Our green pilgrimage to Saint Blane's on Bute.

We left our sea kayaks at  Port Leithne and steadily climbed from into the verdant hills at the south end of Bute. A narrow path soon broadened into...

 ...a substantial pilgrim's way as we climbed through a green and pleasant land above the Sound of Bute with the distant Arran mountains beyond. We entered a little wood in a sheltered valley and...

...all of a sudden caught our first sight of the pinkish stones of what is left of St Blane's monastery and church. The setting in a clearing, framed by large deciduous trees, was peaceful and idyllic. An air of calm and serenity pervaded the whole area. Regardless of your religious persuasion, or lack thereof,  I recommend a visit to St Blane's. It will help heal your soul of the scars inflicted by the hurry, injustice, selfishness and greed of a sometimes uncaring world.

It is easy to see why St Catan, the 6th century founder of the religious settlement chose this spot.He was St Blane's uncle. The grounds of St Blane's are enclosed by several walls. We climbed over the first lower one then followed the second higher one round...

 ...to a gate through which we entered the upper church yard itself. The present building dates from the 12th century. The original buildings dating from some time before AD574 would have been made of wood. The monastery was sacked several times by the Vikings after the first raid in AD790. The present nave dates from the time that Viking rule from Norway came to an end and remaining Vikings converted to Christianity.

This is the view from the 12th century nave through a fine carved arch through a wall of shaped blocks to the mostly 14th century chancel beyond. Note the chevron carving on the arch.

The chancel was not constructed of the same quality shaped stone as the nave and now contains several grave slabs.

Leaving the church and entering the upper churchyard there is a fine view to Holy Island, which was also home to an early Celtic church founded by St Molaise (566 - ~640AD)

 The upper graveyard was reserved for monks, priests and men while...

 ...a curved ramp led down to the lower churchyard, which was for women and commoners.

As we made our way back to Port Leithne we reflected on the local and green nature of our pilgrimage. We had travelled only 45 minutes by car and had then paddled our kayaks and walked. Most of today's pilgrims travel by aircraft at great cost to the environment. In contrast in the 4th century Saint Ninian walked from Whithorn in SW Scotland to Rome and back. Now that is a pilgrimage!

Catching sight of the Delectable Mountains as our Pilgrimage to St Blane's progresses.

 At the south end of Little Cumbrae island you come to...

 ...the imaginatively named Gull Point.

 Gulls do congregate on this point but what really catches the eye of the itinerant pilgrim is...

 ...the view of the Delectable Mountains of Arran.

There now follows a short intermission. It was a spring tide and it was about 3 hours after slack at high water. The ebb was streaming down the west coast of Little Cumbrae where it met a light SW wind. A surprising lively sea was kicked up which reminded me of the cost of the Canon 5Dmk3.

We were well across the Firth of Clyde channel between Little Cumbrae and Bute before the sea calmed.

We arrived at Port Leithne on Bute for second luncheon and to embark upon the final part of our Pilgrimage to St Blane's Monastery and Church.

Pilgrims progress and a religious offering on Little Cumbrae.

We landed at Castle Island (which is just off the east coast of the Little Cumbrae) for our second breakfast. There was no one in residence at the house. We rather missed the friendly pack of motley mongrels owned by the last care taker...

...there was now no one to share our sandwiches with.

In the absence of a yardarm, it was clear that (despite the early hour) the sun was well over the castle...

...second breakfast quickly transformed to first luncheon as David cracked open a bottle of Leffe Brune. This dark beer has been brewed by the monks of  Dinant since 1240 for the benefit of those passing through on pilgrimage. As we were clearly on a pilgrimage to St Blane's monastery and church, we saw this as an appropriate religious offering to our thirsty palates.

We sat in the sun while we savoured the dark brew and enjoyed the beauty of our surroundings.

However, pilgrims must progress and so we made our fortified way past the fortifications of the Little Cumbrae Castle.

Temptation in the Tan and a very verdant Little Cumbrae.

We slid across a glassy sea towards...

...the Tan which is that...

...narrow strip of water which separates Little Cumbrae from Great Cumbrae. Beyond the Tan the Arran mountains rose steeply from the sea.

