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Caithness – The gift that keeps on giving.

24/07/202624/07/2026 By Amanda GrantNo Comments

DCKC NE Coast Trip Report 26-29 June 2026 - Caithness - the gift that keeps on giving. Amanda G.At last, a trip to NE coast of Scotland coincided with good weather and a big thumbs up for 3 days paddling in an area famous for caves, sea stacks and seabirds. All was completely new to me. I have driven upon the A9 en-route to JoG, Shetland & Orkney and cycled parts of it on trips to the flow country and beyond, but never paddled there....

2nd Saturday Paddle 11th July ’26

24/07/202624/07/2026 By Amanda GrantNo Comments

2nd Saturday Paddle 11th July 2026 - Balloch to Inchmurrin, Inchcaillach for lunch. Then south to shore near Portnellan farm and back to Balloch. Leigh E. Lead by Sandy - Paddlers: Hannah, Mags, Siubhan, James, Zoe, Leigh. Originally planned as a jaunt from Helensburgh on to Kilcreggan and as far as we could get up Loch Long - the winds changed Sandy's plans and so the paddle was moved to Loch Lomond. Beaufort 3 westerly winds, with stronger gusts and the odd white horse appearing. Grey skies and about 20 deg C. We set off from the River Leven, up the eastern shore of Loch Lomond, crossing to Inchmurrin. The wind and waves made for an entertaining choppy paddle, keeping everyone alert - and me smiling. We had a brief stop at the north-eastern tip of Inchmurrin for a break and a nibble of food. The women chatted about relief zips - the conclusion was reached - 'men have it easy'. Zoe explained we were on...

All Awayday to Loch Ard. Tuesday 30/6/26

22/07/202622/07/2026 By Amanda GrantNo Comments

DCKC All Awayday to Loch Ard. Tuesday 30/6/26 James H. Amanda was the trip organiser matching people who needed a kayak transported with those that had space on their vehicle but with constantly changing communications on people going or not going. - now understand why trip organisers ask for a week’s notice from people going on trips. The great certainty of the day was rain with the uncertainty being how heavy and when. I had rain on my drive up from Glasgow but as I unloaded my car the cloud over the Loch went from completely overcast to broken. By the time the boats were on the edge of the loch surrounding landscape was mirrored on a completely flat wind-free loch. Picture-perfect Scotland! Rain started not long after we were on the water and stopped within minutes and that was the last rain until I was in my car on the way home. Amanda did the briefing outlining the route going anticlockwise round the edge...

Gigha Circumnavigation 1/5/26

22/07/202622/07/2026 By Amanda GrantNo Comments

Trip Report Gigha Circumnavigation - 1st May 2026 Matthew M. N-going stream begins -04:30 Oban /S-going stream begins -0155 Oban /Sp rate 1.5kn. Clyde Cruising Club Sailing Directions Part 2. The trip leader was Celia and we arranged to meet at the Tayinloan ferry car park for midday. The boats and gear were carried across the car park and onto the beach where after a briefing the group set out to cross the sound at slack tide making for Ardminish Bay. I love the feeling of settling into a loaded boat and starting an adventure. The crossing was fun, and we made good time across the water, arriving in the bay an hour later in bright sunshine with a following wind. Some of the group set out to explore the village, shop and Achamore House gardens. Sir James Horlick (of the nighttime beverage) bought Gigha in 1944. The island was subsequently...

Puffin Paddle July 2026

Puffin Paddle July 2026

21/07/202621/07/2026 By Pat SmithNo Comments

DCKC trip leader Celia with Richard Bott, Matthew Merrick, Pat Smith paddling together with Fife Kayak Club. and all of us lead by Alan Hunter Distance 22km Conditions: swell 0.5m, wind F3 NE, tidal flow 0.5kn max Isle of May lies 8km off shore from Crail and conditions have to be near perfect to allow a landing at the harbour on SE of the island. It was touch and go in the lead up but Celia pulled off a great paddle in association with Fife Kayak Club. Led by Alan Hunter (Fife), a team of 9 of us set off from Crail into a steady F3 cross wind and made good time before reaching the lee of the island. It was a delight to be paddling near enough the cliffs, among puffins, guillemots and razorbills and a few circling gulls. As we rounded the South East end of the island the sea was more choppy and despite some swell and breaking waves...

