False impressions at Blackwaterfoot.

Back on the water, we set off on the third day of our circumnavigation of Arran. We caught our first glimpse of Ailsa Craig as we rounded Drumadoon Point. Mist was curling off the Craig's summit, giving the impression that it was still an active volcano.

The point was also a turning point as far as our sailing was concerned. We set off for Blackwaterfoot on a beam reach and were to continue

Danger on the Solway

From the quayside of Kirkcudbright we took the ebb tide back down the River Dee to Kirkcudbright Bay.

We passed the Gallovidian III which is the Range Boat for the Dundrennan firing range sea danger area that extends for 24x33km along the Solway coast to the SE of Kirkcudbright. Telephone contacts for the range are: 0141 224 8501 (Range Officer) or 0141 224 8502 (Guard House).

The channel was

The quest for a haddock of gargantuan proportions.

Entering Kirkcudbright (kir-coo-bri) Bay, the landscape changed dramatically, the cliffs gave way to gentle wooded shores.

We stopped for a break at a little beach with a view to the far side of the bay and the distant Lake District hills in England beyond.

We now had a stiff paddle against an increasing ebb tide.

As we approached the town we came across a long marina pontoon. The tide was

Clyde built: tough ships, tough people.

From Dumbarton we set off on the final leg of our Clyde paddle to Port Glasgow in a snow storm. At times the snow was falling so heavily that there was near zero visibility and we lost sight of the channel markers, even though they were only 600m apart. We were rather anxious not to be run over by a ship in the night, so we navigated by keeping to the north of the channel markers, then crossed

Bowling down the Clyde in the Comet's wake.

From Erskine we crossed to the north bank of the Clyde yet again. In the mid distance, Dumbarton Rock stood out darkly against the snowy mountains of Argyll beyond.

We were bound for Bowling at the entrance to the Forth and Clyde canal. The canal opened in 1790. We had to keep a high ferry angle as the ebb tide was fair bowling us along.

There are two sea lock gates but this one is no longer

Life and death on the Clyde.

From the former Yarrow's shipyard at Scotstoun we paddled to Renfrew on the south bank. This is one of the oldest ferry points on the Clyde. Higher up the river we had already encountered the old chain driven "Renfrew", which served the route as a vehicle ferry from  1952 until 1984. Vehicle traffic had steadily fallen since the construction of the Clyde tunnel upstream in 1963/64 and the Erskine

Duncan takes a final curtsy on the Clyde.

Back on the south side of the river Clyde, we passed Shieldhall and came to the King George the Fifth dock. Estuary control had already warned us that the coaster MV Boisterous was making her way up river to the KGV dock but she was already moored by the time we arrived. We had already seen her making her way up the Clyde when we left shuttle cars at Port Glasgow.

MV Boisterous is a 59m x 9m

A tale of two Clyde Titans; one is still standing.

Downstream of the River Kelvin the south bank of the Clyde is dominated by the cranes of the Govan shipyard. The north bank is crowded by modern high rise flats that tower above Meadowside Quay. They have replaced the four huge brick built grain elevators that were built here from 1914 to 1968 to store grain imported from the American prairies.

The shipyard at Govan was originally Fairfield's

Forward paddling, through the years, on the Clyde.

Beneath the Glasgow Tower, we came across the paddle steamer Waverley tied up for the winter.

She was built in 1947 at the A & J Inglis yard on the Clyde. We crunched through the ice...

...to take a closer look at her. She is the last sea going paddle steamer in the World and was built for the run from Craigendorran Pier down to the Clyde ports. Her summer season now extends round the UK's

The Clyde, a river of change.

From the Kingston Bridge we continued down the River Clyde towards the Clyde Arc bridge. It was completed in 2006 by Halcrow. It is a tied bowstring arch of steel box section, which supports a precast reinforced concrete deck. From this view, the Glasgow Tower (beyond the bridge) looked like an arrow set for launch from the Arc's bow!

The Arc crosses the Clyde at an angle and is therefore, quite

Famous for not being able to walk in a straight line.

Below the King George the Fifth bridge, the north side of the Clyde is bounded by Broomielaw quay. This was the main Glasgow terminal for passenger ships and it was from here that the World's first commercial paddle steam ship started in 1812. In later years generations of Glaswegians took their holidays "doon the water" by taking a steamer from the Broomielaw to the Clyde resorts. Now it is the

All Greatness Stands Firm in The Storm.

Downstream of the suspension bridge we approached the Glasgow Bridge (or Jamaica Bridge because it is at the bottom of Jamaica Street). It was built in 1899 by Blyth and Westland.

It replaced an earlier bridge built by by Thomas Telford in 1833 and is of similar design but some 20 feet wider. The Telford bridge replaced an earlier bridge built in 1772.
 
There were unexpected arches through the

Sea kayaking the River Clyde: Glasgow Green to the Merchant City.

On our voyage down the tidal River Clyde by sea kayak from Glasgow Green, the first bridge we came to was the riveted wrought iron Albert Bridge, built in 1871 by Bell and Millar. Through the arches, the next one downstream is the City Union Railway Bridge built in 1899.

Just downstream of the Albert Bridge, the Glasgow College of Nautical Studies is appropriately situated right on the south

Sea kayaking from a dear green place.

The following kayak posts are about sea kayaking from Glasgow Green, in the heart of the City of Glasgow, down the tidal River Clyde to Port Glasgow at the head of the Firth of Clyde.

This morning we met at the Newark Castle car park in the upper Firth of Clyde. We then ran a shuttle on the M8 motorway into the heart of Glasgow, the "dear green place".

We were bound for Glasgow Green, the

Gently flows the Doon.

Our first port of call was the River Doon.

It was high tide so we were able to paddle right up to the tidal weir...

...and give the kayaks a quick rinse...

...before heading back downstream. Since the 1930's the Doon has lost a third of its flow, which is pumped through the hills of its watershed into the catchment of the River Dee. This river flows into the Solway through a series of dams

Luncheon on a gravel bed in the River Lochy.

The sea lock of the Caledonian Canal opens to Loch Linnhe beside Corpach pier.

For a little while, the canal follows the shore and we paddled below some fishing boats.

We now crossed the head of loch Linnhe towards...

... Fort William. Unfortunately we turned left instead of right.

The first warning of our mistake was that the kayaks' seam lines were closer to the water, and talking of water,

High water in Kilfinan Bay.

Many people think that there are no sandy beaches in Loch Fyne. They are wrong, you just can't see them from the roads! Twelve kilometers after leaving Portavadie, we came to the beautiful, broad sweep of Kilfinan Bay.The Kilfinnan Burn empties into the bay and as it was near high water, we decided......to nip upstream where the burn meandered through the sand dune system that backs the