The SW coast of Gigha is a delight, offshore skerries and shallow waters with...
...a sandy and weed covered bottom create a marvellous environment to journey through.
Ian could not resist landing on a reef to get a little more height for getting photographs of the sea bed. Unfortunately there was still no sign of the sun which would have made his photographs zing!
As we paddled south, back towards our temporary base on Cara...
...there was just a hint in the west that the sun might break through but...
...the gap in the clouds was only fleeting. Then...
...low grey clouds gathered in as both kayakers and the fishermen on OB595 (Blue Angel from Tarbert) were making their respective ways home. The Gigha community windmills were rotating steadily in a chilling NW breeze. We were glad that yesterday's T shits had been replaced by thermals and dry suits. Once on shore we knew it was going to be a cold night unless we could find some more firewood.
After leaving Gigha we had one further delight. With the haunting calls of curlews, the pip, pip, pipping of oystercatchers and the raucous croaking of a couple of squabbling herons ringing in our ears, we had yet another chance to paddle through the skerries at the...
...
south end of Gigalum Island. I even managed to find...
...some decent bits of firewood within the rocky recesses of the skerries.
From Gigalum Island the white shell sand beach below our camp was now just a kilometer away across the Sound of Cara. We landed just before 6pm. We had only covered 30.4km since leaving that morning but the circumnavigation of Gigha had proved to be full of interest. Although we may not have had the sun, we had enjoyed light winds and only the slightest of swells. This meant we had been able to explore some nooks and crannies on the exposed west coast that would have been all but impossible at most times of the year, never mind in October when the West coast of Scotland is normally blasted by equinoctial gales sweeping in from the Atlantic. On landing again on the shore of Cara, we did not forget to greet the Brownie in the proper and appropriate manner. On Cara one must take nothing for granted...
