swell stopped play.

 The wind increased so we...

...decided to take a break...

...on a lovely white shell sand beach.

We had transported ourselves to a winter paradise.

In the lee of snow capped mountains.

 The temperature under the clear sky at dawn was freezing and felt even colder in the wind...

...which whistled down from the mountains that were deep in winter's grip.

We made steady progress but it was a long cold crossing...

...to a distant coast.

It was a relief when we got to the other side and into the lee of the snow capped mountains.

The weather channel.

After a cold night, the morning dawned clear. The widescreen TV turned on automatically gently wakening us after a good sleep. There was only one channel and it was the weather channel. The forecast was for sunny skies and the wind was to be SE to S Force 4 to 5 increasing 6 during the night.

 We wasted no time and were on the water at dawn. The sun had not yet hit our overnight accommodation and there was a real chill in the air...

...as we set off on a crossing back to the mainland.

Roughing it, in the Scottish Winter.

Ian and I met to explore some of the Highlands and Islands on a three day trip. The area was sandwiched between an Atlantic low and a Scandinavian high. We expected cold SE winds and hoped for some sunshine. We set off on a crossing...

 ..to our chosen lodgings for the night. You won't find this in TripAdvisor. It is a private bothy and the owner asks visitors not to publicise its location.

 It was a stiff climb up to the bothy which involved a moderate rock climb.

 It was perched high above the beach. Ian kindly carried my bags all the way up and gave me a hand on the "Bad Step". Thank you Ian!

As darkness fell and the temperature plummeted, we got the fire on. We had brought, barbecue charcoal, logs and coal.

Then we prepared our evening meal, my starter was some NSAIDs followed by home made leek and potato soup, home made bread, home made venison stew and new potatoes done in the trusty pressure cooker. All washed down with a bottle of red.

To finish off we enjoyed oat cakes, mature cheese and a fine vintage port. You have to be prepared to rough it if you want to do multi-day sea kayaking trips in the Scottish winter.

Swanning about on the way to Seafield.

Some swans had also been making their way from Maidens to Seafield that day. As we refuelled in the Dunure Inn, they cruised the harbour gobbling the remains of sandwiches thrown by a few tourists, who had braved chill of the winter day.

 We left Dunure before the swans but...

...but they soon passed us. Flying swans are considerably faster than...
 

 ,,,paddling and sailing kayakers.

 We drifted through the skerries as a cap of cloud drifted over Ailsa Craig.

By the time we got to the Heads of Ayr, the swans had disappeared in the direction of Seafield.

A chill wind for eider ducks (and other sea birds).

 We set off towards Culzean Castle through the skerries.

The cold SE wind didn't seem to cool the ardour of the eider ducks (whoo whoo birds) which had already started courtship behaviour. These four drakes were squabbling over a single duck.

 The chill wind carried us under Culzean castle and onwards to Culzean Bay where...

...we came across two boats that had divers down. They also had noisy generators aboard. Perhaps the divers were recharging their iPhones? This one, Avocet CY805 is from Ayr.

This one, Ensis OB1004 is from Fort William and we saw her just a little south of here a couple of weeks ago.

No herring, no cod, falling catches of langoustines, I wonder what will be next, after the razor shells have gone? I don't suppose filter feeders like razor shells are that important now, after all sea bird numbers are plummeting. There are very few oyster catchers on this coast now.

Bob the seal.

It was low tide as David, Phil and I made our way down the beach at Maidens.

 As we paddled towards Barwhin Point...

...the Troon Trent class lifeboat, RNLIB Jim Moffat, sped past...

...and disappeared over the horizon towards Ailsa Craig.

Phil seemed unaware that he was being followed by Bob the Seal.

Bob then turned his attention towards me.

As he was swimming powerfully towards me, I tried to work out whether he was common or grey,...

Then I spotted the collar.

He then emerged from the water in a most unseal like way.  It was Bob, Tony's dog.

Tony had arrived at Barwhin and decided to join us on the water, after Bob was safely back on the lead.