Shoe Bay, Eilean Shona.

 At the west end of Eilean Shona when the tide is in there is a passageway behind some reefs.

 As you become enclosed by the rocky walls the water shallows and...

 turns green then turquoise

 At the head of the channel a turn to the right reveals...

 ...one of the most picturesque sandy coves on the Scottish west coast..

 Though it bis not named on any map...

 ...those in the know call it Shoe Bay because as you go higher up the beach it becomes very soft and you are at risk of loosing your shoes!

 It was the most pleasant place to stop for an extended luncheon which...

...we enjoyed with a snifter of Jura malt overlooking the beauty of Moidart and the distant Ardnamurchan peninsula.

Mariners once more, on Loch Moidart.

We relaunched into the sea waters of Loch Moidart below...

 ...the falls in the River Shiel. Partly as penance for portaging we played for a bit breaking in and out of the jet of water which was pouring into the loch from the cascade.

 To our right were the houses of the Lochshiel Estate and...

...to our left a great spit of sand and shingle which has been brought down the River Shiel  and deposited here but...

 ...what really held our attention was straight ahead...

 ...the wonderfully situated Tioram Castle sitting on its tidal island. Once we cleared the spit we hoisted our sails for a beat down the loch to its mouth. I used the forward fin in the Aries with devastating effect as the others dropped away downwind.

 We were heading for the south shore of Eilean Shona as a counter eddy meant we did not have to plug  against the incoming tide in mid channel.

 We were not the only ones heading west. This couple in a Canadian canoe made good progress in the shelter of the inner loch but as soon as they hit the tide and wind they fell far behind.

 Meanwhile we were revelling in being back on the sea and before long had reached...

...the west end of rugged Eilean Shona. At one time it was scattered by little communities now long gone. Can you spot this house?

(Two) bridge(s) over troubled water and feeling small..

Our passage down the River Shiel...

      

 ...attracted the attention of only a few mostly disinterested locals.
 

It did not take long to reach the New Bridge which...

...was built in 1935.

 We were speeding along and the weed on the river bed was stretched out flat.

 Soon the mountains of Loch Shiel were a distant memory behind us. The Shiel is a popular salmon fishing river but we went down it before the season opened so we saw no fishermen. There are many wooden platforms that extend from the banks to allow more fishermen per foot of river. I thought that the fishermen must be blessed with incredible balancing skills to stand unaided on the narrow planks of wood until I realized that these were the handrails! The broader standing boards were deep under water. The river was high! No wonder we had noticed the level of the loch had dropped so much the night before, all that missing water was coming down here.

 I had scouted out the river two years ago in similar high conditions and knew that the river took a sharp left under the single span of the Old Bridge which was built in 1804. There was the distinct sound of breaking water round the bend and the water proved quite confused with several eddy lines. I would not want to run this small rapid in high levels without some bracing and edging skills. However,0...

 ...order was soon restored and we spent...

 ...some very pleasant time meandering...

 ...round the bends at increasing speed. It was low tide and I knew and Ian and Mike expected what the meaty rapid would be like where the Shiel fell into Loch Moidart. When I had scouted the rapid previously I  knew that you could get out at the final pool, the Sea Pool JUST above the rapid and have a short portage of about 100m into the sea. However, the river was running swiftly, our speed had increased to 10km/hr and we had some new kayak trolleys to test. So we took an early exit at...

 ...the SEPA water level measuring station and...

  ...after a quick Jura to stiffen the sinews we set off on...

 ...a one kilometre portage along the estate track and past the...

 ...rapid. It was indeed rather meaty with a nasty stopper rolling in from an eddy on the left after the first drop.

 We walked down every inch of the rapid to...

 ...the lower drop. I suggested to Ian and Mike that I did not want to be a spoilsport and produced my throw line then kindly offered to provide safety cover while they ran the rapid. They took one look at each other...

...then the pair of them ran off! Maybe we were "feeling small" as we slunk back to our trolleys.

A rough ride to Ardtoe.

West from Castle Tiorum, the south channel of Loch Moidart opens up but the loch is still...

...sheltered by a group of rocky islets at its mouth. A calm patch encouraged Ian to get his DSLR out and photograph some...

 ...seals that were all around us.

Soon the castle slipped astern and we found ourselves weaving...

...through the skerries and islands at the mouth of the loch. As we approached to open sea the wind increased to the top end of a F4 from the NW. It was a spring tide and the ebb from the loch was creating some wonderful wind over tide conditions. We went from the calm of the skerries straight into...
 

 ...a truly wonderful winter playground. Unfortunately I had not brought sails for Ian and myself as Allan didn't have one. Nonetheless, we enjoyed a wonderful 2km down wind blast through somewhat confused waters to the shelter of...

 ...the Ardtoe skerries where we...

 ...caught our breath for the 8km upwind slog back to the Sound of Arisaig

Ardtoe was a lovely spot to shelter from the wind, have a quick snack and rehydrate with water!

This is the sort of sea kayaking I really enjoy. Essentially it is the combination of a remote location, decent "conditions" in winter and being with a small group of trusted friends. We had not seen a soul or another boat since we left Glenuig.  North of Ardnamurchan Point, the most westerly point of mainland Britain, the western horizon stretched away across the Atlantic for some 3,300km until Orton Island, off the coast of Labrador. We were dependent on our own resources. Indeed some years ago, Ian and I self rescued after a winter capsize on this very coast. Afterwards we carried on as if nothing had happened. When I started kayaking I joined a club but soon left because weekend after weekend all people wanted to do was practice "skills". Skills for what? I much preferred getting out and going sea kayaking!

