Arran Sea Kayak Day 1 - South Corrie Harbour to Lochranza - 11/4/2009

My birthday gift to Brian was a day long sea kayak trip in Arran, a coastal journey from Corrie harbour on the east coast to Lochranza, organised by the Arran Adventure Company. It seemed a fitting gift for Brian's 17th annual 28th birthday. More details soon.

Our evening view for the three nights we stayed on Arran.

How does this thing work?

Instructor Calum reviewed the basics ahead of our exit from Corrie's harbour.

The northern edge of Sannox village is the point where the island's road disappears into the hills, with most of the journey still ahead of us.

Brian spent the first few minutes of lunchtime wringing out the consequences of trying to stand up before his legs were ready for him to do so.

One of my favourite photos from the journey. Brian approaches the Fallen Rocks on Arran's east coast.

Rounding the north coast of Arran, the chop picked up a bit as the wind starting kicking us around a little more, hints of what was to follow. This was the last photo I took before the landing at Lochranza.

The water doesn't give a particularly accurate perspective on the conditions, but the dark clouds do. It was hard work paddling into the wind to finish the journey. The entrance to Lochranza was majestic but I didn't want to risk getting blown off course to take any photos.

The landing beside Lochranza Castle was most welcome after the last mile or more into the wind.

Arran Sea Kayak Day 2 - Brodick Bay to Corrie and the Holy Isle - 12/4/2009

Our second day of sea kayaking was split between two trips. In the morning, we paddled from Brodick Bay to Corrie, effectively completing the northeast coast of Arran. In the afternoon, we paddled out to within 1/4 mile of the Holy Isle before the timing said we needed to turn back. More soon.

Our second day started with a paddle from Brodick Bay to Corrie.

On the left side, in roughly the middle of the choppy water, you can see a seal looking very strangely at me, probably wondering how I could catch any fish with the 15ft plastic fin attached to my bum.

Broken Brian. He set the footpegs a little too tightly on day 2 and was feeling it by the end of the first trip.

Lunchtime

The paddle to the Holy Isle was our last sea kayak adventure of the weekend.

If you squint and imagine two black specks roughly centre in the photo above the hill, those are the eagles that nest behind the Arran Distillery in Lochranza.

Blair Drummond Safari Park - 4/4/2009

Skeptical of the weather to do what it was told, we expected the rain and wind of the week to continue into the weekend. Brian had asked a number of times if I wanted to go to Blair Drummond Safari Park. I don't like zoos -- too much like animal jail -- so he thought perhaps the safari park would feel like people jail (cars) rolling through the animals' territory. It was a bit of both. Most animals seemed pretty chilled out in their homes away from home, but perhaps could have used a bit more roaming space.

The lions were particularly energetic that afternoon.

The penguins were quite pleased to be preening in the rain.

Monkey see. Monkey do.

Brian managed to get the ostrich(y thing -- we didn't read the sign) to eat from his hand. It nipped at anyone who reached through its fence but ate the animal food from his hand if he waited for it to stick its head through the fence to eat.

Alpacas are sloppy eaters, though not nearly as sloppy as the horses that ran to us as soon as they thought there would be food in it for them.

The birds of prey were impressive. This sea eagle was a bit like Brian, didn't like the rain, and refused to do much more than fly from one of its people to the other.

Giraffes always look unconvinced to me.

The lionesses were a bit more energetic than the lions. Note the two toned lump of brown beneath the playground. I guess the walk across to it was too energetic for him.

The energetic lions were too fast for my video to capture. (Hint: to hear the boys grumping at each other, turn up volume to full.)

River Teith Open Canoe Coaching Practice - 14/3/2009

Trip details coming soon...

Charlie's friend Colin needed some practice coaching ahead of his level 3 coaching assessment so between Charlie and me, we rounded up some guinea pigs.

Stuart and Scott were the first to practice ferry gliding.

Brian and Emily got a few good practices at ferry gliding.

Lunchtime looked almost like summer.

Reverse ferry glides were an interesting challenge.

Scott's budget roof rack was relatively quick to assemble.

Success!

Ratho Aerial Assault and Climbing Taster - 15/3/2009

It was all Brian’s fault. Well, technically Brian’s mum and sister’s fault, but by virtue of being the youngest and most culpable member of his immediate family, all blame reverts to him. Brian’s birthday or Christmas gift was a climbing taster session combined with aerial assault at Ratho climbing centre. Unfortunately the gift was for both of us. I was looking forward to the climbing, not so keen on the aerial assault.

