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 to see no signs of snow, but everything was sheathed in ice. Getting 3 boats on cars at Janice’s house was finger numbing and loading boats at Miller Street involved negotiating the barrier of green ice at the gate. Nobody fell and the group of 10 hardy souls met at Boden Boo to launch. Again, the path was a sheet of ice but we had plenty beach sand at hand to deal with that problem.
The water was calm, and we used the last hour of ebb tide to take us downstream past Bowling to the exposed sandbank on which Dumbuck Crannog is located. It is amazing that the timber from the Iron Age crannog still exist and with a bit of imagination you can picture what it must have been like as you survey the circular stumps and the line of a walk way across from another line that must have been a jetty. Not everyone was impressed, and the east wind had picked up significantly increasing the wind chill.
We decided that a quick look at the Lang Dyke would suffice before we headed back to see the wrecks in Bowling harbour. Although it was more sheltered there, we could not see any suitable picnic spot and instead went back to Boden Boo. Amanda had brought a flask of hearty soup which was just what we needed to restart circulation in our extremities. Flapjacks, made by Richard’s wife Betty, completed the meal.
I think we all agreed that cutting the trip short was the right decision as some hands and bodies were getting colder than others. We only covered 12.5 kms but there were so many interesting things to see, not to mention the flocks of wintering seabirds. We had no snow or rain and despite the ice and cold I think we were all pleased to have had some fresh air, exercise and jovial company.