Logistics of sea kayaking to Ailsa Craig

It has to be said that the staff of seakayakphoto.com are not the greatest exponents of open crossings. This is not wholly due to our well developed senses of self preservation. Out on the open briny there is not a great deal to photograph, which kind of defeats being a seakayakphoto.comer.

Ailsa Craig is worth the effort to get to. It is one of the World's great sea stacks. Like a sentinel of the sea, its great monolith rises at the entrance to the Firth of Clyde. Unlike many sea stacks, which are hidden away in remote places, Ailsa Craig is visible to anyone who visits the populous Ayrshire coast. Its dramatic outline rises to 338m and, for much of its 3.7km circumference, the first 100 meters rise sheer out of the sea. Despite its arresting appearance, the current island is but a shadow of its former self. Some 61.5 million years ago it was a giant volcano 3.5km high! Then, during the Ice Ages, the huge glaciers that swept south from the Scottish Highlands carved out the softer rocks of the Firth of Clyde basin and carried away the volcano’s ash cone. It left only the hard micro-granite rock of its volcanic plug. Fragments of this were carried by the ice as far south as Wales, where they can be found today, as erratic boulders.

Ailsa Craig lies 14km off the Ayrshire coast and the spring tide rate is only about 0.6kn so it just requires some repetitive paddling movements to get there and then, hopefully, about the same number to get back.

However, the weather round these parts tends to change quite quickly so there is a degree of commitment in making this trip. 24 hours before this photo was taken, there was a force 6 SE wind.

The BBC coastal forecast was for:

2008-05-05 0600 - 1159Pressure - 1025 mB RTemp max/min - 16/7 degrees CWind speed - F1-3 becoming F0-3Wind direction - EMax gust in knots - 17 becoming 18Sea state - Wavelets Visibility - Moderate becoming Good
Sig weather -

2008-05-05 1200 - 1759Pressure - 1027 mB RTemp max/min - 19/7 degrees CWind speed - F1-3 becoming F0-3Wind direction - SMax gust in knots - 18 becoming 18Sea state - Wavelets Visibility - Good

Fortunately the forecast was pretty accurate.....

Thanks to Steve (Ceegee) for help with the right age of Ailsa.

05/05/2008

The bird colonies of Ailsa Craig

The sea bird breeding colonies on Ailsa Craig are amongst the biggest in the World. At this time of year, the scale of life being rejuvenated is simply humbling.

05/05/2008

Croy beach (north)

Continuing north from Culzean you pass wide Croy Bay. This is very popular with summer visitors but if you continue round the rocks of Isle Port you can pretty well have this magnificent beach to yourself.

27/04/2008

The SSSI coastline of Culzean

The magnificent structure of the castle dominates the great Ayrshire estate of Culzean. The coastline extends for 5km from Maidens Bay in the south to Croy Bay in the north. The coast is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. It has many igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic geological features, which create varied environments within a short distance and as a result, it is rich in marine and terrestrial plant and animal life.

The whole estate is now managed as a Country Park by the National Trust of Scotland. I have a particular attachment to this place. In the early seventies I worked as a volunteer conservation worker when the Park was being established. I was then very fortunate in spending my summer holidays from university as a seasonal ranger naturalist. Happy days in a fantastic environment working with great colleagues!

27/04/2008

Misty Maidens morning

A cold thick mist lay low over the Ayrshire coastline on Sunday morning. As we arrived at Maidens the sun began to break through.


By the time we were on the water, the mist had all but dispersed and we were in for another glorious day.



27/04/2008

The sun beat down on a burnished sea.

The sun baked down from high in the azure vault of the sky. Last weekend in Scotland it was winter, this weekend it is spring! Tony and I were paddling ever more slowly on our passage NNE from Maidens to Ayr. In the intense heat, the sweat rolled down my burning forehead becoming ever more salty as the beads made their way through my salt encrusted eye brows before running into my bloodshot eyes, stinging and blinding as they went. For the hundredth time I wiped my eyes clear with my hat but the cotton was already saturated and the back of my neck burned as soon as it was exposed to the sun's rays. I could only imagine that Tony was in a similar state to myself. I was too weak to turn round but the gentle plip plop of his paddling reassured me that he was just behind.

High noon approached and our plight worsened. A faint voice quavered from behind.

"I need a drink."

I paddled slowly on without answering such a statement of the obvious. I had nothing left to drink either. Surrounded by water we were slowly but surely dehydrating and I could sense the approaching madness as our brain cells shrunk, stretching and straining their synapses.

The voice behind continued...

"Do ye think there might be somewhere we might stop for a wee drink?"

Well I am not exactly the world's greatest sea kayaking navigator but we were paddling with the Ayrshire coast on our right.

"If we keep paddling I think we might just pass the pub at Dunure?"

"Is it very far?"

I stopped paddling, leaned forward and pressed some buttons on my GPS. One of the stored way points was for the Anchorage Bar in Dunure, I pressed another button and was just able to read the distance before drops of sweat obscured the tiny screen.

"It's 5 kilometers."

"Sure but that's 5000 meters, it's too far."

The plip plop of paddling behind me stopped.

"Would you like a pint of Guinness?"

Just the thought had me drooling in a Pavlovian slaver, further exacerbating my desperate state of dehydration.

"Tony I would love one but we need to keep paddling."

I paddled on in silence. There was no sound from behind. I rested my paddle on my cockpit rim and drifted to a stop on the windless, burning sea. Slowly and stiffly I turned, fearing the worst.

At first I couldn't see anything, as I was squinting into the fierce glare of the sun. Then I saw Tony.......










"Sure now, would ye no' like a wee drink o' Guinness?"

27/04/2008

Going Mobile on the Road to the Isles

"I don't care about pollution,
I'm an air conditioned gypsy, that's my solution"

Going Mobile, Pete Townshend

Lots of people think that sea kayaking is a green sport. However, getting to a paddling destination isn't exactly green, unless you limit yourself to local waters. Currently there is a fuel shortage in Scotland so I doubt I will be going far this weekend. This last year I have been paddling nearer at home but I mentioned Loch Hourn in a recent post. What a fantastic trip that was! A day trip in February with 380 miles there and back on the A82 and the A87. For those of you who do not know Scotland, these are not motorways, freeways or autobahns!


A. We left Glasgow in the darkness at 6am and by 07:38, just as dawn was breaking, we had reached Lochan na h-Achlaise on Rannoch Moor.


B. By 08:42 we had reached the Commando Memorial above Spean Bridge with this view over the ridges of Carn Mor Dearg to Ben Nevis beyond.


C. High above Loch Garry the morning mist was lifting at 09:06. We were headed for Loch Hourn which lies to the north (right) of the distant mountains of Knoydart.


D. This view of the Five Sisters of Kintail was taken at 09:41 near the summit of the Mam Ratagan pass...


...as was this view of a calm Loch Duich.


E. At 10:06 we arrived at beautiful Loch Hourn. Not a very green way to spend a day but it was a wonderful drive, not to mention the sea kayaking!

The rapidity with which Scottish fuel supplies have run low illustrates how reliant we are on fossil fuels. What will my grandchildren think when I tell them that one winter day, I drove 380 miles, just to go sea kayaking?