Sea kayaking round Morvern

A three day, 114km paddle round the Morvern peninsula via Loch Linnhe, the Sound of Mull and Loch Sunart.

Sunset in Loch Drumbuie, an offshoot of Loch Sunart.

Tides:

Lynn of Morvern/Loch Linnhe
NE flood -0545 HW Oban ((+0110 HW Dover)
SW ebb +0025 Oban (-0505 HW Dover)

There are some peculiarities in the tides here.

A narrow stream of the flood tide entering the Lynn of Morvern hits the Morvern coast and then runs NE to Camas Chronaig where it continues to a point about 1.5km NW of Sgeir nam Tom. This stream runs at about 2.5 knots but elsewhere in the Lynn, the flood runs about one knot..

In the Lynn of Morvern, for the first 3-4 hours of a spring ebb, a SE going stream runs at about 4 knots (with a line of overfalls) from about 220m E off Rubha a'Mothair on the Morvern coast NM759411 to about 1100m NW of the SW tip of Bernera NM778392. Elsewhere in the Lynn the ebb runs about one knot.

Sound of Mull.
The flood tide goes NW and the ebb tide goes SE through the Sound.
At the NW end the flood runs for 7.5 hours and the ebb for 5 hours.
At the SW end the flood runs for 5.25 hours and the ebb runs for  7.25 hours.
The streams turn later and are stronger at the SE end.
Streams by the shores of the Sound turn 30mins earlier than in mid channel.

Throughout the Sound, by the shore,  the SE going ebb starts at approximately -0045 HW Oban (+0615 HW Dover)

The  NW going flood starts by the shore as follows working from NW to SE down the Sound:
Off Rubha nan Gall                 +0400 HW Oban (-0130 HW Dover)
Off Rubh' an t-Sean Chaisteil  +0500 HW Oban (-0030 HW Dover)
Opposite Eilean Glasa            +0600 HW Oban (+0030 HW Dover)
Off Rubha an Ridire               -0600 HW Oban (+0055 HW Dover)

At the SE of the Sound spring rates run up to 2 knots, elsewhere rates are about 1 knot with a bit more round headlands.

Loch AlineIn the entrance:
The in going flood -0525 HW Oban (+0135 HW Dover) 2.5 knots at springs.
The outgoing ebb +0040 HW Oban (-0450 HW Dover) 2.5 knots at springs

Loch Sunart
At the mouth of Loch Sunart the tide rotates through 360 degrees clockwise over 12.5 hours at generally less than one knot.
Within the loch the ingoing flood starts at -0500 HW Oban (+0200 HW Dover).
The outgoing ebb starts at +0130 HW Oban (-0400 HW Dover)
Spring rate is one knot except north of Carna and the entrances to Loch Teacuis 2.5 knots. At Laudale narrows the ingoing spring rate is 3 knots and the outgoing rate is 3.5 knots.

Day one.

Seakayakers, gypsies and bothy dwellers on Morvern.
A missed luncheon after a detour to Kingairloch?
The Boathouse, Kingairloch, Morvern
Between a rock and a hard place at Glensanda.
A bed of bluebells in the Sound of Mull.

Day two.

Trouble in the Isles
Taking the Sound of Mull to the Next World.
Mines a bacon butty in Lochaline!
A series of juxtapositions in the Sound of Mull.
Tobermory, what's the story?
Sardines and showers in Tobermory.
A barren point and fateful decision.
A banquet in Loch Drumbuie!

Day three.

Misty Morven morning.
Three jewels of Loch Sunart: Oronsay, Loch Teacuis and a buried diamond!
A post prandial doze under the ancient oak woods of Ardnamurchan.
Umbrellas in a sunny Loch Sunart.
All the essential sea kayaking elements round Morvern.















 

Between a rock and a hard place at Glensanda.

All too soon we had to leave the oasis of Kingairloch...

...and continue our exploration of the  Morvern coast.

We passed huge beaches of perfectly graded shingle.

After some time, we became aware of a curious noise, a bit like waves sucking shingle down a beach, but more sustained and more artificial.

We had found the Glensanda super quarry, the biggest in Europe. The noise we had heard was graded rock falling in continuous streams from shutes emerging from the mountain.

A whole granite mountain is being removed and the crushed rock transferred through tunnels to the shore, where it is graded before being loaded onto huge ships at the deep water terminal. There is no road access to Glensanda, everything goes in and out by sea. Few people have seen it or even know it's there, which is possibly why it slipped under the radar of environmental groups.

Standing on its lonely rock at the foot of a shrinking mountain, we came across Glensanda Castle. It was built in the late fifteenth century by the MacLeans. We are certainly leaving more of a mark on the landscape than our ancestors.

However, these two swans seemed oblivious to the quarry and we soon left both it and them in our wakes.

A missed luncheon after a detour to Kingairloch?

The SE coast of  Morvern is a wonderful place and we took our time savouring it. At first we paddled along a trackless wilderness...

...until we eventually came across signs of habitation again.

Loch Linnhe stretched away to the SW along an apparently unbroken line of cliffs...

...but eventually some breaks appeared like here at Camas na Croise.

Shortly afterwards we passed a narrow opening, which led into Loch a' Choire. Not being headland to headland types, we decided to enter the loch and explore further, even though it might mean missing luncheon!

At first the loch appeared to be a barren and inhospitable place...

...but towards the head of the loch, wooded slopes...

...and a smattering of buildings, announced our arrival at Kingairloch.

