As Brian sped round the entire coastline of Bute, George and I opted for a less adventurous outing and launched from Ettrick Bay to paddle both the West and East Kyles.
Brian's intention was to set a record time for the circumnavigation of the Island as nothing seems to be officially recorded to date. He was aiming to complete the 57 km loop in just over 6 hours.
We sailed over from Wemyss Bay on the Saturday night and made camp for an early start on the Sunday morning.
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| A fantastic little spot to enjoy the last of the evening sun and get a couple of hours sleep before our trip the following morning. |
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| The Argyle, our transport over to Rothesay Bay. |
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| No wild camp is complete without the warming glow of a fire. |
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| A fantastic evening as the sun set over the Cowal peninsula. The hills stood out with such stark contrast against the evening colours filling the sky. |
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| Ready for the off. Brian sets off down the East Kyle just before 5.00am. I was tempted to go back to bed at this point and nurse my hangover... |
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| |Instead George and I made for a launch at Ettrick Bay. The ridges of Arran visible in the distance. |
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| George taking in the vista with the beautiful town of Tighnabruaich visible on the far shore. |
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| Rhododendrons adorn the hillside above Rubha Ban. |
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I spent most of the trip paddling in the shallows along the shoreline. The crystal clear waters allowing a fantastic view of the seabed and it's vast array of weeds and sea life.
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| Bird life a plenty all round the Island. This fellow had just downed a small fish as I took my camera out of the hatch. We saw Otters as we left Ettrick Bay as well but they managed to evade the camera lens. |
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| Digging deep as he rounds the last corner, almost on the home straight. |
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| Brian passed George and I just inside the Burnt Islands which can be seen in the background. |
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| The final stretch. Heading into the sun and a headwind at the top end of F3, down the East Kyle to complete the loop. |
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| The track log from Brian's GPS. A nice line round the Island taking in the full 57 km. A total time of 6 hours and 14 minutes which is not bad going for a Sunday Morning. |
So a great little trip and hopefully a new record time for the circumnavigation of the Island. I'm sure we'll be back for another visit. Probably as soon as someone beats Brian's time and he has to go back for another attempt... :)