Birlin about Castle Tioram with Julius Caesar in Loch Moidart.

When we rounded the north end of Shona Beag there was very little water left in Inner Loch Moidart. We had hoped to paddle round the east side of Eilean an Fheidh (deer island) but there were only inches of water left so...

...we paddled down its north side then...

...followed the deeper water along the south shore. It was here that we caught sight of Tioram (pron. cheerum) Castle. I always associate Tioram Castle with the birl of the bagpipes because on my first visit,  there was a piper playing at the foot of the castle wall. He was not a local, in fact he was on holiday from Nova Scotia! The sound of the pipes echoing from the castle walls and the misty cliffs round lonely Loch Moidart was spine tingling. I nearly expected to see the Young Pretender himself being carried up the loch in a birlinn.

Back to the present, the scenery was amazing which was just as well as our energy levels were seriously ebbing. This was unsurprising since we had replaced first luncheon with a stiff paddle against the tide.

The ebb tide pulled us steadily through the gap...

 ...between the shore and Sgeir Srath Luinga. It did birl us about a bit but in the most gentle way.

The ebb then carried us under the grey walls of Castle Tioram, which sits on a tidal island on the south shore of Loch Moidart. It was the ancestral home of  Clan Ranald from the 14th century. The family owned the castle until the early 20th century, though it has been a ruin since  the early 18th century. The castle currently belongs to a Scottish businessman, Lex Brown, who has been in a long battle with Historic Scotland to restore the building to a habitable state.

Unfortunately a 300 year battle with the elements means that the castle will need a bit of doing up!

We landed on a little beach to the NW of the castle island. No doubt it was from here that Clan Ranald birlinns set off to raid neighbouring clans. Celtic birlinns are similar to Viking longships but predate them by about 800 years. Julius Caeser described Celtic birlinns in detail and reported them as being superior to Roman galleys in his book the Gallic Wars Book 3 (56 B.C.E.).

Namque ipsorum naves ad hunc modum factae armataeque erant: carinae aliquanto planiores quam nostrarum navium, quo facilius vada ac decessum aestus excipere possent; prorae admodum erectae atque item puppes, ad magnitudinem fluctuum tempestatumque accommodatae; naves totae factae ex robore ad quamvis vim et contumeliam perferendam; transtra ex pedalibus in altitudinem trabibus, confixa clavis ferreis digiti pollicis crassitudine; ancorae pro funibus ferreis catenis revinctae; pelles pro velis alutaeque tenuiter confectae, [hae] sive propter inopiam lini atque eius usus inscientiam, sive eo, quod est magis veri simile, quod tantas tempestates Oceani tantosque impetus ventorum sustineri ac tanta onera navium regi velis non satis commode posse arbitrabantur. Cum his navibus nostrae classi eius modi congressus erat ut una celeritate et pulsu remorum praestaret, reliqua pro loci natura, pro vi tempestatum illis essent aptiora et accommodatiora. Neque enim iis nostrae rostro nocere poterant (tanta in iis erat firmitudo), neque propter altitudinem facile telum adigebatur, et eadem de causa minus commode copulis continebautur. Accedebat ut, cum [saevire ventus coepisset et] se vento dedissent, et tempestatem ferrent facilius et in vadis consisterent tutius et ab aestu relictae nihil saxa et cautes timerent; quarum rerum omnium nostris navibus casus erat extimescendus.

"For their ships were built and equipped after this manner. The keels were somewhat flatter than those of our ships, whereby they could more easily encounter the shallows and the ebbing of the tide: the prows were raised very high, and, in like manner the sterns were adapted to the force of the waves and storms [which they were formed to sustain]. The ships were built wholly of oak, and designed to endure any force and violence whatever; the benches which were made of planks a foot in breadth, were fastened by iron spikes of the thickness of a man's thumb; the anchors were secured fast by iron chains instead of cables, and for sails they used skins and thin dressed leather. These [were used] either through their want of canvas and their ignorance of its application, or for this reason, which is more probable, that they thought that such storms of the ocean, and such violent gales of wind could not be resisted by sails, nor ships of such great burden be conveniently enough managed by them. The encounter of our fleet with these ships' was of such a nature that our fleet excelled in speed alone, and the plying of the oars; other things, considering the nature of the place [and] the violence of the storms, were more suitable and better adapted on their side; for neither could our ships injure theirs with their beaks (so great was their strength), nor on account of their height was a weapon easily cast up to them; and for the same reason they were less readily locked in by rocks. To this was added, that whenever a storm began to rage and they ran before the wind, they both could weather the storm more easily and heave to securely in the shallows, and when left by the tide feared nothing from rocks and shelves: the risk of all which things was much to be dreaded by our ships."

This is a photo a a small, modern recreation of a birlinn. We saw it at Corrie in Arran in March 2008.

We enjoyed a combination of first and second luncheons under the castle walls and so we birled out an extra generous dram of Jura...

... before we birled our way...

...back to the boats.