North Berwick harbour for an after eight arrangement and not the chocolate type.
Tim had had the inspired idea of making the most of the Summer Solstice’s minimum time between sunset and sunrise to combine some dusk and dawn paddling with food and … sleep deprivation. Two prior dates had coincided with bad weather but third time lucky this past Friday (16/08/22) and weather turned out better than forecast. Cloudiness was replaced with clear skies and later a starry night … only subdued by the bright Moon rising.
Whilst others finished their day or evening’s ventures from the water, we were packing up to head out with a tiny amount of fluttering in the flag – so nice to set off without the recent energy sapping winds. We were Tim, Chris, Shishir and Graeme – why just four though on such an outing?
Setting off we headed first to Lamb with sunset coinciding with the passage round the north side and the channel there. Then it was off to Fidra with the light and its flashing a handy point of navigation – are these things not typically used to warn seafarers away? Our own lighting was switched on at Fidra’s north side before we paddled the last short stretch to Eyebroughy where an expanse of sand awaited. Yes, it was low tide… and soon arms were stretching as we carried boats up to the high tide line.
Tim soon had the BBQ on and a fire pit was going in the beach below … two fires despite the the realisation that… nobody had any matches! Chris headed for a dip and her 100 strokes. By half midnight food was cooked and eaten to the point of bursting, a beer enjoyed – my own appropriately Midnight Sun and then the wait for our scheduled pre-sunrise launch of 4am. Shishir had brought a bivvy bag / tent and headed to the dunes, Chris crashed out beside the fire and tried to drown out the singing seals with snoring and Tim and I tried to see it through but whiplash was nearly had trying to fight off the inevitable. So an alarm was set for 30 mins to avoid missing the critical launch and any possible loss of boats through falling asleep on watch duty!
The Sun’s path had been discernible throughout with a faint glow working its short way East from where it had set. The Moon rose behind and made the stars (and Jupiter) struggle to come out en masse, but still an impressive sky and Mercury was rising in the sky and within drysuits as we stirred and prepared to set off.
We hugged the shore towards North Berwick with the sun rising behind Craigleith and it soon become a blinding target for a good bit of the morning as we continued on to Bass Rock – always an impressive place but sad to see with obvious signs of empty ledges and dead birds on many of the lower ones. Some exciting clapotis on the West side but soon past that as we rounded the full rock (clockwise). Winds had picked up, unexpectedly, by the time we reached the SE corner so we opted to hit Canty Bay for breakfast rather than Seacliff to have an easier return.
Lovely sunny morning for breakfast and, for me, a swim and the new challenge of 100 strokes by 7:30.
Hugging the shore again there was shelter from the wind and interest in the rocks on our return to North Berwick about 12 hours after leaving.
Personally, I really enjoyed this trip – night paddling is brilliant anyway – so much more to sense by ear and eye than during the day, but I have always enjoyed paddling first thing so combining both was a treat.
This after sunset / before sunrise trip didn’t quite have the romance of Ethan Hawke, and Julie Delpy’s night time outings but definitely my best paddle in a while and I hope will become a feature of the club’s calendar in years ahead. Thanks again Tim!