Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Ebb tide in the Lynn of Lorn


Although the sun was now shining on the Morven summits the Appin shore was still gripped by frost and shade. The Sgeir Bhuidhe lighthouse lies just offshore. It was built at the end of the 19th century but by 2001 was badly in need of replacement. The Northern Lighthouse Board were originally going to replace it with a standard rectangular structure but fortunately sense prevailed and the replacement was modelled on the old structure. The light has two flashes every seven seconds with white and red sectors. The original lantern is now on display in the village.


Jennifer and I ferry glided out into the ebb tide in the Lynn of Lorn. The 5km/hr current soon carried us away down the Lynn leaving the little Isle of Shuna far behind. Note that there is another Shuna 42km further SSW, to the east of Luing.


Alan and Tony were still in the shade as early morning mist hung over the wooded shores of Appin.


Then at last the sun cleared the hills and David and Phil were left blinking in its strong light. With a fair tide we were now off on our 37 km circumnavigation of Lismore.

27/12/2008

2 comments:

  1. Hi Douglas,
    What a coincidence, I saw this post when I got home after paddling in the same area on 29th Dec! I got to Miller's Port before the wind got up to around F5 straight out of Loch Etive, and I felt that the south tip of N. Lismore might be a bit hairy whilst solo. I explored the islands in the Lynn of Lorn then headed back up to Port Appin on the Lorn side. A notable paddle for seeing a total of 8 Otters, including two which swam under the boat to check me out! As soon as the sun went down, the temperature plummeted - it was minus 4 when I got off the water, 30 mins after sunset. I'll post a couple of photos on the UKRGB site. Very best wishes for Hogmanay to you and yours,

    Ian Johnston

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  2. Ian, Happy New Year! I am very sorry we missed you. We got off the weater 90 minutes after sunset. The islands in the Lynn of Lorn were really beautiful. We saw an otter in the middle of the Lynn. It was lying back in the water eating an eel!

    :o)

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