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Sunday 14 September 2014

Skye, Tay dolphins, Abroath

Finally another blog entry after a summer with much sea kayaking, hill running, cycling but less climbing. During the 19-20th of July Karin organised a trip to Skye, paddling to the Black Cuillin on the first day and then around Soay, a small island to the South of Skye, on the second day. The starting point is this stunning beach in Elgol.
 I had brought my fishing gear and BBQ as we were grilling in the evening. Soon I had two mackerel and a large pollack. Here are Karin and Gordon on their way...
 We transported our kayaks to paddle in Loch Coruisk, a loch which I had seen several years earlier whilst doing the Black Cuillin traverse. 
 On our return the tide was out and so we had to do a sliding return into the water.
 The evening was wet but I BBQ'd the mackerel and pollack together with lemon, salt & garlic. A very hungry school party ate the rest in no time. The next morning we paddled over to Soay and around it...
 ... to have lunch on the other side. 
 A week or two later we had planned an easy paddle on the Tay but the dolphins were out. So we tried to get close.
 Here is one of them, less than a kilometre away from our front door in Broughty Ferry. 
 In August Paul and I went to Arbroath for a kayak fishing trip. Paul had also bought a creel in order to catch some lobster. We managed to launch and position the creel without any incident although it was a bit of a precarious affair. 
 Clouds came and went but we only had a few drops of rain. Here is Paul paddling near Auchmithie...
 ... and here we are leaving Auchmithie bay. We soon caught a few mackerel for dinner. 
 On our way back we collected the creel and despite 0.5% expectation there was a lobster in there. Here is Paul paddling home with his prey. 
What a great country to live in for active people. I hope we chose the right future for this great nation in a few days time...
HW

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