Inch Kenneth

Regular visitors to this blog have expressed some concern for our livers and our ability to continue to find oases of refreshment in the wilderness. I thought it wise to post about a day in which we did not manage to find such an establishment. Despite this, we still had an enjoyable paddle, though we all felt the effects of a drouth which came upon us as an unexpected Scottish sun beat mercilessly down on us. (There was no thirst the following day due to the truly torrential nature of the precipitation.)

Let me continue with our summer adventure. After paddling the Wilderness coast of Mull we headed across Loch na Keal for Inch Kenneth ,which in great contrast to the Wilderness, is a remarkably fertile island. Indeed, but for the lack of a pub, some might say it is as near to Paradise as you can get to on this Earth.


Nearly there..


Inch Kenneth at last, after a long and fantastic day's paddling.

On Inch Kenneth we met up with Mike again. He had chosen to have an easy day there as his arm was very stiff after having been bitten on the hand by a venomous snake during a South African adventure. Despite an easy day, he caught a 5lb pollock and spent the rest of the day in the hot sun cooking and eating it! It's a tough life when you are on location for seakayakphoto.com!

Little Colonsay

Loch na Keal and Ulva from Little Colonsay.

After leaving the succour of Cragaig cottage, we were a sorry bunch. Tony’s ankle was the size of a melon and Mike had not been paddling since February as he had been bitten on the hand by a venomous snake in South Africa. My arthritis was bothering me and David’s back was playing up. The Treshnish isles had been our intended destination but Mike’s forearm was suffering badly after the slog up Loch Tuath to Ulva Ferry the day before. He decided to have a short day and head for a camp on Inch Kenneth while we decided to make do with a little tour of Loch na Keal, visiting Staffa and the Wilderness instead...



Our fiirst stop was Little Colonsay.



There is a large 3 storey house on this island. In the 1930’s, the last resident moved to Cragaig cottage (which we had just left). He was driven out, after 40 years on the island, by a plague of rats. After our recent encounter with the Giant Bothy Rat of Ratatallain, Tony and I have a clear policy when it comes to rodents. We did not land.

We paddled on to Staffa.

Ulva lobster and prawn boat.

The Sound of Ulva nestles between Mull and Ulva and joins Loch na Keal in the south to Loch Tuath in the north. It is a sheltered anchorage for both pleasure and work boats. Some work boats ferry tourists to the Treshnish Isles and Staffa and others reap the local sea food which was a highlight of our visit to the Boathouse. I just loved the curve of this boats stem as it lay at anchor below the bold outline of Ben More.

Ben More sunset

From the shores of the island of Ulva, the setting sun casts a red glow on the now cold basalt rocks of Ben More on Mull. Once it spouted red molten magma from deep within the Earth and was the largest volcano in Europe. Today its lava fields cover 840 square kilometres and are up to 1.8 kilometres thick. The islands round Loch na Keal bear testament to this fiery past and are an irresistable magnet to any sea kayaker.

First glimpse of the Wilderness

Loch na Keal nearly bisects the mountainous isle of Mull. The B8073 to the hamlet of Ulva Ferry hugs its north coast. After a long climb you crest a ridge and are confronted with your first view of the Wilderness. 50 million years ago the lavas from the great Ben More volcano were finally halted by the sea here at the edge of the Ardmeanach peninsula. The cliffs of the Wilderness now tumble steeply for 370 metres to the shores of Loch na Keal below. Today the Wilderness is home only to goats, sea eagles and pelagic sea kayakers. Our first glimpse of the Wilderness set our hearts beating in anticipation of an outstanding paddle. We were not to be disappointed.

Moonset over Little Colonsay and Lunga

After a long day, when we paddled from 9am to 10pm, we prepared a meal on a rocky knoll on the island of Inch Kenneth in Loch na Keal on the remote west coast of Mull. Long after sunset there was still a red glow in the north western sky as a dusky crescent moon sank below the island of Little Colonsay at the mouth of the loch.