United in death at the Isles of Glencoe.

The light was fading fast when we crossed from the north shore of Loch Leven to the south shore. On the way we...

 ...paddled across to the Isles of Glen Coe where we drifted through...

.... narrow channels as the weak and dying.sun did its best to generate a sunset.

 In the gloaming we found ourselves paddling past the largest, Eilean Munde, . Many think the Gaelic means "island of the dead" but it is actually named after St Mundus who came here from Iona to found a church in the 7th century. An alternative name, Eilean Nam Mairbh does mean Isle of the Dead, This spot was the shared burial ground of three warring clans, the Stewarts, the MacDonalds, the McInnesses and the Camerons. At least they were united in death. A cold wind got up and moaned mournfully through the trees and tombstones that stand on this lonely rock. We left the silent tombs to the gathering darkness...

The wind was local to the islands and soon petered out so the sails were furled and we got our heads down for the...

...paddle back through the Ballachulish narrows. The tide was flooding in at 5.5 knots but we enjoyed a helpful eddy all the way back to the slipway and the hotel. After a hot bath we reconvened for frothing pints of sports recovery drinks and as we enjoyed our Cullen Skink soup, mussels and shanks of lamb we knew we would never again be as cold as absolute zero degrees Kinlochleven.

Loch Leven is certainly worth an explore, especially in winter. Snowy mountains, wooded isles, history and strong tides, what more could you ask?

Frostbite, Gorgonzola, and antifreeze at sundown on Loch Leven.

The freezing east wind out of the deep shade of Kinlochleven at least assisted with our speedy exit from the coldest place in the known universe. Ian had never sailed before but had no hesitation in unleashing his sail to ensure his timely departure.

Unfortunately Mike had rigged his sail wrongly and I rafted up to undo an iced knot. I got him going but my fingers were numb for 24 hours afterwards.

At first we made good progress and since we were paddle sailing with the wind the apparent wind dropped...

 ...reducing the effects of the severe wind chill to which we had been exposed on landing at Kinlochleven.

Sadly the wind dropped and we had glassy calm...

 ...back to down the loch to..

 ...the Caolas nan Con where the tide was now pouring in. We were still in the deep cold shade but warmed up by paddling up the south shore to an eddy then ferrying across to another eddy on the north shore.

At last we emerged into the sunshine again but the sun was low in the sky and partly obscured by a veil of cloud.

 A little beach beckoned for second luncheon...

 ..of Mike's home made...

  ...cauliflower, mustard and Gorgonzola soup* and...

...once we had warmed up with that, we...

...poured some antifreeze. It is important not to skimp and buy a 5 litre job lot out of one of the discount stores. No, such pecuniary orientated purchasing is not for us. This was the finest 15 year old Dalmore.

You can read Ian's account here.

* by popular demand here is the recipe for cauliflower mustard  and gorgonzola soup. Mike and I both have the New Covent Garden Food Co A soup for every day book. currently available on Amazon for £5! Ian has enjoyed my soup (broccoli and stilton and leek and potato) in the Sound of Aisaig and Mike's cauliflower, mustard and Gorgonzola soup in Loch Leven so he ordered his own copy on his return! Ian has kindly typed this out for me!

Covent Garden recipe cauliflower, mustard and Gorgonzola soup

Ingredients (serves 4)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon plain flour
284ml vegetable stock
284ml milk
1 medium cauliflower, cut into small florets
160g Gorgonzola cheese cubed
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard

Method (40minutes)

1.            Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the onion then cook until softened, without browning

2.            Add the flour then cook for 1 minute

3.            Gradually add the stock and milk, stirring constantly

4.            Add the cauliflower, bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 20 minsutes until the cauliflower is                tender

5.            Remove from the heat, add the Gorgonzola then stir until melted

6.            Blend until smooth then return to the pan

7.            Season to taste then reheat gently for 3 minutes

8.            Stir in the mustard and serve on a lovely cold beach!

The Archimedes principle, aluminium, Lord Kelvin, and absolute zero degrees K (Kinlochleven).

 

 Caolas nan Con is really very narrow. This is the view to the right and this...

... is the view to the left, both from the middle of the channel. The surprising thing is that for almost all the 20th century large ships came through these narrows.

 What on earth would bring shipping to this remote spot. Well I will tell you....

