Ayr India to Dunure and back

First i have to apologise for the lack of pictures as my camera died last time out. Yesterday Phil, David and I took a wee trip from ayr to Dunure and back. I had a look at the forcast on wednesday night and it did not look good! The wind was to be a grade 5/6! I didn't like the thought of that.  But thursday morning broke with a perfect start and we decided that we should go for a little paddle. We met at Ayr India at seafield Ayr beach at one o'clock and the sea was almost flat calm.

The trip started in the rain but was just a great feeling to be out on the water with friends again. We traveled at a steady pace enjoying the perfect peace (apart from the rain). We arrived at Dunure and gave the bar maid a bit of a start when we walked into the bar dressed in our dry suits. Now it is customly to partake in a little refreshment while in Dunure and not wanting to offend. After a light refeshment we made our we back to Ayr whith a stop at Bracken bay for a bite to eat. The sun was now set and we finished our sandwichies and coffee in the dark, enjoying the beautiful night. With head torchies adorned we made our way back to Ayr. Very surreal paddling in the dark watching the lights on the shore. A perfect trip.

Enjoying the day

Enjoying the day. we had no real plans, only to get out on the water and enjoy ourselves. Blair was having so much fun we decided to head down to Bracken bay and have lunch there. Sorry no pictures of that as my camera suffered a soaking and stopped working. Now i have an excuse to go shopping for new gadget (ha ha ha )

greenan to bracken bay with Blair

You cant see it but Blair had the biggest smile on his face I have ever seen.

castle from the sea

always love seeing greenan castle from the sea.

coming out of greenan we enjoyed just drifting and chatting

greenan castle

Blair at Greenan castle

the new owner of the tempest

This is my son blairs first trip out in a sea kayak. He enjoyed the experience and very keen to do more.

Ailsa craig

I could not believe my eyes as i paddled south into the most beautiful sunset ever. Little did i know that sunsets like this are NORMAL! What have i been missing? Everytime I am out on the sea I kick myself for not doing this sooner.

Journey home

Heading back to Maidens I was treated to a fantastic sunset.

Light refreshment

Now if you ever get the chance to meet these guys i recommend you say hello, you will not regret it. We met David on the way. Phil couldn't make it. We stopped in at Dunure for a little light refreshment before I had to leave them and head back south to Maidens while Douglas,Tony and David carried on to Ayr.

sunset dunure castle

Having just met Douglas and Tony I hoped I was not to rude and asked if they would mind if I joined them for the days paddle. Douglas and Tony were on their way north to Ayr meeting up with friends David and Phil who were paddling south to meet them.

sun set dunure

This was taken November last year. I drove down to maidens with the plan to paddle south past turnberry. I had just left the bay heading south when i met two kayakers heading north. I had not met anyone kayaking before so was unsure if i should say hello! not knowing the etiquette of kayaking. Do i wave and pass by or stop and chat? I decided to stop and chat. This was to turn out to be a good choice, the two guys were Douglas Wilcox and Tony Page. I had been reading Douglas's blog http://seakayakphoto.blogspot.com/ for a while now and loved the vivid discriptions and fantastic images on his site.

Wet

Heading back home Sunday was a little wet. Very sureal as the raindrops made the surface of the sea look as if it was boiling! Low cloud and mist brought the visability down to around 50 meters. I felt very small out in the sound. Large boats passing close. A pod of dolphins were jumping clean out of the water between bute and little cumbrae made me smile. wow dolphins in the clyde i never knew we had so much right here in front of us.

St Ninians point

Enjoyed the sunset.

St Ninians point

Found a nice campsite at St Ninians point.

landfall on south west bute

Left little cumbrae and landed on south west end of bute. Enjoyed lunch then headed north looking for a nice campsite.

I let myself drift past watchful eyes.

seals of little cumbrae

This was taken on a trip from portencross to bute. I went over to Little cumbrae first to look at the castle and was surprised by the number of seals basking in the sun.

looking back south towards prestwick.

The weather was fantastic. Sat and enjoyed my lunch in perfect peace.

prestwick to meikle craigs

This was taken last winter. I paddled out from prestwick north to meikle craigs at Troon. This is a rocky outcrop extending out from the beach into the Clyde.

Lady isle lays 2 miles west of troon. not very big but very noisy with the high number of nesting birds. Lady isle is a bird sanctuary and succesful by the looks of it.

Douglas and Tony chatting as we head out towards lady isle. Tony had not long finished a trip around Scotland with fellow kayaker Gavin. check out their blog its fantastic http://kayakcaledonia.blogspot.com/