As we cleared Farland Point on Great Cumbrae we were able to look back at the little town of Millport but we were not tempted by its ice cream shops and chip shops and...

...we continued across the Tan towards a...

...very verdant looking...

...Little Cumbrae.

The Tan was uncommonly calm and it was easy...

...to spot the many porpoises that inhabit these waters. In the distance the Arran Ferry MV Caledonian Isles was crossing from Brodick to Ardrossan and Ailsa Craig rose temptingly in splendid isolation on the horizon. So tempting was it that Phil, Tony and I paddled out and camped on the rock just 12 days later.

We could now see our destination for second breakfast...

 
...the Little Cumbrae castle.

Carbon foot print on the Clyde.

On the 11th of June, we set off from Largs Marina into the Hunterston Channel in the Firth of Clyde. This view shows three aspects of energy production. Coal was being unloaded from a bulk carrier and raising clouds of black dust even before it was burnt. A giant wind turbine, at 177m tall the biggest onshore turbine in the UK (a prototype for offshore installations), was not turning and the Hunterston B nuclear power station was quietly generating away in the background. If humans want a big population long into the future and want to burn energy at the current rate, only one of these is a workable solution...

We have long talked about making the pilgrimage to St Blane's  Church and Monastery at the south end of Bute. So we turned our backs on the industry at Hunterston and set off for the islands of the Clyde. We were blessed to have the company of David for the first time on a camping trip since our trip round Tiree in 2011. You might have noticed that I have been using some VE paddles recently (that's them in my blog title photo above). So had David!

David wasted no time in plucking mine from my deck while I was taking a photo. He too is now a convert to VE paddles. I would need to get them back as soon as possible!

These beautiful carbon fibre paddles are made in the UK and it is always a great pleasure to use something that has been manufactured locally and not transported half way round the World, costing the environment in the process.

Alien rocks but no OCD in Brodick Bay.

 South of Corrie, on Arran's east coast, the woodland comes right down to the...

 ...red sandstone rocks that line the shore. The rocks have eroded into...

 ...the most amazing contorted shapes.The rocks looked like something out of the Queen's lair in a hive of Aliens

We driftede into Brodick Bay under the wooded lower slopes of Goatfell.
.

 This fine beach tree stands in the grounds of Brodick Castle.

We were not really trying to catch the 12:30 ferry  which is probably just as well as we missed it. Our good friends Andrew and Colin (who also sea kayaked to Brodick that morning) did make it and waved to us as the MV Isle of Arran pulled out of the dock. At this point we noted that we had covered something like 96.6 km since we had started our trip .We had plenty of time to paddle round the bay for a little to take our trip up to 100 km but we took a savage delight in paddling straight to the pier. Never let anyone accuse us of being obsessional about such things.

After a relaxed unpacking we were in plenty of time for the 13:50 MV Caledonian Isles back to the cars at Ardrossan on the mainland.

Despite very mixed weather we had enjoyed a fantastic circumnavigation of Arran. Ian, Mike and I were sorry our trip had ended and were already looking forward to the next time we could paddle together....

Consternation in Corrie, guaranteed sheep and seal sightings threatened.

From the wilds of Sannox on NE coast of Arran we came to the little village of Corrie. For such a small place...

 ...it has a surprising three harbours. This old sea wall survived the severe storms of last winter almost unscathed but some of the more recent walls were not so well built and suffered badly in the storms last winter.

This old fishing boat is now a house boat in one of the harbours.. She has seen better days.

Towards the south end of the village you are (almost) guaranteed to see a seal.

This wooden seal is usually fixed to a rock just offshore. It was carved by Marvin Elliot who lives and works in the village. During the last winter there was great consternation in Corrie. Visitors to the village were no longer guaranteed a seal sighting. The Corrie seal was carried away by the winter storms but was rescued by a couple who found it on Turnberry beach some 52 kilometres away to the SE. Fortunately for Corrie. The finders appear not to have had a wood burning stove.

The southern harbour of Corrie has three sheep for bollards.

 The one at the north end is black and has turned its back on the other two....

We spent some time drifting in the calm off Corrie. As we enjoyed a hazy view of Holy Island we reflected on the last few days of exploration and companionship and realised that our trip would soon be over.