OUT AND ABOUT WITH RALPH: Freswick Castle trip is an annual paddle for Pentland Canoe Club
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The Freswick Castle paddle has become a Pentland Canoe Club annual event. By kind permission of the castle owner, Murray Watts, every year we have a kayak trip followed by tea and cake in the castle.
The first such outing was organised a dozen years ago. A small number of us paddled from John O’Groats round Duncansby Head and on south below the cliffs to Freswick.
Conditions are rarely suitable for such a trip, there was a neap tide and light winds with slack water at Duncansby, allowing plenty of time to explore the huge caves and geos. All four passages and tunnels at Wifie Geo could be traversed, as well as the caves at Skirza Head, before heading across the bay to the castle.
Major renovations were just beginning. There was, then, a small downstairs kitchen where I’d left the refreshments and food for the afternoon. I’d been warned that the plumber might turn off the water, so had brought bottles.
What was not anticipated was to find the kitchen half-demolished on arrival from our paddle! I managed to retrieve the food from under a thick layer of dust and we retreated to the lounge to plug in the kettle and enjoy our cake, accompanied by the crashes and bangs of falling plaster and masonry as the demolitions continued.
We should really have been wearing our kayaking helmets as we left…
Mostly we have paddled out and back to the castle, either up to the Duncansby Stacks or down to Auckengill. Only one year was it too windy for the sea, we instead walked out along the John O'Groats Trail to Bucholie Castle.
The Covid years saw two small socially-distanced groups, with cans or bottled soft-drinks and wrapped food consumed at a breezy picnic table in the garden. On a another occasion we made the effort to shuttle cars to John O’Groats so as to enjoy a one-way trip, but it was getting decidedly rough as we approached Duncansby.
Leading a group in such conditions was beyond my level of competence but we had a very experienced paddler with us who considered he could safely guide us round the head through the big swells. The tide was still flowing gently north, if anyone capsized the plan was to tow them into the safety of the big Duncansby Geo before getting them back in their boat. In such capable hands we all made it safely to Groats, if outside my comfort zone!
This year the tides and weather indicated a round trip to Auckengill. It’s a long and awkward portage down to the sea at Freswick, but by late morning eleven of us were paddling out across the bay below the castle, the group including folk from Orkney, Tongue and even New Zealand!
There’s a little natural arch at the Ness Head, seen as a hole in the cliffs from the castle, it’s a tight turn on choppy water to paddle through and only a few of us attempted it. The next highlight is Bucholie Castle, there are two tunnels under the headland which can be paddled except at low tide, with sheltered bays where you can look up to the old building.
Small headlands amplify an easterly swell and some care is needed in looking out for waves which might break unexpectedly. Further on are some fine natural arches and narrow passages below sea-stacks, with calm "car-parks" to gather the group and escape the rolling swell which was at its biggest round the next small headland.
Auckengill harbour is well hidden, the entrance between slabby rocks only appears as you get close. It’s a lovely spot to haul out with comfortable rock slabs for sitting and a sandy beach for sunbathing. A flight of steps leads down from the low clifftop, it’s a place worth visiting even if you never paddle. Common blue butterflies fluttered as the sun came out.
Most of us kept well out from the breaking waves on the return trip, but some took a more challenging path between rocks close to the cliffs, one paddler found herself unexpectedly washed onto the slabs as a wave broke. For a well-equipped and experienced group this was just a minor incident soon sorted, while the rest of us, keeping in contact by radio, waited in sheltered water under Bucholie Castle.
Back at Freswick came the hard work of ferrying the boats up to the cars. Murray had lit the fires in the main hall and lounge, and we all enjoyed our soft drinks, cake and tea while sitting round the cosy fire. Which of course is why we had all come!
