Seakayakphoto.com trip index 2009

For those who would like to follow the thread of a single trip, I hope this index will be useful. Unfortunately the Google "search this blog" function is not working properly at the moment so the link may not recover all the relevent posts.

2009 running total distance: 890km

December:
The Cumbraes, Firth of Clyde, 27km
The Mull of Galloway tide race, at full belt! 21km

November:
Sannox synchronicity: Portencross to Brodick, Arran, 31km

Maidens to Ayr, 20km

October:
A trinity of tide races: circumnavigation of Scarba 38km

September:
Fleet bay Solway Firth, 3km
Islay, Oronsay, Colonsay, Jura, Islay 109km

August:
Seafield, Ayr, Firth of Clyde, 7km
Lady Isle, Troon Firth of Clyde 9km

June:
Ardnamurchan to Coll, Gunna and Tiree
Inner Hebrides
15/06/09 Coll to Ardnamurchan, 18km
14/06/09 Gunna to Rubha Sgor-innis, Coll, 34km
13/06/09 NW Coll to Scarinish, Tiree, 40km
12/06/09 Ardnamurchan to the Cairns of Coll, 28km

A Solway smugglers' Ccave
Fleet Bay
09/06/09 Solway Firth 9km

Full Moon at Rumblekirn
Fleet Bay
08/06/09 Solway Firth 14km

Sea shells and egg shells
Fleet Bay
01/06/09 am Solway Firth 10km

The great dun of Carrick
Fleet Bay
31/05/09 pm Solway Firth 19km

Three Pillars of Knockbrex
Fleet Bay
31/05/09 am Solway Firth 12km

Plumage and blossom on the Solway
Fleet Bay
30/05/09 Solway Firth 13km

Sea eagles and coral sands
Loch Eishort
23/05/09 Isle of Skye 19km

A big day!
Portuairk to Mull and return.
10/05/09 Ardnamurchan Point 42km.

Surf's up on Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast
Finnarts Bay to Lendalfoot
02/05/09 Firth of Clyde 21km

Arran Direct, Firth of Clyde
19/04/09 Kildonnan to Brodick 19km
18/04/09 Lendalfoot to Ailsa Craig then Pladda then Kildonnan, Arran 41km

Dumfries to Southerness in search of the Nith bore!
13/04/09 Solway Firth 25km

The Islands of Fleet
11/04/09 Solway Firth 12km

Fairlie to Little Cumbrae
04/04/09 Firth of Clyde 20km

The Islands of Fleet
02/04/09 Solway Firth 11km

Troon Ballast Bank to Lady Isle
01/04/09 Firth of Clyde 11km

From Portencross to Bute and Arran
21/03/09 Firth of Clyde 31km

"End of the Winter timetable!"
By ferry to Loch Ranza on Arran and return to Portavadie
19/03/09 Firth of Clyde 30km

The Carrick coast, Maidens to Ayr
15/03/09 Firth of Clyde 20km

The islands of Loch Leven
01/03/09 Firth of Lorn 11km

Port Appin to Loch Leven
28/02/09 Firth of Lorn 29km

"Any port in a storm on Great Cumbrae"
21/02/09 Firth of Clyde 19km

Bute from Seamill.
15/02/09 Firth of Clyde 23km

Surfing from Turnberry Point to Carrick Shore
08/01/09 Firth of Clyde 9km

The MacCormaig Islands from Carsaig Bay
02/01/09 The Sound of Jura 35km

The basking sharks of Coll and Tiree

Just back from a 120km trip out to Coll and Tiree.


We went fishing...


duh,duh,duh, duh, duh...


...but quite quickly we packed our rods away.


A Cetus is quite a long sea kayak...


...and it took some time...


for these little fellows to pass beneath us.

13/06/2009

14/06/2009

The Sound of Gunna

Eventually the suppoprt team carried me and my boat to the water and lifted me into the cockpit. The return leg was about to begin.
















The turquoise waters of the Sound of Gunna slipped away beneath our keels.
















As our shadows flitted over the sands below, we came upon...















...one white sand beach...














...after another.

14/06/2009

Hardened athletes brave Coll's rugged south coast.

Our late luncheon consisted of a full three course cooked dinner, taken in the sheltered recess of Ban Ghlac on Coll's south coast. It seemed sensible to lighten our laden craft and so we washed the lot down with some preprandial red wine and some postprandial Guinness.


My knee was very sore so Jennifer volunteered...


...to nip up the hill behind the beach to catch the view of the distant Treshnish Isles and Mull beyond.


The towering cumulonimbus clouds were giving Mull a thorough soaking, while we basked in the late afternoon sunshine.

14/06/2009

Paddling by the shifting sands of time on Coll

Leaving the Sound of Gunna, we entered the great sweep of Crossapol Bay at the SW end of Coll. The shifting dunes (white dunes) between here and neighbouring Feall Bay, to the north, have been designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).


This magnificent dune system is one of the largest in the Inner Hebrides and is maintained by a plentiful supply of beach sand and the high average wind speeds (nearby Tiree averages 18mph, the top end of force 4).


