Sammy seal is found alive and well on Coll.

After our luncheon we paddled slowly up the SE coast of Coll.


There were many nooks and crannies among the skerries and islets.


We found Sammy seal resting among the barnacles and seaweed. He is a grey seal pup probably born last October so he has long since lost his white coat.


At each small headland our kayaks rose and fell with the easy heave of the ocean swell.

14/06/2009

Hardened athletes brave Coll's rugged south coast.

Our late luncheon consisted of a full three course cooked dinner, taken in the sheltered recess of Ban Ghlac on Coll's south coast. It seemed sensible to lighten our laden craft and so we washed the lot down with some preprandial red wine and some postprandial Guinness.


My knee was very sore so Jennifer volunteered...


...to nip up the hill behind the beach to catch the view of the distant Treshnish Isles and Mull beyond.


The towering cumulonimbus clouds were giving Mull a thorough soaking, while we basked in the late afternoon sunshine.

14/06/2009

Basking sharks and castles of Loch Breachacha, Coll

At the mouth of Loch Breachacha two magnificent 6m basking sharks cruised past our stationary kayaks.


The water was full of plankton and after cruising past each of us in turn, the sharks resumed their feeding.


At the head of Loch Breachacha there are two castles. The new one on the left was built in 1750 as a more comfortable mansion house for the MacLean chieftain. In 1773 Boswell and Johnson were guests of young Coll while they were storm bound on the island for ten days. Boswell wrote in his diary "On our arrival here, we felt ourselves very comfortable".


The nearby original Breachacha Castle dates from the early 15th century and was the seat of the MacLeans of Coll. In 1590 their rivals, the MacLeans of Duart in Mull invaded Coll and a fierce battle ensued. The Coll MacLeans were victors and tossed the heads of the fallen Duarts into the nearby Allt nan Cean: Burn of the Heads!

Even in the 1950's it was still one of the best preserved tower house castles in Scotland. It was restored for use as a private house in 1965 by a descendant of the Coll MacLeans.

14/06/2009

Paddling by the shifting sands of time on Coll

Leaving the Sound of Gunna, we entered the great sweep of Crossapol Bay at the SW end of Coll. The shifting dunes (white dunes) between here and neighbouring Feall Bay, to the north, have been designated as a Special Area of Conservation (SAC).


This magnificent dune system is one of the largest in the Inner Hebrides and is maintained by a plentiful supply of beach sand and the high average wind speeds (nearby Tiree averages 18mph, the top end of force 4).


There are burial grounds at both the west end and the east end. The Maclean clan owned Coll from the early 15th century until 1856. This isolated burial enclosure, at the east end of the bay, was built in 1802 by Alexander MacLean, the 15th chieftan, for his wife and himself. The traditional burial ground of MacLean chieftains was at Killunaig Church on the north coast but Alexander feared that shifting sands would expose or bury the graves there.

14/06/2009

We found what we were looking for...

Sea kayaking is a voyage of exploration...


...and of self discovery.


Well when we enterered the Sound of Gunna, we knew we had arrived.


We knew we did not have to prove anything to ourself or to others.


We had arrived where we wanted to be.


We were on a scrap of land, at the edge of a great Northern ocean, isolated by rushing tides of crystal clear water.


We knew we did not have to paddle any further.

13/06/2009

Resplendent in plum on the pink strands of Coll

13/06/2009

Resplendent in plum (this season's must have shade for the discerning sea kayaker) David added a splash of colour to the grey scene. His emergence onto the sands of Hogh Bay was greeted by the appreciative pipping of the resident oyster-catchers. His outfit in plum proved to be very harmonious with the pleasing pink tinge to the sand in these parts.


The kilometre long strand of Hogh Bay was totally deserted, the only footprints apart from our own...


...were of geese and oyster-catchers.


I think the P&H Cetus has really lovely lines.


Soon we were paddling past Ben Feall with more headlands of gneiss.


The north facing Feall Bay's sands stretch for 1.5km. It proved to be as crowded as its northerly neighbour.


Ben Feall is only 66m high but it adds shelter, character and ruggedness to Coll's amazing strands.


Feall Bay backs onto a dune system that falls to Crossapol Bay, only 340m to the south.

13/06/2009

The North West Coast of Coll

Overnight, fresh winds and torrential rain had battered our campsite on Coll's NW coast. The wind had begun to drop before we launched but as it did so, hordes of midges attacked what little flesh we had exposed to the elements.

The NW coast of Coll is composed of a myriad of skerries, sandy bays and bold headlands. We made our way in through the skerries to explore Cliad Bay...


...before making our way back out to the swell breaking on Rubha Ard.


TT101, FV Tarka, was tending her lobster pots. Built in 1996 her home port is Coll and she is 11.9m long.


The little bay at Clabhach is backed by crofts.


The pink-grey rocks of Rubha Hogh are typical of this part of Coll and are formed from Lewisian gneiss.


The surf in the NE of Hogh Bay was about 4.5' and we did not fancy risking a landing.


Fortunately at the SE end, there was hardly any swell and we landed on the magnificent Hogh sands to take a first luncheon.

13/06/2009

The poetry of distant mountains' names.

Leaving the Cairns of Coll, we paddled down the NW coast of Coll. As we did so a cold SE wind got up as a front moved in across the sky. We knew that this would bring rain and force 5 winds but that it would pass through within 24 hours. We had come to this area in search of the pod of orcas which yachting friends has recently spotted here. We left without seeing any but sharp eyed Jennifer drew our attention to two breaching minke whales. Fantastic stuff!


We found this bay, which was protected by an offshore island. Magicseaweed.com had predicted a surf height of 4.5' for the next day, so it would make for an easier launch than some of the bigger surf beaches.


We set up camp with the distant mountains of Barra and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides breaking an otherwise empty Atlantic horizon.


A disadvantage of such a sheltered spot was that the entire local midge population joined our evening meal in what proved to be a feeding frenzy, until we donned midge hoods and jackets. Fortunately our midge jackets still allow you to enjoy a cup of coffee in relative peace.


We then set up a little heart warming.


Fortunately as the breeze got up, the midge attack lessened and we were able to emerge into the night from our jackets like giant insects casting off a chrysalis. The aurelian paddlers of Coll were now masters of the night again and not the pesky Culicoides impunctatus.


As we enjoyed our Bowmore and Glenfiddich, the sun slowly went down behind the hazy blue mountains of South Uist. These lay 80km distant, over the now dark Sea of the Hebrides. From the left, we saw Beinn Ruigh Choinnich 276m, Triuirebheinn 357m, Stulabhal 374m, Beinn Mhor 620m, Beinn Corradail 527m and Hecla 606m. We pondered the poetry of their names as the pink clouds slowly faded to ruby red and their summits disappeared into the night.

12/06/2009

The Cairns of Coll

We made landfall at Suil Ghorm, one of the islets in the Cairns of Coll ,which lie isolated by the tide races to the north of Coll.


It was a relief to stop paddling in the shelter of the Cairns. It was just after springs and the tide was stongest just to the east of the Cairns. We came across lots of swirlies and boils and our final approach was complicated by strong eddies and counter eddies.


Within the Cairns grey seals bask on every available rock ledge.


These two otters were completely oblivious to our passage as they devoured a recently caught fish.


We took a welcome break on these stunning white sands. I went for a swim in crystal clear water but did not last long as the icy water gripped my muscles.


To warm up, I climbed to the top of the islet. As there were no sheep or rabbits, the summit was covered in a blaze of wild flowers which smelled so fragrant after the salty air of the crossing.


In the distance, the Suil Ghorm light house stands guard over the channel to Rum.

12/06/2009