(Basking) Shark!

One of the best coastal walks on Arran follows the shore from Sannox, around the Cock of Arran to Lochranza. Its about 15km of remote coastline, ancient villages, caves and wildlife. This week Iain and Joy joined me for the day to view wildlife and explore the coast. The picture below shows the remote Laggan Cottage, only accessible on foot, and the view north towards Kintyre.

As we walked along the shore, buzzards circled overhead, and gannets dived dramatically into the sea on our right. If we looked carefully out to sea we could make out the dancing shapes of manx shearwaters skimming across the whitecaps.

The highpoint of the day however was without doubt a basking shark, feeding on plankton in the sheltered waters close to the shore. These giants of the sea are harmless to humans, but sadly increasingly rare. At about 12 foot long this one was not large- they can grow to be 25 feet plus! If you are lucky enough to spot a basking shark you can record your sighting on the Marine Conservation Society website. Very little is known about these gentle giants and every reported sighting adds to the knowledge.

Finally, a gratuitous wildflower shot!  Grass of Parnassus is in bloom on the boggy coastlines of Arran at the moment, and is absolutely beautiful. You can see it right now on the Sannox to Lochranza walk, and also along the shore near Kings caves. It is a pale fleshy flower, with grey veins, about 2-3 cm in diameter.  The leaves are round and found near the base of a single stem.

A hard paddle

What does someone who walks for a living do on her day off? Well on Wednesday I gave the legs a rest and got in my sea kayak. Wally joined me on the water, and after a look at the weather forecast and the predicted wind direction (a breezy WSW apparently), we planned a paddle from Lamlash to North Sannox, which should have been a straightforward trip, of about 12 miles, with a following wind.....

It all started benignly enough.  Lamlash bay was looking glassy as we put in on the beach by the village green and we enjoyed a gentle paddle through the No Take Zone down towards Clauchlands Point.

As we turned North towards Brodick, the wind swung round to a Northerly too. We figured it was getting funneled round the hills of Dunn Fhionn and put our heads down for a steady paddle into the wind to Brodick Bay.

We paused to let the Caley Isles in, and finding the wind quite strong in the Bay hugged the shore until almost at the pier, and then set out across the bay surrounded by whitecaps. It was at this point I stopped taking photos- things got quite splashy and I'm not sure that my camera likes salt water much. It wasn't all bad though, we were surrounded by manx shearwaters who zipped backwards and forwards, skimming the waves with their narrow wings.

We were also treated to views of inquisitive grey seals, who followed our boats from Brodick to Corrie, but my fantasies about spotting basking sharks in glassy water were definately not going to come true.  The wind did not return to its friendly WSW position but kept blasting down the coast from the North. From Corrie onwards it became a matter of will power.  The road hugs the shore at this point and it would have been very easy to get out an hitch a lift up to North Sannox to fetch the van from where we had left it waiting.  Knowing that escape was always an option, we plugged on in to the wind.  The last half mile was really really hard work!

After dragging ourselves and our boats ashore, we went for a slap up meal in the Sannox Bay Hotel.  The staff did not seem to mind our disheveled appearance and politely ignored our appalling table manners as we devoured our dinner. Normally the portions are too large at this fab place to eat- not on this occasion though!

Afterwards I was pretty sore and tired.  I certainly need to work on my stamina in a boat as headwinds happen! However, it was all in all a good day- but definitely "type 2 fun" (fun afterwards).
View this trip in OS Explore.