As you will know, Covid-19 has put paid to plans for a relay row around the coast of Scotland to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Scottish Coastal Rowing. However, the organisers are not downhearted, and a digital RowAround is under way.
You can follow progress on the website linked above – there’s a map that shows the sections completed, and clicking on them takes you to a collection of words and photos celebrating that section.
The first section, Annan to Bowness, includes a beautiful story about a mermaid read by the RowAround storyteller, Jan Bee Brown. There’s also a history of the Bell Raid, and some lovely notes from the Annan ladies, including this one:
The first time I tried rowing was in the ‘Pride of Annan’ on Castle Loch at Lochmaben. I was in the bow doing quite well, following the stroke, listening to the cox when a swan came into land on the water on the port side; I was transfixed. I completely lost timing and ‘caught a crab’ ending up like a sheep on its back with my legs in the air. Thankfully nobody had a camera so my embarrassment was not recorded for posterity. — Christine M.