The end result was pretty much as expected. Loved the climbing, hated the aerial assault. Scot, Em, Jon, Fiona and Lisa joined us for the aerial assault. Unfortunately, Fiona and Lisa were a bit late, so they had to go with the next group instead of ours. Scott didn’t tell Em what they were doing until they arrived. Not sure I would be pleased with Brian for doing that to me.

Ratho climbing centre is on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It was built into an old rock quarry, giving both height and structure to the centre, though all of the climbing walls are synthetic. The aerial assault course is laid into the roof so the start feels like throwing oneself off a 5 storey building.

Bearer of all blame Brian went first, followed by Scott, Jon, me and finally Em. My efforts to escape failed.

The zip across wasn’t bad. I wasn’t too happy when I arrived but I was still ok enough. Em arrived soon after me and was probably about the same state. Scott and Jon both seemed fine. I could tell looking at Brian in the distance that he was some combination of unhappy and enjoying the thrill of scaring himself. His hands clung to obstacles with purpose, even though the harnesses gave plenty of opportunity for laziness.

The first few obstacles were ok. I did fine as long as I had something underfoot. When I came to the one that required awkward scrambling across a series of weird vertical logs, I froze. The harness’ ability to support me didn’t matter. Mind over matter. My mind said it wasn’t going. Eventually, one of the minders on the course came over to first see if she could talk me across the obstacle and then she offered to drag me across it. I ended up doing the rest of the course essentially sitting in the harness and dragging myself across each obstacle. The course minder never strayed far and when necessary, she gave me a few extra yanks along. I was grateful when it was all over.

Climbing was much more interesting. Our instructor had no intention of instructing. His objective was to throw us at as many different things as possible to give us a sample of what climbing is like. Once harnessed and shoed, he took us to one of the positive pitch walls. Since it was Sunday, It was us versus the little people on the easy walls. The positive pitch wall was pretty easy and there were lots of different holds. I made it about 2/3 of the way to the top and the height issue kicked in. Brian’s turn. He seemed to do the same. I wasn’t sure if he got stuck with the holds or the height issue kicked in, but I assumed the latter. His hands were really tired. He had forcibly climbed every obstacle in the aerial assault with the Grip of Death... and I don’t think he ever fell from an obstacle.

I got a bit higher on attempt 2 and then Brian slowly but surely worked his way to the top. In the meantime, a little person caught up with him and eventually passed him, which may have taken a bit away from the glorious victory photo of the top. The next wall was completely vertical but still plenty of handholds. The difference between it and the previous wall was the amount of effort required to climb. The holds were supporting more body weight so each step or reach had to be with purpose. The vertical wall was also a lot shorter than the positive pitch wall, which made me happy. And like that wall, it was again us versus the little people.

I went first. The climb felt much more like a puzzle with each move needing to be on its own but having options for subsequent moves. I got stuck twice but each time was able to reposition to make a follow-up move. Within a few minutes of starting, I was at the top and reasonably tired from the effort it took to get there.

Brian attempted the vertical wall but got only a few moves in before having to bail. His arms were completely wasted from the aerial assault.

Our last stop was the bouldering area. The instructor guy gave us a quick tutorial of how to move vertically and horizontally on the boulders and also how to fall off them safely and sorta gracefully. I got a few moves up and fell. Brian got maybe a move up and then fell. His arms were too dysfunctional. I tried again, same thing. Then the guy told me to go horizontally. I got about a metre along the boulder but then reached a puzzle of where to put what feet in what order to keep going. Splat. The guy suggested an approach and I tried again. Splat. And so ended our Ratho climbing taster. I definitely want to go back for more climbing.

As ultimate bearer of all responsibility/blame for the day, Brian got to go first.

I wasn't convinced.

Em launches into the aerial assault with to join the rest of us.

Everybody else said I would get used to it, but I never really did appreciate being up that high. Ratho's aerial assault wasn't nearly as interesting as Go Ape.

The guys running the aerial assault had some fun with the camera while we were out.

Fiona and Lisa tackle the aerial assault course.

Fiona didn't seem to mind the heights so much. She waved to Brian.

I liked climbing a lot better than the aerial assault.

Brian made it to the top of the positive pitch wall.

I made it to the top of this vertical wall. It was a bit shorter than the other one but a much more demanding climb.

Bouldering was good fun, though my arms could have done without the aerial assault.

Fraser spent the afternoon teaching Amy and Bram to lead climb.