Leaving Hough Bay, we paddled through the skerries that lie off the westernmost point of Tiree,
Rubha Chraiginis. The north going tide was still flowing through the channels against us.
We stopped for a rest in this little inlet on the sheltered south side of the point. Unfortunately the beach below the water was very steeply shelving with very slippy boulders. I half fell out of the kayak and it took both David and Phil to recover me. It was the worst wrench to my bad knee since the operation and it could have been serious if it was not for their speedy help. Thanks guys!
From the top of the rise behind the beach we could look back at the way we had come with the Cuillin of Skye in the distance.
21km away to the SSW we could just make out the Skerryvore lighthouse on the horizon.
We now set off in a southerly direction down Tiree's west coast. The NNE wind was cross off at "The Maze" as the surf dudes call
Traigh Thodhrasdail. The surf was about 4 feet so there were a lot of boardies emerging from their camper vans for what, for them, was an early morning surf (but we had been paddling for 2.5 hours! David and I whipped up our sails and we could see several dudes rubbing their eyes in disbelief!
It was great fun sailing and paddling along the beach, just beyond the surf zone. Judging by the stares, the surfers had clearly never seen a sea kayak with a sail!
All to soon we left the beautiful Maze beach and the surf dudes behind.
Great stuff Douglas. Hope the knee holds up. Tiree is now on my list to paddle. Have you came across any Basking Sharks over there.
ReplyDeleteThank you David. My knee is OK, it's actually solid as a rock after the operation. It just gets sore. I was lucky to get a lot of help from David and Phil on our Tiree trip.
ReplyDeleteWe did not see baskers this time but they came right up to us in 2009!
:o)