Grey Moidart skies and green seas

As we carried the boats to the water's edge, low grey clouds were streaming from the summits of hidden mountains to to our east.

Under the grey skies the shallow water appeared an almost luminous green that matched the green of the machair we had just left.

 Although the clouds were scudding over head we...

 ...were paddling in the lee of the cliffs until...

...we passed the ancient crofting township of Smirisary. "Spade among the rushes" is an evocative book by Margaret Leigh. It describes her hardships trying to recover an abandoned croft here after WW2 as she tried to make a living to support herself and her mother.

 Once past Smirisary our bows began to turn east into the Sound of Arisaig and the wind picked up.

 We got a little respite as we passed close under Rubha Ghead a' Leighe but...

 ...then it was heads down as the easterly wind funnelled out of the Sound of Arisaig.

It was a cold, fitful wind and I could only snatch photos in the short lulls. My hands were numb with the cold and at one point I nearly dropped my camera trying to get a photo of the clouds streaming of the summit of Rois-Bheinn (878m).

Then we arrived in the shelter of Salalaman Bay just as a...

 ...blink of sun provided a moment's warmth before the rain started. It was here where we had left our shuttle car and our journey through and round the lands of Moidart came to an end.

On our previous trip we had left the shuttle car at the head of Loch Ailort. I am glad the weather forecast had accurately predicted the strong easterly!

Sea kayak camping in Nirvana

This was the view we woke to the morning after the amazing sunset.

I could not resist going in for an early morning swim. At 11C the sea temperature was warmer than the air temperature at only 7C.

We wrapped up warmly in Buffalo jackets as there was a cool easterly breeze.  However, there are few locations that can match this for a view over breakfast.

The wind was forecast to get up to 5-7 easterly which is why we had left our shuttle car at Samalaman rather than further east, at the head of Loch Ailort, as we had done the last time we had done this trip. This meant we did not have far to go but even so, we decided to start packing the boats early.

 We were in no particular hurry though as...

...we wanted to savour these wonderful surroundings for as long as possible. Our fire had burned away to just a few ashes, which we scattered in the sands then...

 ...after a last check that we had left the machair pristine, we...

 ...left Port Achadh an Aonaich, the port of the field of the steep place, to...

...the local inhabitants.

A celestial fire in the sky over Ardnamurchan

Once we got the tents up there was not much time till dark but Ian and I went back out on the water. Ian had been here about three weeks previously and seen a decent sized deciduous tree washed up on the rocks. Armed with a Silky Supper Accel folding saw we soon cut it to pieces.  We filled our hatches and tied the bigger bits onto the back decks.

 We returned to the sea just as the sun was setting.

 You really can't beat a sunset on the west coast of Scotland. We are far enough away from the Equator for it to be a long drawn out affair.

The crags above the mirror flat sera turned a wonderful orange colour. If you look carefully at this photo, Ian appears to have a 5 o'clock shadow and be unshaven but that is actually the shadow of my head!

 This was truly sublime paddling as the sun sank slowly between Ardnamurchan peninsula and the isle of Muck.

To the south of the sunset, Ardnamurchan is the most westerly point on the British mainland. To the north of Muck the sunset was framed by the Sgurr of Eigg with the...

 ...Cuillin of Rum beyond.

 This proved to be a spectacular sunset, as the sun started to dip below the horizon it illuminated the undersides of the clouds with a fiery glow.

 The temperature plummeted after sunset and the Cuillin of Skye appeared as we paddled north.

 We paddled inshore of some skerries then Ian and...

 ...I rejoined Mike and Lorna back at the camp site. Just as we landed the embers of the sunset reignited as...

...although the sun was by now well below the horizon its rays were reflecting off the undersides of the clouds.

 ...and it did not stop there, this equinoctial northern sunset just went on and...

 ...on. This was taken an hour after sunset when the glow of the dying sun had now moved north to between Rum and Skye.

 What a view to enjoy our dinner bay. Unlike the previous evening when we dined together, we just sat silently appreciating the incredible...

 ...view of a celestial fire over Ardnamurchan.

As the darkness gathered we brought the wood up from the boats by the light of our head torches and lit the fire. As we had plenty of wood we were set for a comfortable night of convivial conversation and baked potatoes. It was an hour and a half after sundown and there was still an ember of the sunset in the sky. However, the embers of our fire were still going well 6 hours after sundown!

For the full stereovision experience of this amazing sunset, join Iain on his blog here.

The finishing bell at the end of the round, in Loch Ailort.

Beyond the narrows in Loch Ailort we paddled directly below the steep slopes of Roshven (Rois-Bheinn 878m). The clouds had started to gather again and the wind became increasingly gusty culminating...

 ...in some heavy downpours...

 ...that swept through the wild Highland landscape of the loch before...

 

...the wind died away and...

 ...the mountain sides were dappled by an occasional blink of sun. Despite it being well past local low water, the tide was still ebbing strongly through the Eilean Dubh islands.

At last the public slipway and pier at the head of Loch Ailort came into view. Our near complete circumnavigation of the lands of Moidard was nearly over but there was a final sting in the tail...

 ...It was spring low water on one of the biggest tides of the year. The slipway was high and dry so we...

 ...had to manhandle the boats up onto the slip.

Then it was with some sadness that we unpacked our things after a fantastic winter trip and ran the shuttle. For those contemplating a similar trip it is only a 16km shuttle from Inverailort to Glenfinnan. If you only have one car you can even get the train from Lochailort to Glenfinnan!

It had taken just 46 hours to paddle the 64 kilometres from Glenfinnan to Inverailort through some of the most dramatic and historic Highland scenery. We had paddled on fresh water and salt water and had even dragged our kayaks one kilometre over land. We had camped under the stars and stayed in the excellent Glenuig Inn. We had even rung the thousand year old St Finan's Bell! To cap all that we had enjoyed excellent company. You can read Ian's account of our trip which ends here.

BUT our trip was not over yet, we had decided to stay for two nights at the Glenuig Inn! We had another day to spend in this wonderful area...

Paddle sailing wind over tide in Loch Ailort.

After our eclipse luncheon it was time to set off on the last leg of our journey round the lands of Moidart. Ian did a much better job of launching than I did, I filled mine up with water. Unfortunately for Ian he got his sail tangled and I managed to get my boat pumped out while he made a brief stop in the next bay to sort it out.

 It was really worth having the sails because it was one of the biggest spring tides of the year (eclipse might have had something to do with that!) and the ebb was pouring out of Loch Ailort like a river.

 Fortunately we got some respite from the tide in the bays and...

 ...made good time past Peanmeanach bothy but

...as the mountains closed in and the loch narrowed, the tide increased again.

 We noticed some nice active water so decided to pass on the outside of...

Photo by Ian Johnston

...Eilean a Bhuic to make the most of it. Once we were past...

the island, the view back across the wind over tide waves was really rather fine!