The Craic at Kames

 Having lifted our boats just far enough up the beach to allow luncheon and a frothing sports recovery drink, we adjourned to the bar of the Kames Hotel.  Recently decorated and very welcoming, the hotel bar has a fine view of the West Kyle and we struck up a conversation with a group of customers who'd observed our speedy crossing of the Kyle under sail.  Remarkably, Phil found that he knew some of the same people and so some lively craic ensued.

Our food order of two vegetarian burgers and two home-made beef burgers was fairly straightforward and before long we were sitting down to luncheon.  The hotel is well used to serving yachtsmen, kayakers and divers so a table of four in drysuits didn't even raise an eyebrow.

The folk we'd been chatting with disappeared temporarily, but soon returned with a treat......

....a musical treat.  All four were folk musicians and an impromtu session started as we finished our meal.  Other diners entering the bar were amused to see a band playing with an audience dressed in drysuits singing along!

Such a spontaneous "session" presented us with some difficulty.  It would be great to have another sports recovery drink and listen to the music for a while, but that's how afternoons can become messy!  We imbibe very sparingly when kayaking, and anyway our tidal rise versus carrying distance equations had been quite precise......regretfully we said our farewells and headed back down to the boats.

The combination of location, the welcome, the ambience, food and range of beers makes the Kames Hotel a great sea-kayaking establishment - we score it 12/10; if you're lucky enough to be in when there's a band staying the weekend, make that 13/10  !

Back on the water, we lost the strength of the wind once we crossed over to the northern shore of Bute, leaving just a gentle breeze to to carry the sound of music across from Kames.....