A beach named desire.

We left the dark gneiss rocks of Iona and Eilean Annraidh and dodged the high speed tour boats in the Sound of Iona. This is Staffa Tours MV Ullin of Staffa. In the background you can see The Dutchman's Cap  or Bac Mor in the Treshnish Isles. It is a former volcano and consists of a central volcanic plug surrounded by a sill of basalt.

 On the east side of the Sound of Mull we returned to pink granite bedrock and the delightful village of Kintra which is derived from the gaelic Ceann Traigh or head of the beach. My good friend, colleague and former climbing partner, the late Dr John Tolmie and his partner bought one of these cottages. He hoped I would get him started sea kayaking but sadly he died in a climbing accident in March 2014 before we could get on the water. What a loss, I have no doubt he would have taken to sea kayaking.

 We were headed for Market Bay on the...

 ...north shore of the Ross of Mull.

 We floated in to the eastern most beach of the two beaches that open from the bay.

 The sands here were devoid of visitors though the...

 ...other beach Traigh na Margaidh (market beach) often has walkers. The beach we landed on is more difficult to access and is called Traigh Eilean an t-Santachaidh (beach of the island of lust). Why our ancestors called this remote spot the beach of the island of lust I cannot begin to imagine.

 Traigh Eilean an t-Santachaidh is a truly exceptional beach with...

 ...bold tors of pink granite backed by dunes topped by...

 ...green machair which falls away to a...

 ...beach of perfect pinkish sand which reputedly reflects...

...your heart's desire when wet.

Some stink over the sobriquet of a stunning shell sand strand in Iona.

We paddled north across the expanse of Camas Cuil an t-Saimh on the west coast of Iona. This is commonly translated as "bay (or beach) at the back of the ocean" which sounds delightfully romantic and tourist guides love it. However, Roddy (who was the last native Gaelic speaker in our family) said it was much more likely to be "bay with a stink at its back". He said the Gaels were not known for using much romance or imagination in naming places. The word "saimh" is much more often used to mean "stink" than "sea" which is an unusual use of the word. Roddy also said if it was used to mean sea it would be used to describe a fishy smelling sea. Given the huge piles of rotting seaweed at the back of the bays I have a feeling Roddy is right.

We all spotted the splash of white sand at Port Pollarain (Port of the Dunlin) and it looked a great place to stop for luncheon, indeed I had stopped here for such in 2007. However, based on past experience, I had other ideas. I thought I could do better.

 So I led the way through a maze of skerries to the...

 ...simply stunning Port Ban (white port). Despite the beauty of the surroundings, I was initially somewhat disappointed. On my last visit...

...this is what we found. Our caddies had travelled ahead, by a variety of means, and assembled our social and refreshment tents prior to our arrival on this pristine cockleshell sand beach. Why, they had even scoured far and wide for some small pieces of driftwood just so that we might enjoy a little late night incendiary activity.

 On this day our support team had badly let us down and as we paddled one by...

 ...one over crystal clear turquoise water we had to content ourselves not with tents of...

 ...pleasure but with a totally...

 ...empty beach!!! Oh the hardship!

 At first we wandered about somewhat lost but we soon settled down to enjoy a view of...

...unparalleled beauty. As the others tucked into their sandwiches (rather than the hoped for canapes) I even went for a short swim. No wonder St Columba chose Iona, this really is Heaven on Earth.

PS Note the crescent of stinky seaweed at the back of the bay!

The highs and lows of life in Camas Mor, Muck.

We had now started the final stage of our Small Isles adventure. As we rounded the SW point of Muck we started to paddle east again.

 Muck is generally low lying but the ground rises in the SW towards the summit of...

...Beinn Airein. It may only be 137m high but it is a proper little mountain nonetheless. It falls steeply into the sea at the headland called Sron na Teiste. The roots of this name are both Gaelic and Norse. Sron is Gaelic for headland and Teiste is Norse for black guillemot. The Norse name is a reflection of the Viking influence in the Hebrides' past. Sadly we saw only one black Guillemot in the bay, it was just changing from winter to breeding plumage.

The swell was washing the rocks at the foot of Sron na Teiste and the shores of Camas Mor beyond, so there was no prospect of a stop.

 We set off across the great sweep of Camas Mor towards  the wall of cliffs on its far side.

In the middle of the bay, we became the focus of attention of the local fulmar colony.

 They amazed us with the skill and beauty of their flight..

 ..which we tried to capture on our cameras.

One minute they would rise high in the air with scarcely a  wing beat before swooping...

...down and skimming the swell with their wing tips. Unlike the black guillemot  the fulmar population has grown spectacularly. In the late 19th century there was only one British breeding colony on St Kilda. Now they are widespread. Perhaps Sron na Teiste should be renamed Sron na Havhest?

An alluring view of a pointed breast and a thunderbolt!

After a brief stop at Rubh a Bhaid Beithe (point of the alluring beechwood), our course turned due east.


We now caught sight of Sgorr na Ciche ,the mountain which guards the west entrance of Glen Coe.


Sgorr na Ciche is Gaelic for "pointed peak of the breast". The Gaels are a poetic lot but they have a point.


