So at last the weather is easing and we are entering
Spring. In actual fact I don’t think I’ve
been out in the Sirius more than once this year so far! To celebrate, my long time mate Chris and I
took a sea kayak weekend down in Ayrshire.
Day 1 was from Portencross Castle and
across/round the isles of Little & Great Cumbrae. A lovely coastline with some flat calm/sunshine
to help us along. Snow-capped Goat Fell on
Arran dominated the sky line whereas the nearer Isle of Bute was fairly low-key.
Chris was trying out his new stead ready for bigger trips so we just pottered
on.
Coffee stops at Deadman’s Bay (!)
and on the prom’ at Millport to chill out.
Almost no other boats out & about all day. Its a bit strange to paddle with both giant wind turbines and a nuclear generating station on the near shore though. Watched several porpoises ambling about (is "ambling" what a porpoise does?) and saw maybe a dozen seals - the porpoises didn't seem interested in coming across to play with our boats though.
We were too late to catch the Italian ice-cream house in Largs but a good evening meal followed and a bottle of wine saw us catch up on old times.
Day 2 was a bit more blustery but still just slight sea
conditions as we paddled across the Firth of Clyde to Loch Long and then Holy
Loch. Again lovely in the sun but
somewhat cooler as we got into shade;
the hills towards the Cobbler (to the north) kept disappearing in
showers. Bumped into a pair of open
canoes off Strone Head doing a fairly lengthy and challenging loop.
Had a lunch stop this time on the front at Dunoon before attempting the crossing of the ferry traffic back to the prom’ at Gourrock.
Tried a bit of surfing on the confused waves running up the Firth
Here’s to a good season of paddling and pedalling as I
approach the age of 60; and cheers to
old mates who still choose to come out for a splash.
S.
(Some photo credits to Chris Wade RCC)