There are burial grounds at both the west end and the east end. The Maclean clan owned Coll from the early 15th century until 1856. This isolated burial enclosure, at the east end of the bay, was built in 1802 by Alexander MacLean, the 15th chieftan, for his wife and himself. The traditional burial ground of MacLean chieftains was at Killunaig Church on the north coast but Alexander feared that shifting sands would expose or bury the graves there.

14/06/2009

Sammy seal is found alive and well on Coll.

After our luncheon we paddled slowly up the SE coast of Coll.


There were many nooks and crannies among the skerries and islets.


We found Sammy seal resting among the barnacles and seaweed. He is a grey seal pup probably born last October so he has long since lost his white coat.


At each small headland our kayaks rose and fell with the easy heave of the ocean swell.

14/06/2009

The guiding light of Ardnamurchan as seen from Coll.

It was nearly 22:30 by the time we found a suitable breach in Coll's impregnable NE coast. A narrow gully led to a shell sand beach with level machair beyond. In conditions of a northerly swell it would have been a trap but the weather was forecast to be fair the following day.


As darkness was falling, we put our tents up on the perfectly level machair above the beach.


Unfortunately, any time we approached the boats, we heard the alarm calls and saw the fluttering flight of a pair of ringed plovers. Then we saw their tiny black and white chick, camouflaged on some dried black seaweed in a hollow in the white sand. We wondered about moving on but it was nearly dark, so we moved the kayaks away from the chick and took our cooking stuff over the rocky headland, well out of its way.


The sky to the north glowed red well after midnight, until the distant hills of Rum became confused with the outlines of the nearby Cairns of Coll.


We lit a small fire with the logs we had bought in the Tiree Co-op shop and were soon tucking into a supper of hot-dogs with mustard and rolls, courtesy of Jim. We felt replete. Despite all the paddling, we had still managed to squeeze an appropriate number of meals into what had been rather a long day.


A peaty Islay malt was the perfect companion to the warmth and smoke of the fire. As we chatted away, every 20 seconds, the steady double flash of Ardnamurchan lighthouse reminded us that tomorrow would be our last day. The lighthouse lay 15km away to the west and Ardnamurchan is the most westerly point in the British mainland. It felt very satisfying to have been able to explore these western isles of Coll, Gunna, and Tiree by this route.

14/06/2009

Basking sharks and castles of Loch Breachacha, Coll

At the mouth of Loch Breachacha two magnificent 6m basking sharks cruised past our stationary kayaks.


The water was full of plankton and after cruising past each of us in turn, the sharks resumed their feeding.


At the head of Loch Breachacha there are two castles. The new one on the left was built in 1750 as a more comfortable mansion house for the MacLean chieftain. In 1773 Boswell and Johnson were guests of young Coll while they were storm bound on the island for ten days. Boswell wrote in his diary "On our arrival here, we felt ourselves very comfortable".


The nearby original Breachacha Castle dates from the early 15th century and was the seat of the MacLeans of Coll. In 1590 their rivals, the MacLeans of Duart in Mull invaded Coll and a fierce battle ensued. The Coll MacLeans were victors and tossed the heads of the fallen Duarts into the nearby Allt nan Cean: Burn of the Heads!

Even in the 1950's it was still one of the best preserved tower house castles in Scotland. It was restored for use as a private house in 1965 by a descendant of the Coll MacLeans.

14/06/2009

Sunshine and shade in the lee of the capital of Coll

It was 8pm before we were on the water again and crossing the entrance to Loch Eatharna. Arinagour (pop~90), the tiny capital of Coll, lies on the west side of the loch but we had no time to explore it. We were now bound for the rugged NE coast of Coll which lies beyond.


There are few places to land on this coast. As the sun sank to the west we found ourselves alternately in sunshine and shade.


The sun still lit the summits of Meall nan Uan and Meall na h-Iolaire. The rugged grandeur of their slopes tumble sheer into the sea and belie their modest heights of only 73m and 79m.

14/06/2009

Gneiss cowries on Gunna

The following morning none of us were in a hurry to leave Gunna. We slowly gathered our things...


...and had a leisurely brunch on the sands of Gunna Sound. Of David there was no sign, all that Tiree water must have disagreed with his constitution.


Still in no hurry we wandered the strands collecting shells.


I spotted a perfect ledge in the ancient gneiss.


It was just the place to display Jennifer's collection of cowrie shells. I love the way the pink and white of the shells blended with the rock and sand.

14/06/2009

Upstanding seakayakers meet cormorant family in Port Dubh, Coll.

The SE coast of Coll has many inlets and it was a joy to explore them rather than go from headland to headland. We were still in sunshine while great anvil headed cumulonimbus clouds grew and towered over the distant mainland.


Some inlets were in dead ends but the light in Port Dubh was just wonderful and completely belied its Gaelic name which means "dark harbour".


If we hadn't explored this little inlet, we would not have found this cormorant family, sunning themselves in the late afternoon sun.


All this exploration meant that the hours had passed rather too quickly. It was now 19:10 hours and we decided to pull into the little inlet behind Gharbhaird (rough point) for a break. The ground support team carried the boats while I watched. We then prepared a small evening banquet which was washed down with more red wine and followed by some excellent mature Stilton cheese. In case anyone is concerned about our fitness to paddle, we were all considerably more upright and upstanding than the submarine telecommunications cable marker post on the Aird behind!

14/06/2009