Helensburgh CC

Expedition – Nairn to Peterhead

Friday June 26^th – Saturday 4^th July 2026

Participants: Steve Wheaton, Gordon Smith, Stuart McCartney, Paddy Muir

7^th Season of the Continuation Around Scotland from Helensburgh

Last season, we started at Nairn, headed north and finished at Wick. This year, the plan was to continue from Nairn with the aim of reaching Fraserburgh or Peterhead, possibly Aberdeen. If conditions allowed, we would begin the week by completing the Brough to Wick section missed last year. The conditions were unsuitable, so this will be completed later.

Friday 26^th June Helensburgh to Nairn

Paddy provided his trusty Mitsubishi Barbarian and Stuart his trailer. This again enabled us to use just one vehicle which would be retrieved by public transport from wherever the paddle finished. The scenic route via Loch Tay was taken with a refreshment stop at Newtonmore. Camp set up at Kinchylie Farm and into town for a curry.

Saturday 27^th Nairn to Burghead Bay.  F4 from west, 25km

Sandy beaches all the way today. Lunch on beach 5K west of Findhorn. Into Findhorn Harbour for ice creams. Camp set up above beach 5K SSW of Burghead. Though north facing this time of year gives both sunrise and set. The midge free sunset was a pleasure enjoyed for the whole trip.

Sunday 28th Burghead Bay to Spey Bay. F3/4 from west. 37km

Burghead Bay had picked up a bit of swell overnight so quite happy to pop into Burghead Harbour where we met with friends up from Helensburgh. Stopped at Clashach Cove for a break, the area east and west of this having many interesting caves to explore. Lunch on beach just east of Lossiemouth. A long paddle with few features followed around Spey Bay. Checked out the camp site by Spey Bay golf course but too far from the beach (and the bar was closed) so headed further along for a wild camp west of Port Gordon.

Monday 29^th Spey Bay to Boyne Bay. F/4 from west. 32km

Leisurely 0900 start with wind and even a little tide gave us fast run up the coast with interesting harbours at Buckie, Findochty and Portnockie. The coast rises up from Findochty with the surprise of Bow Fiddle Rock suddenly appearing after Portnockie. Cullen was the obvious choice for a café lunch and some of its famous soup. On round to Findlater Castle dramatically perched on a cliff. Sandend had been considered as a camp but the consensus was to keep onto the bright lights of Portsoy. Checked out the harbour and its sandy beach, yet despite a campsite (showers) and a pub, the team view was to again push on another few Km to just beyond Cowhythe Head in Boyne Bay and a secluded wild camp.    

Tuesday 30^th Boyne Bay  – Pennan Bay. F3 from west. 32km

0900 paddling with a fair wind from the west and a destination of Pennan Bay an achievable +30 Km away. Late morning into Banff harbour and chats with the harbourmaster and a local marine life enthusiast. Told that we had just missed some orcas that were moving in the opposite direction to us. Across Banff Bay and a brief look in the harbour then further round by the art deco open air pool. Lots of caves and interesting rock features along to Gardenstown before Troup Head which is one of the few features on this coast that we planned around a helping tide. The head is home to the only colony of gannets in Scotland and most of them seemed to be in. Found a nice wild camp just west of Pennan village. Spruced up and ready for a good dinner in the pub featured in Local Hero we ventured round the headland on foot to find Tuesday is closing day.

Wednesday 1^st July Pennan Bay to Fraserbrough F3/2 from west. 22km

Paddled in close to Pennan village seeing why it was chosen as an idyllic film setting. The coastline still very vertiginous with caves and stacks to explore through Aberdour Bay before starting to level out towards Rosehearty where we stopped for lunch. PM spent continuing round to Fraserbrough where we had plans to hole up for a day to see out a forecast of F7. Forewent the option of a wild camp on Fraserbrough Bay to use the private site just off the beach on the east side of town. Bit of a portage up from the beach but an ideal place for a couple of nights and a day ashore. Into town for our second curry on the trip.    

