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Monday, June 11, 2007

The tide last went out 10,000 years ago on the raised beaches of Jura.


These patches of vegetation have taken 10,000 years, since the end of the last Ice Age, to grow to this size.


Tony and I are just back from an amazing weekend sea kayaking round the north of Jura. We paddled 86 kilometers.


The crossing of the Sound of Jura was disturbed only by a flight of razorbills.


The trip also involved a 2 km portage from the Sound of Jura to West Loch Tarbert. It involved 37 metres of ascent over a very rough track. Only one of the three different trolleys survived....


If you click on this photo, you will get the full size panorama. This amazing beach is backed by a freshwater loch and the wave worn cobbles look as if they have just dried in the sun and are waiting for the tide to return. As the Scottish ice sheet melted, the lack of its great weight allowed the land to gradually rise, leaving a series of raised beaches.

3 comments:

  1. Quite astonishing.

    Mark R

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  2. Awesome Douglas!

    You mention "Only one of the three different trolleys survived...."

    For someone about to buy a trolley, could you expand on what survived and what didn’t?

    Thanks

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  3. Mark, this was not even the biggest raised beach! See later post.

    Anonymous the three trollies were the Eckla, Karitec, and Kayak Carrier Systems.

    All have given good service on and off jetties and ferries. However, this was a real test. The Eckla trolley broke where one of the aluminium tubes that supports the axle is drilled to retain a bolt. It was not repairable and we went back for the boat with the KCS trolley.

    The Karitec trolley has no axle so it folds very neatly. It has short stub axles which attach to two plates. These plates splayed apart under the weight of the lightest boat and the wheels were running at 45 degrees to vertical making it very difficult to pull. It just made it across after some repairs with rope.

    The KCS has the biggest wheels and a decent axle. It does not fold as small as the others but I kept it in a Karitec deck bag on deck. It completed one and a half crossings completly unscathed.

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