Hand dived scallops of Harris.

It was quite windy in Loch Reasort, a deep sea loch on the west coast of Harris in the Outer Hebrides. It was perhaps a little too breezy for sea kayaking.


So we went for a walk...


....while the divers went... diving in nearby Loch Tamnabhaigh.


They brought up a good haul of hand dived scallops. Recently StuartA commented "Maybe for hand-caught scallops? Yum!"


There is a worrying number of bits and pieces in there...


... but as Stuart said, Yum! (This photo Mike Marshall.)

12/06/2006

Greenan, the fourth castle of Carrick, and a corpse.

Leaving Dunure (and its quickly receding tide) we made good progress NE towards the Heads of Ayr.


Spying a convenient landing spot, we took a short break at Bracken Bay.


We passed the Heads of Ayr, which are the remains of the lava flow from a volcano on the Carrick Hills. This was active (at the same time as Ailsa Craig) when Europe and America began to drift apart as the Atlantic Ocean widened.


At last we paddled past Greenan Castle, the fourth castle on this sea kayaking tour of "the four coastal castles of Carrick".


This photo (from a previous trip on 09/11/2003) shows the castle's supreme defensive position on the very edge of a cliff to the south of Ayr. There have been defensive buildings on this site for over a thousand years but the present tower house dates from the 16th century.

In 1602 Sir Thomas Kennedy of Culzean spent the night at Greenan prior to setting off on a long ride Edinburgh. Unfortunately he only made it a few miles to St. Leonard's woods in Ayr. He was ambushed and murdered there by a kinsman, Thomas Kennedy of Drummurchie, who was a Bargany Kennedy. The Culzean and Bargany Kennedys were bitter enemies and their long and bloody feud was immortalised by Sir Walter Scott in "An Ayrshire Tragedy" and by SR Crocket in "The Grey Man".

The road where Sir Thomas's corpse was discovered was renamed Corsehill Road. I used to live in Corsehill Road and on stormy nights, when the wind was howling through the trees, it was always a relief to shut and bolt the door!


The day was nearly done by the time we got back to Seafield beach at Ayr. We made our way home up Corsehill Road in the gathering winter darkness. Of Sir Thomas, there was not a sight. May he rest in peace.

And that brings to a close our four castles (and three pints and innumerable tales) of Carrick sea kayaking tour. I hope you have enjoyed "paddling" along with us on the way.

20/01/2008

The tidal anomaly of the third castle of Carrick.

Paddling north from Culzean Bay we rounded a headland and found ourselves under the grim walls of Dunure castle. This is the third castle on our "Four Castles" tour. As Scottish castles were built by people who did not particularly like their neighbours, they are separated by respectable distances and, as a result, we were by now feeling both tired and thirsty.


We decided to cheer ourselves by taking a short break.


Despite the fact we ran all the way back from the pub, we were somewhat surprised to discover just how far the tide had gone out. We could only conclude that there is either a previously unreported tidal anomaly in the Clyde or a localised warp in the space time continuum!

A ship's bell rings down the years.

This is the bell of the SS Valkyrian, which was wrecked off Dunure harbour in Ayrshire. I recently posted about the bravery of William "Buckie" Munro and 30 other fishermen from Dunure who bravely rescued all but one of the Vakyrian's crew.

I was absolutely delighted to receive a comment from William Munro, who is a descendant of Buckie Munro. It turns out the bell remained in the possession of his family until 1985! He has very kindly added to and corrected some the information I discovered in Dunure and on the internet.

Here is his comment:


"What is shown in your good account is not a postcard but a painting of the ship which previously was hanging on the wall in Mr Mckinney Maersk Moller's office in Copenhagen.


It was presented to me by Mr Moller in December 1985. Thus the date is in fact 1986 on the inscription. It was presented to me as a gift when the bell from the ship (photo in your article)was donated to the Maersk museum in Copenhagen. It had been in the family since the time of the sinking."

What a wonderful story, two families exchanging tokens and mementos of a momentous event which had thrown their ancestors together 102 years before! Of course, if we had paddled from headland to headland, we would have missed Dunure and been none the wiser. This is an important part of the history of this coastline and now thanks to William we have a first hand account of a consequential event. I have corrected and added to my previous posts.

20/01/2008

Work and play in Culzean Bay.

Leaving Culzean Castle, we continued NE across the sand rimmed Culzean Bay. We came across this catamarn fishing vessel. She is the Sea Venture and she has applied for membership of the Responsible Fishing Scheme. Although registered in Campbeltown, her home port is Carradale some 55km away, on the far side of Arran.


She was lying to two anchors and appeared to have been dredging for shell fish as the crewman was sorting his catch on a riddle. Possibly she was fishing for razor, shells though the sustainability of harvesting these slow growing bivalves in the Clyde and effect on other species is not yet established. Razor shells are seldom eaten in Scotland though they are in great demand in southern Europe.

We exchanged waves with the crewman as we passed. We left him hard at work on the riddle and we made our way north east to Dunure, where we had an appointment.

20/01/2008

Eisenhower, the Kennedys and Washington.

Leaving Carrick shore, we left Ailsa Craig behind us but our view was soon dominated by the Victorian south wing of Culzean (pron. Cullane) Castle. This is the second castle of our "Four Castles" tour of Ayrshires's Carrick coastline.


The main part of the castle was built between 1777 and 1792 for Robert Kennedy the 10th Earl of Cassillis (pron. castles) a member of the powerful Ayrshire Kennedy family. His cousin, Captain Archibald Kennedy, the 11th Earl of Cassillis, was a distinguished naval commander who broke the siege of Lisbon 1760. On retiring from the sea, he moved to New York and lived at No. 1 Broadway. At a little diplomatic incident in 1773, known as the Boston Tea Party, Captain Archibald felt unable to take part on the American side. George Washington evicted him and moved into No. 1 Broadway himself. It was fortunate that the good Captain had this little place in Scotland to fall back upon!


The present romantic and decorative castle was designed and built by Robert Adam. He built it round the earlier stone keep of the original fortified tower house which dated back to 1165. Some of the internal walls are therefore 12 feet thick! Adam's famous oval staircase, in the centre of the castle, is built within the walls of the original keep.

When the Kennedys gifted Culzean to the National Trust of Scotland in 1945, they asked that rooms should be given to General Eisenhower as a lifetime gift from the Scottish people after the end of WW2. The Eisenhower flat occupied the top floor of the castle, as seen in the photograph above. He spent four happy holidays here, one of which was when he was President. He enjoyed walking in the grounds, watching the wildlife, painting and of course golf at nearby Turnberry!

The amazing thing about sea kayaking round Scottish waters is how much history you come across. Not just Scottish history, but given the Scots' long history of emigration, the history of many other countries as well.

Who would have thought that one American (who would become president) would have evicted a Kennedy of Culzean out of his home and another American (who would also become president) would be given a guest flat by the descendents of that same Kennedy?

20/01/2008

And pretty maids all in a row.

"With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row."

Leaving the ancient stones of Turnberry Castle we made our way north past a series of rocky skerries called the Maidens. They were the ruin of many ships but also gave shelter if the sailors had sufficient local knowledge. In later years a sea wall was built that linked a series of the Maidens and a bell was hung at its end. It was rung to guide returning sailors to the safety of Maidens harbour.

We stopped at the delightful little cove called Carrick Bay which nestles in between the cliffs at the south end of Culzean estate. The sands of these bays are rich with cockles, scallops and Norwegian prawns many of which find their way to the restaurant tables in Spain.

20/01/2008