Thursday 2^nd Fraserbrough F7 from NW

As forecast the wind got going through the night and lifted the seas to white tops all around.

Breakfast in the town’s Wetherspoon’s. Paddy on a bus and train to retrieve the truck and trailer from Nairn then deliver it to Peterhead. We all enjoyed a wander around town and a visit to the excellent Maritime Museum, the first part of the guided tour taking us round the original lighthouse built within the castle walls.

With Paddy safely back curry number three was taken at our favourite curry house. Fraserbrough Bay still looked rough as we turned in.

Friday 3^rd Fraserbrough to Peterhead F3 from west. 35km

Early start to get boats down to the beach and out to the low tide. Rattray Head is known to have confused seas with a tide running so planned for slack water to enable us to get a good look round the lighthouse. Fast run across Fraserbrough Bay then a change of direction heading south with shelter from the land. Short stop at St Combs and on to Rattray following miles of sandy beaches in front of dunes. We managed to get close into the lighthouse which usually appears in the shipping forecast and is well worth a look. The St Fergus gas terminal dominates the coast beyond Rattray. With wind that has any easterly in it the beaches are well known for surf but not today so we were able to run ashore easily a couple of times for breaks.

Our final destination of Peterhead soon appeared. We camped at the town ground on the west side of the large harbour. Showers, refreshments and curry number four!     

Saturday 4^th Fraserbrough to Helensburgh

Drive back with breakfast on the way.

Again, we were delightfully surprised with the variety and interest of the coastline, parts of which matched anything we had seen further north and in the west. The weather had been kind other than for one day off the water which was fortunate as Fraserbrough is worth a visit. Like all previous sections of our Odyssey there were many other places it would have been good to tarry and explore. As we always say at the end of these yearly adventures, we will be back.

Nairn 27.6.26

West of Port Gordon 28.6.26

Bow Fiddle 29.6.26

Findlater Castle 29.6.26

Gannets West of Pennan 30.6.26

East of Pennan 1.7.26

Aberdour Bay 1.7.26

Fraserbrough 2.7.26

Rattray Lighthouse 3.7.26

Paddlers: Gordon, Simon, Alastair

Saturday: 24km, F2-3 SE

Sunday: 20.6km, F3-4 SW

We parked up at Resipole (by prior arrangement) and launched at the slip there. We crossed over to the southern shore of Loch Sunart to get some shelter from the wind and then crossed back again to the excellent lunch spot at Dun Ghallain. The top of the dun gives great views up and down Loch Sunart, even when overcast. We spotted an otter, lots of terns and a seal on our way over and watched a sea eagle being mobbed by gulls as we lunched.

After a rather choppy crossing to the west side of Carna , we had a sheltered paddle down to Doirlin to the shreiks of nesting cormarants and/or shags to investgate the tidal channel. It needed another hour or so of the rising tide to be passable so we paddled anti clockwise around Oronsay and easily got through as we completed the circumnavigation (bagging some points for Simon’s 1000 Island Challenge). We camped at the previously used large flat area on the west side of Caol Charna. The near shore was carpeted with an impressive display of sea pinks. An inattentive Gordon had to retrieve his partially erected tent from the sea after a gust of wind turned it into a very effective kite. A rather grey evening was brightened by watching otters in the channel.

On Sunday morning we paddled into Loch Taecuis for a nosey and back through Caol Charna, enjoing a following wind along the north shore of Loch Sunart, stopping again at Dun Ghallain for lunch and then back to Resipole.

HCC Trip Report

Newark Castle

May 10^th ,2026

Participants: Steve Wheaton, Paddy Muir, Geoff Riddington, Stephen Mckeown, John Young

F3 – 4 from NW

Lovely fast paddle with a following wind to Newark Castle. Lunch in the grounds. Paddle back along southern shore. Wind brisker than anticipated from which some respite was obtained by transiting the Great Harbour. Low tide required short portage at west end below the bridge. Continued by U Crane Bolt and Craner Swift before striking north for Rosneath Point. Gusty F4 from NW made for a choppy crossing that included some towing practice. Still blowy from Rosneath to Helensburgh Pier but paddling further off the wind and so a bit easier.  Of-course 2 hours after getting back the wind dropped and the estuary was flat calm!

