A long journey north.

The Scottish winter has been pretty tough so far but at last a break in the weather caused Mike and I to meet up with Ian on the west coast. For various reasons revolving round orthopaedic surgery, I had not been far north of Glasgow since early 2013, so I was rather looking forward to this trip.

We had a much easier drive than Ian who was travelling over from the north east.Our route over Rannoch Moor and...

 ...through Glen Coe was thankfully clear of snow. Mike took these photos as I was keeping my eye on the road.

 The mountains were looking in great condition.

 I took up sea kayaking because I was finding mountaineering increasingly difficult due to painful dislocations of my knees. I had last been high in these hills in early 2001 when I climbed one of the gullies high in the summit cliffs at the head of the corrie in the middle of this photo.

Unfortunately my knee dislocated twice during the climb of SC Gully and so it became my last winter climb. It had also been one of my first winter climbs in 1973. I have missed getting into the winter hills. I spent last winter...

  ...learning how to climb stairs...

...after my second knee operation.

 Anyway it was too late to go out on the water so after we met Ian, we decided  to nip up a little hill...

 ...called Ardsheal Hill. It is only 263m high but I was really quite pleased to get up (and down) it.

 Being on the shores of Loch Linnhe it had wonderfull views to the NE and...

 ...the SW.  The islands of Eilean Balnagowan,...

 ...Shuna and Lismore looked very inviting. We made plans while we descended in the winter gloaming.

You can follow our winter adventures in stereovision by also following Ian's blog.

Big boats and little boats in Brodick Bay.

As we paddled into Brodick Bay in the sunset, we were not alone. A Royal Navy type 23 frigate was exercising in the Firth. She is possibly HMS Somerset who has been involved in tracking a Russian submarine in the approaches to the Firth of Clyde.

 Next we came across two tankers. Askholmen and...

 ...Bro Deliverer. Both were waiting to go up to the terminal at Finnart on Loch Long.

 We slipped unnoticed along the hull of Bro Deliverer from stern past...

 ...midships...

...to her bow. From her anchorage it was only a short distance to the...
 

 Brodick ferry terminal. We did not have long to wait until our ferry home, MV Caledonian Isles, arrived at her berth.

It had been a fantastic winter day during which we had covered 30km and introduced another paddler, Maurice, to paddle sailing. It could not get much better, or colder...or could it?

Despite the approach of darkness and the ferry, we stopped to savour the view of the mountains.

We launched from the sands of Sannox with the hope that we might be able to paddle  sail all the way down the east coast of Arran to Brodick.

 By the time we got to Corrie the sun was setting behind the hills and as it did so...

 ...the wind dropped and wood smoke from village stoves hung in the air. The flood, north going tide can make this stretch take longer than planned and we had a ferry to catch!

For a while we paddled in the shade of the North Goatfell ridge and the temperature plummeted. From here we got a good view of the lip of the hanging valley or corrie after which the village of Corrie takes its name.

The mountains fell away as we reached Merkland Point, the northern limit of Brodick Bay and the sun reappeared for...

 ...a few precious warming minutes.
 

 As we swung round into the openness of the bay...

The soaring south ridge of Goatfell rose above the trees.

Although we needed to press on to catch the ferry it was...

 ...hard to resist the temptation to repeatedly stop, look back and savour the view of snowy mountains that had dominated our day.

Splendid, snowy, soaring scenery, serenity and successful paddle sailing to Sannox on a Sunday.

 As we approached Arran...

...the snow topped granite ridges of Glen Sannox soared higher and...

...higher above us. You could travel half way round the globe and still not find scenery to match, yet it is right here on our doorstep. It is not just the scenery that delights the eye on this crossing. On this occasion we saw porpoises and on previous crossings to Arran, we have seen common dolphins, bottlenose dolphins, minke whales and basking sharks not to mention numerous otters round the shore..

In the lee of  the Cock of Arran, Sannox Bay was like a millpond. It was hard to believe we had so much fun out in mid channel.

The winter storms had stripped a lot of the sand off the beach since our last visit but all was calm when we arrived.

We wasted no time in unpacking our things for as well deserved second luncheon and a dram of 10 year old Jura to celebrate Maurice's successful induction to the world of paddle sailing!

The Cock of Arran was pointing to the distant Paps of Jura.

We set off from Garroch Head on Bute on the 11km crossing to Sannox on Arran in...

...glorious conditions.

 As we cleared the end of Bute a...

 ...lovely wind filled in from the west and we...

 ...were soon enjoying paddle sailing with...

... one of the best views in the world, which looks straight up...

 ...Glen Sannox to the wonderfully symmetrical cone of Cir Mhor at its head.

Once clear of Bute the wind was steady and we made great speed.

In mid channel the wind picked up to a force 4, which was blowing against the incoming tide and so it got a bit lumpy to take my Canon 5D Mk3 out of its waterproof deck bag. So there is now a short intermission without photos but it was cracking fun!

Maurice was on his first day out with his new Flat Earth kayak sail and as we were on a close reach, the conditions were quite challenging for a newcomer to kayak sailing. However, Maurice proved to be a quick learner and by the time we were two thirds of the way across...

 ...the conditions flattened again as the tide lessened.

 It was one of the most enjoyable crossings of the Sound of Bute I have ever done.

 Conditions continued to moderate as we...

...drew into the wind shadow of the Cock of Arran which was pointing to....

...the distant Paps of Jura, which were heaving above the horizon some 63km away to the NW.