Navigational aids: #7 The luncheon beacon.

Leaving Burrow Head, we paddled past the rather grandly named...
...Isles of Burrow.
Eventually (and remember we were still quite without luncheon) we noticed a white beacon above the line of apparently unbroken rock. Jim was new to the south west but immediately understood its meaning. This was a luncheon beacon!
Through a gap in the rocks, we slipped into Isle of Whithorn harbour.
We landed

Less fond of basking sharks than otters.

We paddled down the Machars peninsula and across Monreith Bay. Phil's silhouette was ringed by the bright water of  Luce Bay.
Crazy drystone dykes marched across the Galloway hillsides and raised beaches. I have already mentioned that Port William was planned by Sir William Maxwell. One of his descendants, Gavin Maxwell, fisherman, turned naturalist, then author, was brought up in Elrig, just

Better days in the Sound of Kerrera

This was the view from the sea front at Oban. In the near distance the island of Kerrera shelters Oban from the open waters of the Firth of Lorn. In the distance, the mountains of Mull were topped by a snow covered Ben More, at  966m, the highest mountain in the Inner Hebrides.

 A front was rapidly crossing the sky from the SE...

 ...as we crossed Oban Bay to Kerrera.

Ahead a monument to David

It's behind you, on the Clyde

In Scotland the snow tends to arrive with the Pantomime season.  It was quite cold when Tony, Alan and I arrived at Largs marina on the Firth of Clyde. I didn't dare take the short road over the hills, I took the long way round by Kilmarnock, Irvine and Ardrossan. In the distance, the mountains of Arran rose above Great Cumbrae island.
  
 The "pencil" celebrates the Battle of Largs in 1263.

The Mountain Minstrel of Loch Fyne!

We stuck to the west shore of Loch Fyne and David whistled some wind up.The Flat Earth kayak sails strained to the wind and our ears also strained as......David burst into spontaneous song, which echoed round the hills!Near the settlement of Kenmore we came across a monument standing on the rocks that form the shore here.It is to commemorate local Gaelic poet, Evan McColl, who was born here at

Arrival in Oban

A rumble of engines coming down the Sound roused us from our reverie in the Tolkienesque landscape of Lorn. It was the MV Isle of Mull, en route from Oban to Scalasaig on Colonsay.We were soon back on the water and Jim B got some edging practice in......below the grounds of Gallanach House.It was not long before we were approaching the north end of the island of Kerrera.We then turned a corner