A team of intrepid local canoeists recently tapped into the Scottish Canoe Association organised ‘Big Paddle Clean Up 2023’ and after identifying a local area of inaccessible coastline, best accessed from the sea, put a shout-out to the Kirkcudbright Canoe Club for volunteers to help do some beach cleaning.
Ken Scott from Kirkcudbright Told DGWGO “A number of paddlers met at Brighouse Bay on Sunday morning and were joined by a few club members, who had agreed to walk in along the arduous coastal path. Rebecca had identified Ringdoo and Borness Bays and a late decision to tow Ebby’s canoe as a barge proved to be a good decision.
Our group collected a large amount of marine plastic waste and could easily have doubled the amount collected if time and carrying capacity allowed.
The conditions were perfect for towing the loaded canoe back to Brighouse Bay, however as always, safety came first and the canoe was connected to my deck tow, with a quick release set up. Peter took up the front of the double tow and Ebby kept ‘eyes on’ the canoe, ready to shout a release warning, were it required.
The rest of the team kept the towing team motivated with chat, or were scouting for clear channel shortcuts, or were flitting around taking photographs.
Our walkers spotted us on the way back and later commented that it looked as if we were towing a tank. We all regrouped back on the beach and a relay was set up, getting our own kayaks back to the car park, before manhandling the individual bags of rubbish up the beach and one final gargantuan effort, saw the barge, sorry, canoe back on my car roof.
Rebecca had arranged for D&G Council to collect the rubbish this coming week and had agreed the collection point in the car park.
This was one of those hot days where a chill out paddle would have been lovely, or even sitting in the shade enjoying a cold drink back at home, but I can’t stop thinking that if Rebecca hadn’t put today together, all of that plastic would still be on the shore, gradually breaking down and poisoning our ecosystem with micro plastics.
Thanks Rebecca for organising this and the rest of the team, including Jonah, who I can’t tag in, for their fantastic efforts !”
#BigPaddleCleanup
