Sunday, January 21, 2018

In the wake of the dead: a sea kayaking pilgrimage to Oronsay and Colonsay via Jura.

For those who would like to follow the thread of this great trip to Oronsay and Colonsay via Jura from start to finish, I hope this index will be useful. We launched from Carsaig Bay NR735877. We paddled 136km over four days. On the outward trip we portaged the 2km over the Jura isthmus from Tarbert Bay in the east to Loch Tarbert in the west. We returned through the Corryvreckan.

Read Ian's trip summary here.

Day 1 Carsaig Bay, Argyll mainland to Glenbatrick Bay, Jura: 26km



Blog 1 Paddling and portaging in the wake of the dead.




Blog 2 Enchanted again by the remote west coast of Jura.





Day 2 Glenbatrick Bay, Jura to Kiloran Bay, Colonsay: 41km.







Blog 4 Landfall in an Oronsay midden.




Blog 5 Why sea kayakers should consider carrying a PLB, unless they are full sibling to an ostrich.




Blog 6 Our sea kayaking pilgrimage comes to a peaceful end in Oronsay Priory.















Day 3 Kiloran Bay, Colondsay to Shian Bay Jura: 30km.






























Day 4 Shian Bay, Jura to Carsaig Bay, Argyll mainland: 40km.

























Postscript

If you would prefer not to paddle the Corryvreckan in the conditions in this photo, you can time your traverse for slack water:

The west going flood begins +0430 HW Oban (-0100 HW Dover)  at 7 to 8 knots at springs and +0515 HW Oban (-0015 HW Dover) at neaps.

The east going ebb begins -0145 HW Oban (+0515 HW Dover) up to 8 knots at springs and -0100 HW Oban (+0600 HW Dover) at neaps.

The time changes by 6.5 minutes each day between springs and neaps. The constant between HW Dover and HW Oban does vary, so most accurate times are calculated by using HW Oban times (though not if you have calculated HW Oban indirectly from HW Dover!!).

Slack water lasts up to 30 minutes at neaps. At springs there is no real slack, there is always water moving about somewhere in the Corry. These times are pretty good as long as there is high pressure. Low pressure and wind can alter timing considerably.