The last train to Ardlamont on Argyll's Secret Coast.

 We woke on the shores of Ardlamont to discover that the wind had dropped overnight and the midges were all round the tents. They were not too bad on the beach so that is where we set up our breakfast things.

 We were not the only ones to be up early. The crane barge Forth Constructor was making her way down the Sound of Bute.

 We were on the water by 08:30 and paddled from Ardlamont Bay round to Kilbride Bay. Three eagles were soaring high overhead but that was not the only thing that caught our attention.

We came across this standard gauge railway track that curved gracefully into the waters of Kilbride Bay.

 We decided to land and investigate.

I had first heard about this railway to nowhere in Kilbride Bay back in the 1970's but had only found it a few years ago. I had heard about it from an old man in the bar at the Colintraive Hotel while I was on a yacht trip. The skipper of the yacht I had been crewing in had been in the Army and ended up as a prisoner of war in a Japanese camp. The old man had been a in the Royal Navy and had been involved with WW2 naval training exercises in the Cowal area prior to the D day landings. So it wasn't long before the pair of them were swapping yarns.

He told us the the railway was for launching  and recovering midget submarines on a wheeled trolley. Elsewhere on the internet you will find some who believe it was used to deploy an anti-submarine boom across Loch Fyne. However, this would not be a sensible place to run a boom across as the mouth of Loch Fyne is 4km to the west and then the loch is a further 3km wide at that point. The submarine boom was actually deployed 22km further up Loch Fyne, where the spit at Otter Ferry narrows the loch to 1km. The shore structure identified with the Otter Ferry boom is listed on the Canmore website site 205007.

Nowadays, this area is marketed to tourists as Argyll's Secret Coast. In the dark days of WW2 it really was a secret coast. Ardlamont Estate (and much of the Cowal peninsula) was requisitioned for Combined Operations training in Naval and amphibious landing warfare. About a quarter of a million troops were trained here and Lord Louis Mountbatten, the head of Combined Ops even stayed in the nearby Kilfinan Hotel.

Whatever, if you find yourself on the last train to Ardlamont, I suggest you get off at the stop before Kilbride Bay. It is a pretty wet journey after that.

Putting our feet up in Ardlamont Bay.

We were looking for somewhere out of the wind to set up camp and found a suitable spot on the shore of the Sound of Bute in the lee of Rubha na Peileig (porpoise point). The NW wind had veered round to the north so it was now straight offshore.

Despite being hardened athletes, we had found the headwind quite tiring so it was good to relax for a bit and where better?

We spent a while watching this yacht tacking backwards and forwards while making her way up to Tarbert.

 We soon regathered our composure and set about building a little fire and getting...

 ...comfortable round it before...

...putting the baked potatoes in the embers. This humble spud may look very plain but with a little butter and salt it was a taste sensation. The wind even kept the dreaded midges at bay!

An unexpected wind out of a clear blue sky.

 When we left Port nam Mullaich we were in the lee of Ardlamont point but...

 ...as soon as we rounded the point into the Sound of Bute we were straight into the teeth of the...

 ...NW wind which the VHF "sécurité" call had warned about.

 It was one of those unexpected northerly winds that came out of...

 ...a clear blue sky. Though as we had a high pressure to the west and a low pressure to the east, the direction was not totally unexpected though it was a good bit stronger than the forecasts.

Sécurité in the Kyles of Bute.

From Rubha Dubh on Bute we were bound for Ardlamont Point on the Cowal peninsula.

It was on the run down to Ardlamont that Belfast coastguard issued a "sécurité" strong wind warning on the VHF. The effect on the local yacht population was dramatic. Most dropped their sails and started motoring back into the shelter of the West Kyle. We just kept going to Ardlamont point...

...where we stopped for second luncheon on a beautiful beach at Port nam Muileach.

After eating, we climbed up to the top of Ardlamont Point to get a view of the conditions round the corner.

Beyond the point it was a tad breezy out in the Sound of Bute and it was blowing directly from where we wanted to go.

A quick blast down the Kyle to Rubha Dubh.

 We enjoyed some excellent paddle sailing in the West Kyle of Bute.

 The north end of Bute is a rugged place...

 ...but as we travelled south, the scenery became gentler with villages and farms. We decided to seek shelter from the north wind...

 ..in the delightful sheltered south facing bay at Rubha Dubh on the Bute side of the Kyle.

It was a great place to stop for first luncheon and...

...enjoy a great view to Ardlamont Point at the mouth of the West Kyle and the distant Arran mountains while clouds scudded across the blue sky.

Loo with a view at the Buttock of Bute.

 We set off from Rhubodach in a NW'ly direction passing to the south...

 ...of the Burnt Islands. The last time we were here we explored the vitrified fort on Eilean Buidhe but

 ...this time we were headed for a bay just to the east of Buttock Point.

At the foot of a forest and beside a burn there are two new wooden buildings. They are part of the Argyll Sea Kayak Trail.  The building on the left is a composting toilet and the building on the right is...

...is a simple shelter and fire pit. Bute Forest supply timber for burning so that you do not need to cut down any SSSI trees. There is not much camping here but there are plenty places further east.

The view from the loo looks north, straight up beautiful Loch Riddon. We were not going to explore this beautiful loch on this occasion...

...instead we paddled NW towards the lighthouse at Caladh Harbour before...

 ...turning left at Buttock Point....

Lots of boats on the commute to Bute.

It wasa a bright Monday morning when Mike and I rolled up at the Wemyss Bay ferry terminal to catch the ferry to Bute. "Our commute to Bute" as we called it.

The mountains of Arran rose majestically above the low rolling ground of Bute. We did wonder if the ferry would arrive as one of the two ferries had burnt its turbo charger out just a few days before.

 Fortunately MV Bute seemed to have made a good recovery and she arrived right on time.

 It was with great anticipation that we left Wemyss Bay on the 45 minute crossing to Rothesay in Bute. We then drove 20 minutes north...

...to Rhubodach near the head of the Kyles of Bute. The narrows were quite busy, several yachts passed before MV Splendour a converted 20m wooden fishing boat cruised down the East Kyle. She is the flagship of the recently formed Argyll Cruising company and this is their first season. I wish them great success.

No sooner had Splendour cleared the narrows than MV Loch Dunvegan rolled up the slipway. She operates CalMac's shortest ferry route from Colintraive to Rhubodach, all 420m of it.

We wasted no time in getting ready and soon we were ready to set off on another mini adventure!