 ...water and lots of it brought them. The more insightful are probably wondering if I have lost my marbles and what it is that floats my boat. Well let me explain.I am not talking about the obvious salt water in the loch and the Archimedes principle. What brought the ships here was  fresh water and lots of it. This area gets 75" of rain a year  so what were the locals doing with it, selling it to the Emirates? No let me explain. They (or rather Irish navvies)  built a huge dam high in the hills and a conduit and pipeline to feed a large hydroelectric generator in Kinlochleven.. The ships brought bauxite from Larne in Northern Ireland and France  and the electricity was used to smelt it into aluminium using electrolysis. The ships then took the aluminium ingots to rolling and fabrication mills in central Scotland and England. One of the driving forces of the development of aluminium smelters in the Highlands was the renowned physicist Lord Kelvin who was scientific advisor to the nascent British Aluminium Company.Thes smelters ran from 1908 to as recently as 2000

Once in the inner loch we made steady progress and soon the...

...mountains at the entrance to Glencoe...

...slipped behind or wakes which were the only disturbance on the cold glassy waters of the loch.It is difficult to describe how cold it began to get.

 The sun which never rose above the Aonach Eagach mountains was now visibly sinking leaving this spectacular glory lighting the sky. We decided to make the most of the day and press on to Kinlochleven as as the gathering cirrus clouds foretold the next day's weather.

We came across a large dog otter crunching his catch on the shore here. My hands were so cold he had gone by the time I fumbled to get the camera out.

We were now getting nearer to Kinlochleven which lies at the foot of the great snow covered pak of Am Bodach.

We were not the only ones going to Kinlochleven, this helicopter was delivering fresh supplies of muesli.

The cold was now so bad that even the sea started to freeze.

 Great plates of ice were left cracking on the shore by the ebb tide.

  There was a continuum of cold from the snowfields of the summits to the icy sea loch.

 At first it was easy to crunch through the thinner ice but soon it became thicker...

 ...brash ice. Any drops of water which fell...

 ...on our kayaks froze instantly and frozen sea water started to build up on our paddles.

 As we approached Kinlochleven a cold wind blew down from the icy wastes above but...

...the "melt" water coming down the fast flowing river Leven kept a channel free. We had intended going up to the Ice Factor indoor climbing wall (in one of the old aluminium smelter buildings) for a warm up and a coffee but when we landed on a shingle bank in the river Leven it was so cold that we felt the life force draining out of us by the second. Ian, Mike and I have all spent many days in Scottish winter mountains but we had never experienced cold like this. As my thermometer had broken earlier in the day we had to invent a new scale. as we had never been so cold we set it at absolute zero degrees K. No not Kelvin... degrees Kinlochleven. As we fled the scene, we knew that we would never be so cold again.

Reflections on mountains, deforestation and wolves in Caolas nan Con.

After luncheon we continued east under...

...the shapely peak of Sgorr na Ciche which cast a long shadow...

...over the loch.

We were just about to loose the sunshine and enter the perpetual winter shade of the inner loch.

 As we paddled further east we encountered mirror calm conditions.

The cone of Garbh Bheinn 867m now dominated the south shore of the loch  while...

 ...Am Bodach 1032m commanded the horizon to the north.

We made good progress and soon the mountains at the mouth of the loch...

 ...were left far behind.

Even the reflections on the calm waters were...

...dominated by the mountains.

  We were now approaching the tidal narrows of Caolas nan Con (narrows of the dog).

 Some sources say this is where shepherds and their dogs would swim across but...

 ...I like to think that it is where wolves would have swum across.Wolves roamed much of Scotland until they were exterminated sometime in the 18th century. They were feared predators of livestock and in winter would unearth recently buried corpses. This led to the tradition of Highland graveyards being placed on islands (such as Eilean Munde) in Loch Leven, Loch Awe and Loch Maree and also  Handa island off the coast of Sutherland. Wolves are such strong swimmers that I am not sure how much protection an island burial would give a corpse. Wolves were a particular problem in this part of Scotland. The ancient Mamore Forest, which once covered the ground between Loch Leven, Loch Treig and what is now the Blackwater reservoir, was burned to the ground at the end of the 16th century. Though this removed the wolves' habitat it also destroyed a wonderful environment characterised by Scots Pine. The bare hills we see today may be starkly beautiful but they are a man made desert and their current appearance is a pale shadow of their former beauty. When walking over the peat bogs in the area to the east of the head of Loch Leven it is still possible to find "bog wood", the preserved roots of this lost Caledonian Forest which are now several hundred years old..

We passed Caolas nan Con through just about slack water. The ebb starts at the same time as the Ballachulish narrows at the entrance of the loch but the flood is delayed by about two hours. Maximum flow is about 6 knots at springs on the flood but it is usually possible to get through against the flow.