Boden Boo to Lang Dyke 10/1/26

30/01/202621/07/2026 By Amanda Grant Comment Closed

Leading a Second Saturday paddle with DCKC is made more testing if the forecasters don’t agree with each other and all keep changing their minds about what we should expect on the day. The club paddle on 10th January was a case in point. Living in Perthshire we had had temperatures of minus 8c, snow, rain, fog and rain turning to black ice in the week preceding the event but the forecast for Erskine on BBC and XC was consistently “fine” with temperatures hovering just above zero. So, on the Thursday before, Ronnie and I decided to let our trip from Boden Boo car park to Dumbarton go ahead. By Friday night ten of us had packed ready for an early start, the days being short, but then the forecast changed to snow, freezing temperatures and fog with light winds. Being keen to get out onto the water, we decided to go ahead. On Saturday morning we awoke in the dark...

Mingulay, Barra Head and the Uists, 14-24 August 2025

Mingulay, Barra Head and the Uists, 14-24 August 2025

19/10/202519/10/2025 By James Fraser Comment Closed

Words and Images By Paul Gardner A trip to Mingulay has been on the DCKC calendar for several years, but weather has always resulted in cancellation, or moving the trip to less exposed locations. However, this time it worked: a forecast for settled weather, at least for long enough to make it worthwhile getting the ferry across to Castlebay on Barra. On day 1, nine people made the ferry journey in three cars and a van, arriving in Castlebay in the afternoon, with plenty daylight left to drive to Vatersay, pack up and paddle a few km to a beach campsite on the south coast. Far enough to make sure you packed properly and didn’t forget anything, and near enough for one person to walk back to the car to collect their trousers. On day 2, we followed the chain of now-uninhabited islands south: Sandray, Pabbay and at last Mingulay, landing on a perfect beach. We were greeted by the NTS warden Ben,...

2nd Saturday Paddle; 10th May 2025 – Paul Meiklejohn

22/09/202522/09/2025 By Amanda Grant Comment Closed

Inchmurrin The trip was arranged and led by Janice with the assistance of Amanda and Richard; joined by Paul, Dearbhla, Agnes, Peter, Marek, Noelle, Susie and Mairi. Originally planned as a trip from Helensburgh to Kilcreggan, the team of leaders made the call on the Friday evening to relocate to Loch Lomond due to the forecast Force 4 to 6 winds that would be beyond conditions suited to our group. As a new paddler this was a perfect opportunity to develop my experience, which consisted of a few weeks in the pool and a single Tuesday evening session at the Loch. We set of from Drumkinnon Bay at Balloch in the glorious sunshine, heading along the west coast of Loch Lomond towards the island of Inchmurrin. We all understood that a southerly wind would be picking up later on, at which point we could make our return to base. On the way to the island we had a short unscheduled stop on the beach...

Gigha Long Weekend May 2025 – Rob Plant

Gigha Long Weekend May 2025 – Rob Plant

22/09/202522/09/2025 By Amanda Grant Comment Closed

Celia planned another kayaking trip around Gigha for the long May bank holiday weekend. (Ed. Is this to become an annual feature in the cub calendar?) We met at Tayinloan Pier at 10am, but due to high winds, we had to wait for the ferry, as the crossing was too exposed for a direct paddle. So we boarded the ferry with trolleys attached to our kayaks. Thanks to Andrew for bringing a wide selection of trolleys for everyone to use. Once we arrived on Gigha, we portaged to the beach and launched, heading south toward our intended camping spot on Cara Island. It was only a short trip, but the wind and swell were pushing us from behind, making for a brisk paddle. Upon landing on the beach, we discovered that Mark’s boat had been taking on water through the skeg box, and all of his Lomo dry bags had failed. We worked together to dry out as much gear as possible. Thankfully, the...

The Craic’n: January 2025

26/01/202526/01/2025 By graham Comment Closed

The Craic'n: January 2025 Editor’s Welcome Belated Happy New Year to you all and welcome to the first Craic'n of the year. 2025 has already given us plenty of un-paddleable weather, first the snow then the wind, with all four seasons in between. Included in this edition is a summary of a few weather apps for kayaking and other water sports to help us decide where and when to go out on the water. It is good to know that a good-sized group of hardy souls braved the cold and made the most of the window between the two weather events for the January’s Second Saturday Paddle. This time it was to Inchcailloch for the postponed Mince-Pie Paddle. - Were there even any pies left over from Christmas festivities for the event 🤣 But a good opportunity for trying out some of Santa’s gifts. Not a mince pie in sight! The committee are still working on trips and events for the coming year, these will include night...