We landed at a little beach beside a jetty.

A wooded glade behind the beach looked like the ideal spot for a picnic. Would we have time for an alfresco luncheon in this paradise in Morvern? You will need to follow this link to discover our prandial arrangements in the wilds of Kingairloch.

Seakayakers, gypsies and bothy dwellers on Morvern.

This was a memorable trip that took place early in the month of June. Our aim was to circumnavigate the Morvern peninsula in western Scotland. It is very nearly an island being nearly surrounded by Loch Sunart to the north, the Sound of Mull to the Sw and Loch Linnhe to the SE. Only 11km of land lie between the head of Loch Sunart and Inversanda Bay on Loch Linnhe. We left a shuttle at the public slipway at Strontian. Phone the Community Moorings Committee  on the number on the noticeboard to say you would like to leave a car overnight. There is a Council "No Overnight Parking" notice to keep tavelling people and campervans away but an empty vehicle should not create any problems if left at the edge of the car park and not causing an obstruction.

We left the other car here behind Inversanda Bay. It's a lonely spot and I phoned the police in Strontian to see if there was any car crime in the area. He told me there was zero car crime. Sometimes travelling people (gypsies) camp at Inversanda. I have left my car next to another of their camp sites (2km further west) while climbing Beinn Garbh several times without any problems. I usually say hello and pass the time of day with them with them on the way past and have found them polite, hospitable and interested in where we were going. If you have a suspicious nature you could always leave a car at Corran Ferry.

What a great feeling it was to be out on the water with the prospect of 115km of paddling and two nights' wild camping! The mountains of Ardgour soon slipped away astern...

 ...as we got underway by both paddle and sail power!

Morvern has few roads and it was a treat to explore its wild coast, which often tumbled steeply into the sea.

Behind us Loch Linnhe stretched away to Ben Nevis in the distance. The summit of the Ben was still streaked by snow.

After some time we came to a private bothy hidden in the woods behind the shore.

Five fingers and a long way to fish in Loch Linnhe.

 The sun set long before we reached our shuttle car, which we had left just north of the Corran narrows on Loch Linnhe.

Looking back up the loch we got a fantastic view of Ben Nevis. Just below the summit you can see the infamous five finger gully which traps the unwary on their descent of the Ben.

An Irish trawler, W297 Caronia II, registered in Waterford, passed us as she was making her way up the loch. She was heading for Corpach pier where she would tie up and spend the night before entering the Caledonian canal the next day. She was bound for the fishing grounds in the North Sea. At this point she was already 600km from Waterford and still had a long way to go. I hope her long trip was worth it but it makes you wonder, have her home waters been cleaned out of fish? It makes you appreciate where your fish fingers come from.

Night was falling as we approached Corran narrows and its lighthouse. From NE to SW the light flashes green, once every 4 seconds.

Finally, our day on the water was over but we still had a 42 mile round trip to recover the other shuttle car at Loch Eil head. We were well satisfied, we had come to photograph the Ben from the water in winter and had succeeded. Given it spends 80% of the time under cloud, we thought we were very lucky.

We paddled off into the sunset in Loch Linnhe.

The River Lochy discharged us into Loch Linnhe, which stretched away to the SW and the distant Corran Narrows.

We soon came to Fort William, Scotland's outdoor capital. The town is not just a tourist centre it is also an unpretentious working place and so is not, perhaps, one of the most scenic of coastal towns.  It is hemmed in to a narrow ribbon of land by Loch Linnhe on one side and Ben Nevis on the other. The only space to build the town bypass was along the shore, the town shows its "derrière à la mer" as they say further south. To be fair, when they built the bypass, they did not demolish a curving street of "but and bens", nestling round a silver strand with peat smoke curling into the still highland air from their lums. Rather the bypass was built where the railway used to run! Neither is the town pier a tourist attraction. There was no funfair at the end of this long pier, only some heavy barges.

We left Fort William and set off down Loch Linnhe...

...it was a glorious winter evening as we...

...paddled off into the sunset.

Luncheon on a gravel bed in the River Lochy.

The sea lock of the Caledonian Canal opens to Loch Linnhe beside Corpach pier.

For a little while, the canal follows the shore and we paddled below some fishing boats.

We now crossed the head of loch Linnhe towards...

... Fort William. Unfortunately we turned left instead of right.

The first warning of our mistake was that the kayaks' seam lines were closer to the water, and talking of water, it was decidedly the lo-salt variety.

We had entered the River Lochy, which drains the wettest part of Scotland and so is quite big.

Being in a dryish spell, we paddled below great banks of shingle, which rather restricted our horizons.

It was quite surreal, every so often our eyes rose above the shingle bank and  suddenly the landscape was revealed to us. In this photo I am looking straight up Glen Nevis, where much of the shingle will have come from.

We eddy hopped upstream but eventually the current became too strong. We ferry glided across the main flow to take a break on a shingle bank in the middle of the river. Jim had hoped to get up to the "smelter play wave", where the water exits from the hydro power station that provides the electricity for the aluminium smelter. It opened in 1929. The pipes carry the water for 24 km under the mountains and exit from the slopes of Ben Nevis. The plant produces 40,000 tons of aluminium each year and employs about 174 people.

It was a well earned break for a luncheon on an exposed part of the river bed.

The view up Glen Nevis to Sgurr a' Mhaim (1099m) made this one of the best lunch spots ever. However our sojourn was cut short, the river was rising due to the high tide in Loch Linnhe and our little world steadily shrunk. It was time to go...