The glory of a Hebridean sunset.

 The sun was setting fast so we made our way along the beach...

 ...and over a bluebell covered hillside...

 ...to photograph the sunset over the Sound of Jura.

 The sun slowly sank into the Sound of Islay which separates

 Jura to the north and....

 Islay to the south.

We lingered long after sundown savouring the Southern Hebridean twilight until the Paps of Jura merged into the inky blackness of the night sky.

Sea kayaking in the Sound of Islay

A 15km half day paddle from Port Askaig, in the Sound of Islay, August 2010.

This is a great place to paddle if you arrive back at Port Askaig in the morning and the ferry back to Kennacraig in Kintyre is not due till late afternoon. We took advantage of a south going tide that was due to turn north in plenty of time to return.

Islay is always worth a visit, more great Islay information at Armin's Islay Blog and Ron's Islay Weblog.

Tides in the Sound of Islay:
The south going ebb  starts at -0140 Oban +05:15 HW Dover
The north going flood starts at +04:40 HW Oban -00:50 HW Dover.
The spring rate is 5 knots off Feolin.

Sitting it out on the Sound of Islay.

Haute Cuisine reviewed at An Cladach.

Fellow travellers in the Sound of Islay.

The power of water in the Sound of Islay.

Close encounter with the RNLI lifeboat at Islay.

Close encounter with the RNLI lifeboat at Islay.

We were travelling north on the Sound of Islay at an ever increasing speed. We were not paddling particularly energetically but by the time we passed the Carraig Mhor light, we were fair belting along!

These buoys were submerged by the strength of the current going our way...

...so it was not surprising we arrived back in Port Askaig in plenty of time for the ferry. We spent the spare time visiting the RNLI lifeboat station  and talking to cox David McLennan and mechanic David McArthur. They gave us huge mugs of coffee while they modestly explained how they had helped in some of the rescues round Islay's exposed and tidal coast. We told them where we had paddled and how we had found the inshore tides to turn about an hour before the times given in the pilots. Straight away David agreed and said that in his (and the local fishermen's experience), the inshore tides turned 45 minutes before the published times.

Given Islay's exposed and tidal conditions it is unsurprising that the RNLB ‘Helmut Schroder of Dunlossit ll’ is a Severn class, which at 17m is one of the RNLI's most capable all weather boats. She has a range of 250 nautical miles and a maximum speed of 25 knots. She carries a crew of 6. Needless to say, both Tony and I are supporters of the RNLI.

We could have stayed all day chatting to the lifeboat crew but the ferry was fast approaching, bringing our five day trip to Islay to an end.

The power of water in the Sound of Islay

As the power of the tide sped us north in the Sound of Islay, the low cliffs and shingle beaches gave way...

 ...to the wooded shores of Dunlossit estate. We spotted a little building with no windows at Port an t-Seillich. We could not resist exploring. It turned out to be a disused hydro electric station. Its water supply is the...

...burn that flows out of the dammed waters of Loch Allan. Today the burn's water flows unhindered over the attractive falls of Eas Forsa. The Islay Energy Trust and Dunlossit estate hope to reinstate the generator...

...and once again extract energy from the tumbling waters before they join the tidal waters of the sound...

...which will themselves soon be harnessed in a tidal energy scheme.

Fellow travellers in the Sound of Islay.

 When we eventually emerged from An Cladach, the sun had broken through the clouds and...

 ...we left the bothy in full sunshine.

As we paddled up the coastline of Islay we noticed that the shingle shores were...

...passing by ever more quickly. The north going flood was already gaining strength.

 Where the Sound of Islay began to narrow..

 ...we joined a family of swans, which was also taking advantage of the tide. We paddled on together, under the Paps of Jura.

Haute Cuisine reviewed at An Cladach.

The grass squelched under our feet as we made our way up to the bothy. We hung our soaking jackets under the eaves and set about lighting a fire to help dry out. I had brought some logs but we left those in the woodpile and lit a couple of peats, which had been cut from the hillside above the bothy.

Brunch was to be interesting. We had wraps, dry cured bacon, tomatoes, Leerdammer cheese slices, eggs, banana and Laphroig. Our plan was to cook the lot, roll it in the wraps and then give the wraps a final toasting in the pan.