To our south the ridges of Beinn a Bheithir (hill of the thunderbolt) rose into the clouds.

28/02/2009

What a carry on at Tarbet!

Made it! Our relief at rounding the Mull was palpable. We landed in west Tarbet Bay and there was a unanimity in our decision not to head further north to Port Logan, where we had left the shuttle car. The forecast was for force 4 to 6 winds gusting to 37 knots by evening but the front had obviously arrived early.


There are several places in Scotland called Tarbet or Tarbert. It comes from the Gaelic word Tairbeart. In modern Gaelic this means isthmus but its origin lies in "over carry". These isthmuses were where the Vikings carried their longships overland from one side of a peninsula to the other.


Olaus Magnus 1555

This often avoided a dangerous voyage round a headland but it was also a way of claiming land! The Vikings reached a truce with the Scots, which allowed them to rule any "islands" they could sail (or drag) their boats round!


Olaus Magnus 1555

From a distance the Mull of Galloway looks like an island as the Tarbet is low enough to be under the horizon. The day was yet young so we decided to carry our kayaks Viking style over the 0.45km distance and 21m height of the Tarbet. It was hard work, as unlike the Vikings, we had set off unarmed and were so unable to persuade any locals to assist us in our endeavours.



The boats were soon on the beach of east Tarbert Bay but we needed some lunch before heading out again!

15/12/2008

Surf's up at the village on the beach.

Yesterday the surf began to roll into the beach at Ballantrae in advance of today's depression. You can tell this is a surf beach, it's very steep and sand and shingle at the low water mark give way to large cobbles at the high water mark. It faces north west through the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland to the open Atlantic beyond.

I am sorry this photo is a bit squint, it was not very easy composing it. The dark brown appearance of the water is due to Galloway peat stained river water. The River Stinchar flows into the sea here.

The village of Ballantrae is built on a raised beach. This raised beach extends for many miles to the north and is broken only by occasional cliffs and headlands. Early cropping Ayrshire potatoes are grown in the fertile soil which is kept mild by the effects of the Gulf Stream.

The name Ballantrae is derived from the Gaelic "Baile an Traigh" or village on the beach. Fishing boats with the registration letters BA (for Ballantrae) are actually based in the shelter of Girvan harbour some 19km away to the NE. Ballantrae's inhabitants favoured farming rather than fishing. That should tell sea kayakers a little about what dumping surf conditions on Ballantrae beach might be like in inclement conditions. Beside the small car park, a simple sign says "Dangerous Bathing". Make sure you practice surf landings before launching at Ballantrae. If the surf gets up while you are out, expect a hard landing or face a long paddle to Lendalfoot which is the nearest sheltered bay, 9km away round Bennane Head and its tidal race.

21/12/2007

The right shade of white.

Our last day on Mull was spent investigating the many stunning white shell sand beaches on the south coast of the Ross of Mull and Erraid.


Both these beaches are called Traigh Gheal. This is not particularly surprising since most Gaelic place names are simple descriptions. In this case, the English would be "white beach". Of course, the Gaelic is much more precise than the English. There are several Gaelic words for white that are commonly applied to places: gheal (geal), bhan (ban) and fionn. It's got to be the right shade of white.

21/07/2007

Look before you leap.

We landed on extremely slippy green boulders at the foot of Malcolm's Point.


Mike is dwarfed by the scale as he casts a line from Leac nan Leum.

We were unprepared for the huge scale of Leac nan Leum, a great basalt slab, which stretched for hundreds of metres. This was testament to the violent volcanic past of the island of Mull during which, huge volumes of lava spilled down from the Ben More volcano. Even today, after some 50 million years of erosion, the lava fields are up to 1.8km thick.

Leac nam Leum is Gaelic for Slab of the Leap....


At its eastern end, the slab is riven by a great chasm over which one of our ancestors is reputed to have leapt while being pursued by an army of dreadful giants or some such terror.

Tony, who did not have the same constraints on his time, made a more measured judgement and, after a long look, decided not to leap.

20/07/2007

Decapitation at Camas nan Liath!

On our recent paddle in Loch Sunart and the Sound of Mull we enjoyed an idyllic stop at Camas nan Liath. From a distance the cobbles on the beach looked grey and I thought that was the explanation of the Gaelic name which I took to be "beach of the grey" though I though just Camas Liath would have done.



The water was crystal clear and beckoned us in to the beach which, nestled under the steep wooded slopes of Tor nan Con. Even in winter, the colour of the birch and aspen branches contrasted with the grey of the cobbles and invited a return in spring.



To the north west, the beach is exposed to the full force of Atlantic storms and the bed rock had been worn into mounds, hollows and channels by the action of countless wave tossed cobbles.



In the deeper hollows, at the bottom of each crystal clear pool of water, there was a mixture of cobbles and pebbles of different sizes and rock types.



As we left, we paddled past great grey "heads" of rock whose necks had been worn away by the wave action. Some of the older heads had been decapitated and fallen as boulders. Suddenly, the full and subtle meaning of the Gaelic "Camus nan Liath" hit me: Beach of the Grey Heads.

What a place, what a language.