At around 6am on Thursday the 12th of May, three adventurers set off to paddle the full 150km of the Argyll Sea Kayak Trail which spans the coastline of Argyll and Bute.
The route has been accomplished in its entirety by a number of paddlers to date, however the group accomplished a double first, in completing the trail on SUPs, (Stand Up Paddle-boards) and Dean Dunbar being the first registered blind paddler to complete the trail.
The team was made up of Ian Cormack from Glasgow, who runs SUP Ecosse, Allistair Swinsco from Carlisle who runs Northwest Paddleboards, and registered blind paddler Dean Dunbar from Blairgowrie who is an inspirational public speaker.
The team are all highly experienced paddlers, and hoped to complete the 150km paddle in around four days depending on weather conditions. The group of three started the trail from Ganavan (Oban) on the 12th of May, and arrived in Helensburgh on the afternoon of Sunday the 15th of May.
The challenge was originally thrown down by Oban SUPer(Stand up Paddle Boarder), Cathy Winterton. She was planning to be part of the team, but unfortunately due to family commitments had to pull out.
Dean Dunbar said “I was first told about this route last year, and since then I’ve been waiting to get started. I’d like to thank Argyll and Bute Council who have been of great support during the planning of this trip”.
As well as the water team, there was two support vehicles on land throughout the trip, being driven by Rhona Dunbar, (and Stumpy the dog), and Alison Rennie.