Google Maps view of our route

We took the kayaks for a trip around Barlocco Island. Heading out from Kirkandrews bay we paddled westwards along the coast, past the end of Barlocco for a look at the old bathing house and beach then headed round the corner into Knockbrex bay with the stone pillars marking the entrance to the small harbour at Knockbrex. We then took to the more open waters round the west side of the island where the swell was quite big and navigated the gap between the island and the offshore rocks at its south end. The tide was creating quite a strong current to the north. The dogleg in our return route was where we stopped paddling for a chocolate break and the tide carried us up towards the shore.

The kayaks arrived at Craig Cottage on the first weekend in July. They came down from Brookbank in Perth on Rolf’s roof rack. The kayaks are the Ocean Kayak ‘Frenzy’, a fairly basic sit-on-top model, which should be good for pottering around the coast and friendly enough for visitors to use.

Luckily we had high tides and calm seas in the middle of the day so were able to get out for a couple of paddling sessions over the weekend. On the first attempt we stayed within the confines of Kirkandrews Bay but on the second session we ventured out southwards round Meggerland Point to Rumblekirn to see the natural arch.  The tide was very high at around 8 metres so the arch was almost under water. We’re looking forward to some more extended trips along the coast through the summer.