Tides, blow holes and rock gardens on the west coast of Iona

 We were now paddling north up Iona's west coast. Grey slabs of gneiss dip into the Atlantic forming...

 ...headland after headland.

 The ebb tide was now running against us and inside Stac an Aoineidh (steep stack) we had to paddle rather hard but...

 ...we were soon back to more relaxed steady paddling until we came to...

...the Spouting Cave which was heard well before we saw it. The cave is a blow hole and was in fact breathing very gently when we passed by. It must be awesome in a storm.

After leaving the booming Spouting Cave behind, we continued along the coast while...

...Donald zoomed off to explore some offshore reefs in his F-Rib.

At Port Ceann na Creige (port of the rocky headland) we came across this beautiful wooden yacht, Wild Rose. We had seen her the previous evening anchored at Tinker's Hole on the Ross of Mull.

I have passed Wild Rose quite a few times on my travels and have seen her moored at Carsaig Bay and also Tayvallich. The owner is obviously a proper sailor. Not only is she beautifully maintained and fitted out but this bay is a rock garden. Wild Rose's davits were empty and her dinghy was by the shore. Talking of which, it was about time we stretched our legs on the shore...

Pleasant procrastination during our peregrinations round Slack Heuch Head.

 From the Mull of Ross we crossed Fauldbog Bay as the sun was fast sinking to the west.

 We explored the rocky recesses among the stacks at the...

 ...foot of the Slack Heugh cliffs where we...

 ...found a blow hole which reverberated...

 ...deep within our chests as the compressed air was blown back through the swell.

 We soaked up the atmosphere as we drifted along the coast. The low warm light made the most of the cliff's contorted features and...

 ...yellow lichen covered rocks.

This was a truly beautiful October evening in a...

....stunning location.

As we entered Slack Heugh Bay a flash of...

...wings revealed the presence of a peregrine falcon.

Still we procrastinated and we were not yet round the Kokatat yellow cliffs of Slack Heugh Head. The autumn night was nearly upon us...

Read more procrastinations on Ian's blog here.

A couple of Rumblekirns and much friction between Scotland and England.

 We left Castle Haven with a fair wind, a...

 ...following tide and the sun sparkling on the shimmering Solway sea.

Passing Kirkandrews we saw the trailers and launch site of the two Campbeltown fishing boats we had seen earlier.

We had left the granite rock of the Galloway hills far behind and were now paddling past layers of Silurian sandstone which had originally been formed at the bottom of the Lapetus Ocean when Scotland was situated near the equator.

As England collided with Scotland the horizontal layers on the ocean floor were folded up and many became vertical such as here at Rumblekirn. A Rumblekirn is a cave with a blowhole at its back.

Below half tide this coast is a maze of reefs with sharp fangs of rock formed by the vertical strata ready to rip the bottom out of any boat. The steamship Ormsa stranded near hear in 1907 but the coast is literally littered with the wrecks of wooden 19th century smacks, sloops and schooners.

Above half tide you can paddle into Duncan's Cave and behind the nearby Little Pinnacle but we had to settle with a...

 ...view from further out.

Dove Cave can be entered only at high tide and these cliffs are indeed home to rock doves. There are also a pair of peregrine falcons here though we did not see them (We would see another peregrine further round the coast).

 Once we rounded Borness Point we left the Isles of Fleet behind and ahead we could see...

 ...the coast of Cumbria in England which was 40 kilometers distant with the hills of the Lake District rising behind.

 We came to a second Rumblekirn and could see through the blowhole at its back.

We paddled into a deep geo behind Rumblekirn and could see where the blow hole exited but could not approach due to the low tide.

The walls of of the geo were impressively vertical as they soared upwards towards the sky. Who would have thought that there had been so much friction between Scotland and England? 

Read more on Ian's blog here.

Bennan Head; ancient footprints, hidden harbours and wrecks.

 The wind and the rain battered the tents during the night. I arose shortly after dawn about 04:15 and looking west Bennan Head was looking rather wild as the flood tide met the NE wind. I went back to bed but we got up at 6am before any of the other campers had stirred. This is the view east to the Ayrshire coast and this...

 is the view south to Ailsa Craig and Pladda. We decided to miss breakfast but boiled some water in the camp site kettle for coffee.

 We were on the water shortly after seven so we would round Bennan Head about slack water.

 The wind was from the NE and was cross offshore. It was very gusty about F4-5.

 It was not long before Kildonan Point and Pladda...

...disappeared in our wakes and...

,,,Bennan Head loomed ahead. It woul;d have been fun for Mike and I to to hoist sails but above F4...

...Ian would never have been able to keep up. It seems difficult to believe but there is a hidden harbour on this inhospitable shore. It is called Port a' Ghille Ghlais but we did not feel much like taking time out to explore on this occasion. Our minds were on the approaching headland. Recently footprints of Isochirotherium herculis have been found in the Triassic sedimentary rock between the basalt dykes.

 The seas round the Head had fortunately calmed somewhat since  I had seen them at 04:15 and...

 ...we were able to admire the bold blade of rock of the headland and the Black Cave (which has a blow hole at the top).A tumbling waterfall completed the wild scene as we turned the most southerly point of  Arran.

Round the head we entered the lee of the land and we could relax on the next stage of the paddle to Cleats Shore.  This shore is sandy at high tide but very rocky at low tide so many potential camping spots are high tide only. A line of cliffs sits back from a raised beach and numerous basalt dykes radiate out from the shore. This coastline has been the scene of many ship wrecks not only because of the tides and rough waters but because many of the dykes extend for more than half a kilometre from the shore.

The Cannibal's Cave and Skippy the Bush Kangaroo!

From Whilk Isle, we paddled towards the cliffs of Balcreuchan Head. Almost immediately we came across this blow hole. Unfortunately the swell wasn't quite big enough for real explosions but it still made a satisfying "boom, whoosh!"

We now cut inshore of Balcreuchan Stack...

...on our way towards Sawney Bean's Cave in Balcreuchan Port when, all of a sudden, Phil gave a great shout. Half expecting to see the Great Cannibal himself, we looked up as Phil pointed high on the hill...

..."Look, it's a real, red kangaroo....why it's, it's... I think it's Skippy!". We all nearly fell out our kayaks with laughter, Phil had seen a roe deer leaping up the side of the hill on its rear legs. It seemed to have hurt one of its front legs, which it held close to its chest, while leaping away on the other three.  At first glance it might have looked, a....bit..., like a kangarooo. But...

Clearly Phil has been spending too much time watching "Skippy, the complete collection (vol 1)" DVD, which David had given him for Christmas.

As a somewhat red faced Phil paddled on, a chorus of "Skippy, Skippy,....Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" gently wafted after him. Clearly we were going to have a good day out and we had hardly started!

By the way, the entrance to the Bean's cave is in the middle of the above photo with Skippy. It is entered by traversing the horizontal groove above the sea, lower right, then climbing the slanting curved gully up to the cave.