Sunday 8 March 2009

Blustery weather on the Forth

Ken had arranged a paddle for five of us today. I looked out of the window in the morning to find horizontal snow, then settled back into bed after texting Ken to inform him of the fact. Much to my horror I got a message back to say we were still going.
The rendezvous was at Silver Sands at Aberdour, reached by driving through a blizzard. A car was left at we set of to the put in at North Queensferry harbour.



At this point the weather brightened, and the wind dropped for a while. Bizarrely there was a ticker tape welcome to the bridges as lumps of snow blew off the cables and towers. Luckily none were big enough to hurt too much.



We rounded the point towards Inverkeithing Bay in sheltered water, then headed downstream towards Inchcolm. Here the wind picked up to a good force 6. The following sea made for an exhilarating and quick ride down to the picnic spot on the beach at the Abbey. This was Sandy's first sea trip, and the feeling of getting airbourne over the waves made it a memorable one! Our picnic was repeatedly interrupted by Ken's great white whale of a kayak blowing out to sea. Oddly enough, it was Sarah and I who kept jumping in to to get it.



The return to Aberdour needed a big ferry glide against the wind. Some lumpy seas again made this hard work, and it was a bit of a relief when the point came to turn and simply blow downwind past Hawkcraig Point. Soon after arrival the sleet arrived again, and we were lucky to have caught the best of the day. XC Weather made it Force 6 all day at Turnhouse, and force 7 at Dundee.

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