Thank you Mark. I saw the gannet photo in my mind the last time I was at the summit but there were no gannets that high. This time a gannet was soaring in circles but it was at the wrong angle to the Mull of Kintyre. I had actually given up waiting for it at the summit and had walked a bit towards the north end of the ridge when all of a sudden the gannet reappeared and snap!
Day 4.
On the 4th day we rose with the sun at dawn. My Mum had been admitted to hospital the previous night with a serious illness and I was anxious to get going. Tony and I had originally planned to pick up Tony's shuttle car at Croy on the Ayrshire coast north of Turnberry Point but I decided to return just as far as Girvan and Phil would shuttle me back to the ferry terminal at Ardrossan where I had left my car as half of the shuttle.
One advantage of our early start was it gave time to do another circumnavigation. We set off with the rising sun on our backs round the south foghorn.
We entered the shade round Stranny Point then...
...paddled below the gannets and great granite cliffs again before...
...entering the sunlight again at the Eagle's Seat.
The wind suddenly increased as we approached the lighthouse so we stopped to put our cags on.
As the wind increased, sea fog rolled in round the Craig behind us and...
...then it obliterated the Ayrshire coast ahead.
Once we left the immediate vicinity of the cliffs the wind steadied and...
... sails were unleashed.
We had great paddle sailing until...
...the wind dropped.
20 kilometres after we set off we landed on Girvan beach. The local coastguard and a couple of fishermen watched us from the pier. As we were unloading one of them asked.
"Are you the guys that have canoed over from Ailsa Craig?"
"Actually no...we set of from Campbeltown..."
Tony and I had paddled 97km from Campbelltown via the east coast of Kintyre, west and south coasts of Arran and Ailsa Craig but now it was time to say goodbye. While Tony paddled on to Croy, Phil kindly ran me back to Ardrossan and I managed to get to the hospital my Mum was in 10 minutes before visiting.
We really had a fantastic trip. Unfortunately David, Ian, Jim and Phil could not get away in time for the Sunday Campbeltown ferry but it was good that Phil made it out to Ailsa Craig for the last night. I really recommend the Ardrossan Campbeltown ferry to anyone visiting the Firth of Clyde or the
west coast of Kintyre like our trip last year.
Douglas
