New Years Day lunch

Ken and Sarah T passing Hawkcraig Point

Up until the last few years, I always thought New years day was a bit of a wasted day. Everyone seemed to mope around a bit like zombies, nobody really got going until the 2nd. We now make a point of getting up early (well, not too early) to go out for a paddle, it's sometimes on the loch, other times it's been the river. This year we had decided to have lunch on Inchcolm island. Ken and I met up with Sarah T at the Silver sands carpark in Aberdour. There were a couple of other sea paddlers from Tayside there already. We had a quick natter with them then got our kit ready. We set off in nice calm conditions which pleased Sarah T as her only previous sea trip had been with another club in choppier conditions which hadn't given her much confidence.

Braefoot

 We headed out from Aberdour, past Hawkcraig Point to Braefoot Bay, out to Haystacks island then round to the back of Inchcolm. There was a distinct lack of seals on this trip, we're usually followed by them most of the time, but so far we had only spotted two duff ones, one a log, the other a grotty buoy, Niall you would have enjoyed Sarah T and myself thinking we were  going insane.  Coming round the back of the island we did spot our only seal of the day and it was a real one.

Still nice and flat

We landed on the beach and huddled in behind the wall. The wind was now picking up and was bitterly cold. Ken had a quick clamber to the top of the island and found a tunnel which seemed to run from one side to the other.

We headed out of the bay again and round past Car Craig. The water was getting a wee bit choppy by now, but a good blether back across took Sarah T's mind off it. We soon came back into Silver Sands where most of the population of Aberdour had now come out of hibernation.

It's great getting out for a bit of a paddle, it means I can go home, eat chocolate and watch a film without feeling guilty.



Me, thinking of my choccy!



Our picnic spot