Holy Loch and Loch Long Wednesday 31/5/17

Paddlers: Geoff and Lee

Weather: Quite dull at first but brightening to a glorious afternoon. Wind southerly F3

Route: Holy LOch

Report: We parked at the car park on the green just before Cove itself. It is not very easy to get down and launch but easy parking and loading/unloading compensates. The basic objective was to explore Holy Loch more closely than possible from Helensburgh. When we started it was dull and the breeze from the south made the Loch Long crossing feel long. Tied up at Blairmore was a large catamaran picking up two coachloads of tourists. We carried on round Strone point  and up the Loch looking for somewhere good to land. Sadly, like Loch Long north it is not the most wonderful coast for kayakers. We then turned and headed for the marina at Sandbank. This proved a good choice; 3 small Cal-Mac ferries were anchored up plus a large timber carrier was loading. The marina itself was not particularly attractive but has an excellent recommended coffee shop just above the main slip.

After a prolonged break in the warm sun we pushed on past Hunter’s Quay and Kirn, lunching on a beach just north of Dunoon centre.

Lunch Stop
Lunch Stop

Another prolonged sun bathe followed. We then paddled straight back across the Loch/Firth junction, marvelling at the beauty all around us and the absolute peace than can come with sea kayaking.009

010

We got back around 4pm having covered around 20km in a leisurely 6 hours. Another wonderful day.