Rhu to Loch Long

Last Monday I had a few hours to spare so what can you do?

I rushed down to Rhu. It was a beautiful afternoon

Not a cloud in the sky.

Just a slight breeze coming down Loch Long

Time for a bite to eat

Some locals coming over to say hello.

Heading back to Rhu the tide had started to turn.

Sun setting behind me.

Sun setting as I paddle back into Gare loch

Sitting on the shore enjoying the sunset.

Moments like this is why I love kayaking

Perfect end to a perfect day.

sea quest

My Kayak has been out the water for a while now as i repair some small holes. I removed the seat to find that my butt had been slowly rubbing away the hull. After a crash course in fiberglass and gellcoat repair I am now ready to test my repair's and get back on the water this weekend.

This picture was taken by Phil on a trip out to Ailsa Craig early this year.



Breakfast with a view

When we camped at the south end of Inchmarnoch this was the view from my tent of Arran. Beautiful.

Inchmarnock

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Last weekend my son Blair and I paddled from Fairlie just south of Largs to the west side of Bute.

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Blair at the channel marker

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This is on the Friday afternoon. we were blessed with a beautiful day.

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Blair with Arran in the background

We paddled up the west side of Bute to the island of Inchmarnock

We landed on the south end of Inchmarnockhttp

//www.redwebforum.com/isles/inchmarnock/Home.htm

Perfect camp

The Beach was made up of flat pebbles

Sunset from our camp

Beautiful sunset

On Saturday we headed back south along the coast of Bute. The weather had changed and was giving us some swell to play with. Blair was having a great time, he did not stop grining the whole trip.

The wind had picked up to a force 4

Our camp Saturday night was at Port Dornach at the south west end of Bute.

When we were making our way back to Millport one of the many tankers passed us. We had to quicken our pace to get well out his way.

Some seals on one of the islands in Millport bay

We went over to have a closer look at these amazing cranes.

Blair under one of the cranes.

the river clyde

The face of Dumbarton Castle. This is a rock climbers playground.

Out in the Clyde looking back west to the Castle.

This picture was taken from the Dumbuck channel marker east of the Castle.

Looking east from the Dumbuck channel marker towards the Erskine bridge.

 This is the monument near Bowling erected in 1838 to Henry Bell who designed the paddle steamer The Comet 

 Dumbarton Castle from the river Leven

some old timers in the river Leven

The marker bouy marking the entrance to the river Leven

 Dumbarton castle

Ailsa Craig

On sunday myself tony and phil took a trip out to Ailsa Craig this is an amazing island sitting 14 miles of the coast of Girvan.

Phil enjoying to calm waters. we were blessed with a mirror sea the whole day. perfect.

This is the cliffs on the west side of the island. we all enjoyed the arial display of the different birds nesting on the island. this was the first time i had ever seen a puffin and they are beautiful. Its looking like the puffin numbers are on the rise thanks to the eradication of the rats on the island.

Tony and I took a walk up to the Castle and enjoyed the views across the clyde. its not until you see it from here that you can take in the size of the clyde.

We had company when we were having lunch.

This was the conditions on the way back.

paddle around scottland

Well thats the request in for time off in 2012 for my trip around scotland. i am booking 3 months off to complete the trip. i Hope to finish sooner than 3 months but am planning non paddling days into the trip for a rest and to enjoy the places i visit. I want to take everything in on the trip this is not going to be a head down and paddle like crazy approach.

sugar boat

I recently paddled aroung the sugar boat  which lies just off helensburgh on the clyde. I have seen this wreck for many years and never knew anything about it. I pulled the following statement off the local clydesite magazine this is an online magazine on the clyde.

Locally referred to as "the sugar boat" she lies on a sandbank at the Tail o' the Bank (the upper firth anchorage) near to the promontory of Ardmore Point and was the Greek cargo ship CAPTAYANNIS.

On the evening of 27th January 1974 the area suffered from a terrific storm which blew the vessel from its anchor (it was waiting to deliver sugar to the James Watt Dock) and caused it to collide with the BP tanker BRITISH LIGHT. The tanker suffered no damage but the anchor chains of the tanker holed the sugar boat allowing water to pour into her.

Her captain decided to try and make for the sheltered waters of the Gareloch but realised the waters were flowing in so fast she was in imminent danger of sinking, the best thing to do was beach her in the shallow waters over the sandbank and he steered her to the desired spot where she stuck fast and started to heel over.

Why has she never been removed? Much confusion surrounds the identity of her owners, and no-one is willing to be responsible for her removal. There were once plans to have her blown up, but Ardmore Point is a sensitive bird sanctuary and there were fears such a drastic course of action would have negative repercussions - so it seems she will remain there until every piece of metal has rusted away.

The trip out to the sugar boat was fun with a following sea which picked me up and pushed me along at a fast pace. I dropped into the lee side of the boat and enjoyed the protection from the wind.

Even though she has ben here for 36 years she is still a solid structure.

On the way back to shore I passed this deep water marker. The wind was now blasting down the channel from Gareloch which made forward progress hard work but very enjoyable with beautiful views back up the Gare loch.