Kilcreggan Trip Report – Dearbhla Mulligan

28/12/202428/12/2024 By Amanda Grant Comment Closed

On the second Saturday in December, 7 of us met at Kilcreggan pier for what was to be a very successful day of paddling. After a 6am start and a dark stop off at Balloch we were spoiled with a gorgeous sunrise on the beach. While loading our boats, there was lots of trepidatious chat about cold fingers and toes. I was told by those who’d been on the Bonfire paddle two days earlier that neoprene gloves were not the answer, and Misha pointed me to an article in last month's Craic’n about keeping hands toasty on the water. We set off with two objectives in mind: firstly, to see as many of the nice houses along the shore as we could; and secondly, to try and spot the police boat keeping an eye on us as we approached Coulport. With Amanda and Ewen taking turns at the front, we were not disappointed. Shouts of “seal” from Ryan alerted us to...

4 Star (Rough Water) Group Trip Report to Skye – Ronnie’s First Weekend Trip With DCKC

4 Star (Rough Water) Group Trip Report to Skye – Ronnie’s First Weekend Trip With DCKC

08/12/202408/12/2024 By Misha Comment Closed

Friday 15th November to Sunday 17th November ‘24 By Ronnie G. On a personal point of note when Misha posted a thread on the DCKC Whatsapp group a couple of months ago about looking for people who wanted to improve their paddling skills and experience on rough water in a safe environment I was very tempted as this is an area I’m very keen to improve. I would have to admit to feeling a bit apprehensive about whether my current kayaking skills were at a suitable level to join this group or not. When I discussed this proposed new group with Misha he explained that a group was set up by Alan Rollo a number of years ago offering the opportunity for peer group paddlers to practice and develop their skills in challenging conditions but in low consequence venues and that he was looking to restart / re-energise this initiative again. Misha explained to me this was likely to be pretty challenging...

Awesome Shetland Adventure

Awesome Shetland Adventure

06/10/202407/10/2024 By Celia Gray Comment Closed

Awesome Shetland Adventure August 2024 8 adventurers, Graham, Bev, Leigh, Danny, Geoff, Gianni Pat and I set off from Aberdeen on the overnight ferry to Shetland on Thursday 22 August. Northlink Ferries delivered, the grub is good, we all enjoyed a hearty dinner, apart from Gianni who was enjoying lots of fresh air and keeping a close eye on the horizon for the obvious reason! We set sail for Shetland as Graham and Bev dotted the I’s and crossed the t’s on what can only be described as very intricate trip planning for our Awesome Adventure, there was undoubtedly a great deal of work done by them both in advance of the trip, all of which made for an amazing adventure, thanks to both for all the homework it paid off! As the evening came to a close along with the bar! we settled into our sleeping quarters a range of pods, cinema and the restaurant floor, us DCKC members are...

Epic Summer Expedition to Orkney – Margaret’s Tale

04/07/202328/06/2023 By graham Comment Closed

Graham, Misha, Pat, Joe, Bev, Danny, Geoff, Leigh, Cam, Richard, Liz, Margaret The trip lived up to its name, a truly epic kayak to the cold and windy northern isles of Orkney whileGlasgow basked in the sun. Several days were 30k, most capsized at some point testing their rollingability or the team’s rescue skills from dodgy rocks and headlands, and day 1 winds were Force 5,gusting 6! Had I realized beforehand….!!?On Friday 26 May, nine of the group gathered at Thurso campsite. Plan A was going ahead, plans B(Shetland), C (other) had been cancelled. We were glad of Pat’s organizational skills with campsitespaces booked and just what we needed, a pattern that was to continue for the rest of the trip. https://dckc.smugmug.com/DCKC-2023/Orkney/i-NRM7PhZ/A Sat 27 th It was a windy, rough crossing from Scrabster to Stromness on the large Northlink ferry. Surely wewon’t be kayaking today was my thought. Little did I know. In Stromness we went to look at thesea, westerly, force 5, gusting...

DCKC Big Weekend Away: Tayvallich

DCKC Big Weekend Away: Tayvallich

01/07/202321/06/2023 By Pat Smith Comment Closed

We had 2 glorious days paddling based in the campsite at Tayvallich. We formed two groups, our group comprised Alan, Bev, Janice, Joe, Paul and me, Pat. On Day 1 we set off from Carsaig Bay for a 33km paddle south to MacCormaig Isles and back up Loch Sween to Tayvallich. It was a beautiful sunny blue sky day. We were protected from the F4 gusting 5 westerly wind on the leg south and enjoyed some tidal assistance all the way to EIlean Mhor, near the entrance to Loch Sween. We were able to get ashore at the end of a long north-facing inlet. The views were fantastic with great visibility. A conservation group had been working on the island and built a bothy displaying information for visitors as well as restoring part of the ancient chapel. We found the original cave used by monks (anchorites) who were seeking a hermit’s life for purposes of spiritual advancement - and maybe even...