As the rain battered off the bothy's tin roof, we slowly dried out by the aromatic peat fire and enjoyed the equally peaty notes of the Laphroig (surely you didn't think I had poured it into the frying pan, did you?) I asked Tony what he thought of brunch: "Well, I don't think the banana quite went with the bacon!"

After brunch and a snooze by the fire, we realised that the rain had stopped battering the roof. An exploration of our surroundings revealed that the sun was now trying to break through the clouds and that the tide had turned and was now heading for Port Askaig...

Sitting it out on the Sound of Islay.

After our trip round the Oa peninsula, we camped overnight at Kintra campsite. During the night the wind increased and the tents were lashed by rain squalls. The forecast was for strong westerly winds, veering north west and for heavy rain becoming sunshine and showers. We rose early and broke camp before driving to Port Askaig, where we would get the late afternoon ferry back to the mainland. We loaded the kayaks with some food for breakfast and were on the water before 8am.

The Sound of Islay was ebbing fast and we were whisked south, past the Carraig Mhor lighthouse, at a very satisfying 12km/hr.

The clouds were well down  and a strong W wind blew well above our heads as we were in the lee of the Islay mountains.

We stayed well out in mid channel, taking advantage of the tide, until we spotted the McArthurs Head lighthouse.

We then broke out of the tide, paddling towards the Islay shore...

...towards our destination, the delightful bothy of An Cladach. Where better to spend a few hours on grey, wet day while waiting for a ferry?

Navigational aids in the Sound of Islay.

The tide in the Sound of Islay whisked us south to the Carrag an t-Sruith lighthouse. Unfortunately it was not big enough to have its name painted on the side, thus somewhat hindering its navigational usefulness.

Useful though white painted lighthouses may be to navigators, we noticed a much more interesting  building on the far side of the Sound, which was also painted white.

This one is quite clearly identified by having its name painted on the side, in large black letters. This makes it an incredibly useful navigational aid. Not only that, the building serves another purpose, it is where one of the spirits of Islay is distilled from base grains of fermented barley. This is the spiritual home of the sublime Caol Ila malt whisky, which we had enjoyed just a few hours before!

I am not sure if it was the powerful tide or the heady vapours emanating from the large white building but Phil seemed to loose all sense of direction and veered off into mid channel.

He very nearly missed the turn off into the narrow mouth of Port Askaig Harbour.

We had completed a great paddle on the north coast of Islay and Loch Tarbert on the west coast of Jura. Maybe it was not the one that we had originally intended but it was one from which we had returned safely.

Catching the 0930 in the Sound of Islay.

We awoke at a decent time and had plenty of time to have a big breakfast in the morning. There was not a great distance to Port Askaig and the south going tide was building nicely to help us on our way. As we packed, the swans entertained us by teaching their cygnets to break into and out of the current in the Sound.
 

We did best to imitate their style and after catching the 0930 southbound, we were soon travelling at up to 14km/hour.

 The SW coast of Jura is an interesting place.

 The tide was carrying us south so quickly that we...

...repeatedly broke out of the current to investigate the many dykes, stacks, caves and raised beaches.

A night with the angels on the Sound of Islay.

We soon had the fire going and cracked open the 18year old Caol Isla (“Sound of Islay”) malt whisky, which had been distilled just a few kilometres away on the Islay side of the Sound. The midges clearly appreciated the local spirit as well, though they seemed to have had enough by nightfall.

Fortunately they disappeared after dark. As the night wore on the embers of our fire slowly died away and the Ruvaal lighthouse beam flashed steadily over the restless dark waters of the Sound.

I can think of no better circumstances in which to savour a malt whisky. I swear we even caught a whiff of the "angels' share" blowing from the distillery in the wind across the Sound. We slept soundly that night.

Swanning about and an invasion of privacy in the Sound of Islay.

There are very many opportunities to wild camp on the Jura shore of the Sound of Islay.  Basalt dykes at right angles to the shore create innumerable secluded coves.

Unfortunately one of the prime sites was already occupied, so not wanting to invade any one's privacy, we turned back a little way.

We soon found a lesser bay and we decided to just make do with second best as the sun was setting fast. I suppose it did have an OK view...

...and the close cropped grass looked sort of level enough to put the tents up. All in all, we felt rather put out and inconvenienced not to have  been able to camp on our first choice of site.

Then to rub salt in our wounds, the occupants of our first choice of site upped camp, then arrived en famille, only to settle down for the night right next to us!