Cumbrae Meet (2/3 Oct 2004)

Report by Helen Marsden

Thank you to the 7 people who took a chance with gale force weather, and battled major M6 traffic jams (4 accidents last Friday night) to arrive late on Friday night at Sandylands Holiday Park. What an experience that was - we got woken up very early on Saturday morning by a goods train thundering past the railway line, 10 feet from the tents!

Across the railway line we could see big waves out at sea, and lots of surf. After brave talk about going surfing, discussions centred around alternatives like paddling on Loch Lomond, site seeing, visiting friends, and even going home! In the end a couple went for the visiting friends' option and the rest of us drove along the coastline. The sea state looked a lot better, the Cumbraes providing a lot of shelter. After coffee and bacons baps in Largs, we decided not to put it off any longer, and set off form Fairlie in a south-westerly direction (just to see how strong the wind really was!). After 2 Km we turned tail and ran (surfed) down wind and waves back to Largs. Only 6Km, but a fairly exciting trip. After tea and cakes, we split off heading in various directions for home etc. A couple of us stayed on and drove up the coast towards Greenock. Having never been up there before, I was surprised how pleasant the area was, despite it being so close to Glasgow. On a spur of the moment decision, we took the car onto the ferry to Dunoon and drove over to the Loch Riddon area. On Sunday the gale force winds were even stronger, but we were able to have a very enjoyable paddle in the relatively sheltered waters of the east Kyles of Bute, through the Burnt Islands, around the north of the Isle of Bute and down the west Kyles of Bute. This is an interesting and very picturesque area. We left the area at 3pm and I was back in Cheshire by 10pm. So I have learnt that a good weekends paddling in this area is possible in a weekend. I am already planning my next trip - there is a lot more to explore in the Firth of Clyde!

Thanks to Pete & Louise, Tina & Brian, Jim, Glen and John for attending. I will run the Cumbraes trip again in Spring, when hopefully we might get more settled weather.
Helen (marsdeh@airproducts.com)