Tuesday, January 02, 2018

Between a rock and a hard place on the wild west cost of Colonsay.

We set off from Oronsay up the west coast of Colonsay with Ben More on Mull away to the north.

On our previous visit in 2010 there had been a bit of a swell running and we had to keep well out beyond the skerries.

This time it was a joy to wend our way through rocky channels and past white sand beaches. Sometimes we had to reverse out of blind channels which was all part of the fun.

A week of NE winds had flattened the Atlantic swell.

Soon we were passing beneath the rocky ramparts of Dun Ghallain on the summit of which an Iron Age hill fort once stood.

Beyond Dun Ghallain we left the last of the sandy bays behind...

..and entered a more committing part of the coastline.

Far beyond these rocky reefs...

...to the west, Labrador was the next landfall.

To the east the coastline of Colonsay had become an unbroken and unyielding wall of rock. We still had a long way to go.

Read Ian's account here.

2 comments:

  1. A rocky coastline. Curious looking at your online map to see three separate bodies of water called Loch Fada- I presume because they occasionally flood into one long loch after heavy rain or winter storms?

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    1. Hi Bob, yes Loch Fada (long loch) is very interesting. I suspect it was originally one loch but has been separated into three by drainage works which helped make the sheltered valley suitable for the establishment of the Kioloran settlement. Even on the 1:10,000 map there is no surface outflow shown from the western loch, presumably it just oozes through bog!! :o)?

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