Though good experience for a couple of paddlers that had not previously been out in windy conditions and a choppy sea, the alternative option of initially heading west to Kilcreggan / Loch Long would have been a better choice for the day.

Tuesday 12 May marked the resumption of our Tuesday evening open water sessions after the winter break.

We dont normally record these here but as we’ve been unable to use the pool over the winter, this seemed worth celebrating.

A description of the evening and some pictures can be found on one of our paddler’s blogs…

HCC Evening Paddle

Paddlers: Gordon, Steve, Iain, Mark, Simon, Finn, Paddy, Martin

Tom organised and joint RNLI/HCC exercise on the Clyde. From an HCC perspective, the main objective was to practice VHF comms, from an RNLI perspective the objective was to prioritise different issues as the scenario unfolded.

The scenario involved a party of 8 kayakers getting split into two groups by high winds. One group ended up on Ardmore Point, with one of the paddlers suffering a dislocated shoulder. The remaining kayakers radioed for help. Whilst the lifeboat was proceeding to deal with the Ardmore group, this group suffered a capsize and were unable to get the kayaker back in their boat and radioed for further help.

The lifeboat response to the scenarios was as hoped. HCC were impressed by the lifeboats response and the feedback from the RNLI was that HCC’s radio calls were effective. and they were impressed by the level of safety kit we carried. However, the following learning points were noted:

• There was no point in having a handheld VHF on low power – after first real transmission I switched to full power, otherwise I wasn’t heard
• I noticed that not all handsets received equally well – I heard some bits of messages via others VHFs, not my own
• I’m going to move my VHF to the right hand side of my BA – Im right handed and it was awkward to use with it on the left
• I was surprised at how often I forgot radio protocol, missing out ‘overs’, not getting call signs correct etc – it’s really good to practice
• Even in daylight, the LED flare was extremely effective for locating the group on Ardmore |Point.
• A suggestion for lifeboat crew: if pulling a kayak up onto the Rib, lift by bow so that it drains.

A big thanks to Tom for organising and a special mention for Paddy for going in the water and Finn for dislocating his shoulder. A full set of photos can be found here but some highlights are below:

December 14th, 2025

Participants: Steve Wheaton, Gordon Smith, Stuart McCartney, Martin Tidestrom

F4 from south

Another year nearly away so fast and the last club paddle this season. No storm alert this year just a yellow heavy rain warning for Argyle & Bute!

As usual once in our boats and paddling it all felt worthwhile. Hugging the western shore we headed south to Tarbet and a lunch stop in the little pavilion by the café. Gordon supplied the mince pies.

One & half hours down but with the wind in our favour, one hour back. A little bit of surfing was possible, with Martin’s new Tiderace much quicker on the waves than the other three more traditional boats.

Thank goodness this was in the calendar as left to our own devices it would have been a day to have spent indoors and yet, having made the effort so good to have been out on the loch.

Participants Steve Wheaton, Geoff Riddington, Edward Homson.

Wind SW F4 with strong gusts, 11Km

A dreich day saved by having a lovely venue with shelter from the wind when needed before putting us in position for the run back with a following wind .

Set out from Luss and headed south via a brief look in the river to Rossdhu Castle, then north east via Inchgalbraith and a second castle to a lunch stop on Inchtavannach. Lunch over and rain starting again we passed through the Straits and returned to luss.

Paddlers: Gordon, Geoff, Edward

Weather: F2 SW

Distance: 17.5km

Launched from the carpark at the North end of Croy Bay, realising with hindsight that we should have parked by the toilets and used the slipway rather than carrying the boats over the rock breakwater. Pleasant paddle SW passed Culzean Castle, Maidens and on to Turnberry point for lunch and then doubling back.

None of the forecast sun but lots of Cormarants, or were they Shags? (must learn to tell the difference).