2026-01-17 Sailing club and return via Clynder
Training paddle out in the Taran. Started off looking pretty miserable but turned out to be a really nice enjoyable paddle. Out and about in Gare loch Fab! 6.5 nm 1 hour 36 minutes GPS track...
2026-01-13 Loch Lomond Island Bagging
During the Loch Lomond Helensburgh Canoe Club trip on 27th December, we bumped into another kayaker, Phil Smith, who had driven to Scotland, all the way from Portsmouth. Phil was desperately trying to bag the Loch Lomond Islands to rack up as many points for the 2025 "Performance Sea Kayak 1000 Island challenge". Coming...
2025-12-27 Loch Lomond with HCC
A nice between Christmas and New Year paddle with Helensburgh Canoe Club - Gordon, Steve and Stuart. Not only was it my first trip with the club, it was my first time on Loch Lomond and my first trip on fresh water in my NDK Romany Surf. We paddled across to Balmaha for coffee,...
2025-12-22 A new boat “IRN-BRU” – a NDK Romany Surf
First trip out in my new boat “Irn-Bru”. A Romany Surf with an orange deck and blue trim, as per the IRN-BRU colours. I have to say I am quite pleased with it. Especially seeing as I have never paddled one of these boats before, even before buying it! Thankfully, and as expected it’s...
2023-09-16 A Windy Maiden
Having left the Mull of Kintyre behind us, we ended up just north of Oban, near the airport. The weather was not looking great, with stronger winds and heavier rain forecast well into next week. If I was going to get a final Scottish paddle in, this holiday, I had to make the most...
2023-09-15 Mackerel for tea! Carradale, Mull of Kintyre
Friday, 15th September was a wet, wet day. Having been to Campbeltown in the morning to buy some whisky, I decided to go for a quick paddle out into Carradale Bay to see if I could catch some Mackerel for tea. Earlier that morning, before setting off to Campbeltown, I had been walking the...
2023-09-14 Carradale, Mull of Kintyre – Windy!
Having left Arran via the Lochranza ferry, we headed down the single track road on the Mull of Kintyre to Carradale. The first night we were there there was an almighty storm, but the following morning the winds eased and I was able to get out in my boat. It was still fairly windy,...
2023-09-12 Arran – Lamlash Bay – A quick fish and pootle (downwind fun)
For todays paddle in Lamlash bay, having made sure I was well outside the "No Take" zone, I had a little fish for some mackerel. My rig is very simple, a weight, with four lures on a hand spool of about 40 meters of mono filament line. On my first cast, I let the...
2023-09-10 A trip around Holy Island (Arran)
The $100 Million super yacht Sea Eagle II was visiting the beautiful island of Arran. I had a paddle out to her in Lamlash Bay before circumnavigating Holy Island. Lamlash Bay, Arran and Holy Island are stuningly beautiful. I will be going back. My boat is better than yours! Distance: 6.4 nm Time: 1...
2023-09-08 The Sugar Boat wreck off Helensburgh
The Sugar Boat, or correctly named MV Captayannis was anchored off Greenock at the Tail of the Bank waiting to unload a cargo of raw sugar from East Africa for processing at the Tate and Lyle refinery when, on the night of 27th January 1974, a fierce gale caused her to drag her anchor....
2023-06-Mull
A Mull non-circumnavigation. The Si's trip to Mull to circumnavigate Mull by sea kayak, cut short by appalling weather and other unlikely events. After a long spell of fine weather, you may ask why were we going now? Well it's all to do with holidays of one "Si", the OT and the OTM, read...
2023-05-05 Helensburgh Sugar Boat in very windy conditions
Friday Lunchtime: I had some time to kill before setting off for home from Dunbartonshire. With it being a public holiday weekend for King Charles Coronation, I didn't see much point setting off at lunchtime, only to hit the holiday traffic below Preston, Manchester and Stoke on the M6. Setting off much later, say...
2022-08-26 A Gloomy Trip around Seil Island
Due to lots of non kayaking family related issues (its been a bit of a year!), this was going to be my first trip on the sea since the Isle of Wight circumnavigation in July! Despite hitting my local stretch of canal hard, you really cannot beat a good sea trip for upping the...
2018-10-12 to 2018-10-19 Homes and British National Championships, Thurso
Having bought a Surf Kayak earlier in the year, I decided rather rashly to enter the British Surf Kayak Championships. Besides it was going to be held in Northern Scotland, Thurso, just a stones throw from John O'Groats. I had heard about the world class surf waves often found on the North Coast of...
2011-09-23/24 WWPF Cop Out – My First Sea Kayak Experience
The 2011 Wet West Paddle Fest (WWPF) was a bit of a turning point for me. Whilst I was happy paddling the Etive and other rivers in Scotland, the River Moriston had been playing on my mind for some time. This was due to all of the epic's I had experienced on this river...
