Showing posts with label Loch Tamnavay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loch Tamnavay. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

A UFO in the sky at night above Loch Tamnavay.

On arrival at the head of Loch Tamnavay several of us set off for a shakedown paddle on the loch.

Ian quickly entered full smug mode, as he had been allocated Gordon's new Valley Etain. It will be worthwhile following Ian's excellent blog of our trip. Then you will be able to enjoy our voyages in full St Kilda Stereovision (tm)!

Although it was 21:45 hours, the mid summer sun was still shining on the distant hills of Scarp.

The beauty of the still evening was enhanced...

...when the moon rose beyond the rocky  slopes of Aird Beag.

We paddled out of Loch Tamnavay into the open expanse of Braigh Mor...

...then entered little Loch Tealasavay as the sun was setting.

We then paddled back to the Cuma in the moonlight. (Photo of myself and Ian by Gordon.)

Our route was only 10km but it was in the most beautiful and remote of locations.

As the moon rose and began to set again, we spent a very convivial evening excitedly chatting about our adventure to come. Murdani and I stayed up after the others, catching up on old times, but I went below about 02:30 on 12/06/2011. Minutes later, Murdani called me up on deck again. The moon had gone down but Murdani said in a quiet voice "What do you make of that?"

High in the sky (higher than Altair in the SSE or Arcturus in the SSW) a bright white disk of light was traversing the sky from west to east. It was difficult to estimate its height and speed but if it was as high as a passenger jet, it was travelling across the sky about 3-4 times as fast. It was not a satellite, I regularly see them and it was much bigger. It was not the international space station, which I have also seen, as in these latitudes it rarely gets higher than 10 degrees above the horizon. It was a still night and there was no engine noise nor were there navigation lights and strobes that you would expect to see on a jet airliner.

Then, when it was about 20 degrees above the eastern horizon, an amazing thing happened. Until that point its velocity had appeared constant but suddenly it started ricocheting from side to side, as if bouncing off invisible walls on either side of its track. What was it? Neither Murdani nor I had a clue. I had had a small amount to drink but Murdani had taken no alcohol at all. We had seen an unidentified flying object (UFO) above Loch Tamnavay.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Where ancient mountains crumble to the sea.

As we proceeded south along the mountainous coast of Lewis, a lone figure, with a carrier bag, appeared running along the rocks. The steady beat of Cuma's  trusty Gardner diesel slowed...

...and Murdani gently nosed her into the relatively calm waters of Tarla geo. Here the slopes of Taireabhal plunge straight into the sea.

It was Murdani's son in law on the rocks and Gary threw a well aimed line towards him.

With no delay, the bag was tied to the line and...

...swiftly hauled aboard.

The mystery of the Cuma's missing supplies was solved. It was a container of fruit crumble mix and six stainless steel teaspoons! Thank goodness we would not need to eat our stewed fruit without crumble and stir our tea with the reserve plastic items!

 The beat of the diesel resumed and we continued down the coast past the dazzling sands of Mealasta island...

 ...and on to the ancient hills that border Lewis and Harris.

Murdani now took Cuma through the narrow gap inside Liongam and into...

...the sheltered waters of Loch Tamnavay beyond.