No evidence of book burning or obsessive compulsive behaviour at Cruib Lodge, Jura.

 From the great raised beach at the head of outer West Loch Tarbert we set off in a brisk wind...

 ...through the narrows at Cumhann Mor which lead into...

 ...the middle loch. We were in the last hour of the flood so in addition to the wind we had some tidal assistance. This required some care as the narrows are riddled with rocks.

 We took the tidal inside passage behind Eilean Dubh before entering the broader expanse of the middle loch proper.

 Cruib Lodge is easy to miss but I had been before and we turned left after the right headland.

 Cruib Lodge was built in Victorian times as the deer larder for...

 ...the Ruantallain Estate. The right third is a store. The middle third is the MBA bothy with a sleeping platform for two. The left third is an airy bright room which is the former deer larder. The former ventilation vents in its three exterior walls have been replaced by large windows making it possibly the brightest and airiest bothy room in Scotland. There is a sleeping platform for three or four. It is left open outwith the deer shooting season but is locked for use by the estate during the season.

It was a joy to arrive at an empty bothy at HW as we did not even need to pull the boats up the beach.

 One by one...

 ...we rounded the headland until...

 ...all three were on the beach.

The sun was setting fast so we left the identical boats lined up on the beach while we dried our things in the last of the sun. Afterwards we hung our identical dry suits on individual pegs in the lodge and got our meal ready.

We chose to dine outdoors on the freshly painted table and sample some Jura Superstition whisky, which had been distilled a mere 16.47km away over the hills. One thing I like about sea kayaking is that the unpredictable and variable nature of the weather, tides etc. tends not to attract people with an obsessive compulsive personality...

 While we arranged our cutlery this is the view we enjoyed with our meal.

After eating we unloaded the boats of the driftwood we had gathered earlier and sawed it into equal sections for the fire. We had enough to leave for others (no driftwood reaches this middle part of the loch) so we felt justified in using some of the neatly stacked peats our friend Tony had cut and left on his recent visit. The fine library of books above the fire had escaped burning since Tony and I had visited exactly a year before. This is a sign of an appreciative and literate clientele.

As the moon rose into the clear sky the temperature plummeted and we were...

 ...glad to be in a cosy bothy. We planned to paddle through the next narrows to the inner loch the next day and portage over the track from its head to the east coast of Jura. At spring tides the ebb runs out at over 8 knots through a clean rocky channel with no eddies. There was nothing for it but to get up early.

After a final check of the moon and stars we went to bed. The only other sign of life was this yacht lying at anchor. Given the forecast F5-6 winds overnight, I knew her crew would get less sleep than us as they would need to keep an anchor watch and keep checking her position.

Ian and Mike used the large room with the windows but my asthma was bothering me a bit so I slept in the middle room beside the remains of the smouldering peat. I thought the air would be drier. I had forgotten about the bothy mice which kept me awake for a good part of the night.

No room in the bothy and things that might have been...

 At the north end of the Sound of Islay the Ruvall lighthouse stands tall. It was built high so that it could also be seen from the south end of the Sound of Islay (see below). As we were discussing the lighthouse we noticed that the tide had turned in the Sound and it was now time to hitch a ride south.

The Jura coast line continued to amaze. At Alt Bun an Eas (burn with the waterfall at its foot) a deep V gorge has been cut through a raised sea cliff. the gorge is too big to have been cut by the current burn and dates from the days after the Ice Age when a huge torrent of meltwater made its way to the sea and the land rose as the weight of the ice sheet diminished.  The gorge has a series of waterfalls and infinity pools just above the beach.

Tony and I climbed up to these pools on a previous visit and Ian and I noted the possibility of a refreshing shower here the next day.

I never tire of this coastline and have paddled it 10 times now. This might not seem that much but considering how hard it is to get here from Glasgow it is a lot!

 At first the tide carried us gently down the Sound but the spring rate is 5 knots and...

 ...soon we were fair zipping along.

 The bottom of the Sound of Islay is very clean so despite the speed of the current, there are no overfalls and it only becomes rough if the tide is against the wind (as we would experience the following day!)

Although the water was like a millpond we passed the lighthouse at Carragh an t-Sruith (pillar of the current) at a casual 15km/hr!

We hit 16.4km/hr in the narrows between Feolin and Port Askaig where the Jura ferry MV Eilean Dhiura crosses. our destination was An Cladach bothy, which lies beneath the highest summit to the right of the ferry.

South of the narrows there were some great eddies which carried us off course but soon we arrived at...

...An Cladach bothy on the SE Islay shore (where Tony and I had stayed exactly a year ago). Unfortunately it was occupied by two couples and there are only 4 bunks. When we went inside the first woman said "Oh look they are all wet!" The second said "Oh look they are all wearing the same". It was then that I noticed the row of shiny polished boots by the door and a huge supply of food and drink including enough uncrushed loaves for a week. We decided to move on. One of the men followed us out and rather apologetically said he was the Mountain Bothy Association maintenance officer and they were up for a week to maintain the bothy.

Whatever the purpose of their visit, we saw no work clothes or maintenance materials. They had obviously been dropped off by boat rather than making their own way in. Parties using bothies for long term holidays seem to be becoming more common. When Ian and I visited Rum in the winter the warden warned us of two undesirables with bows and arrows who had set up residence in Guirdil bothy for two weeks. Exactly a year previously Tony and I had come across some Glaswegians in Cruib Lodge in Jura when we arrived after sunset. They told us they had been there for 10 days. Fortunately because it was outwith deer shooting season the estate side of the lodge was unlocked and they were in there. So we were able to stay in the MBA side. Another sea kayaking friend came across a man and two alsatian dogs who had been in a non MBA bothy in the Sound of Arisaig for 3 weeks! Whatever, I would only stay a night or two in a bothy as long term residence effectively decreases the number of people who  can take shelter there.

The sun had just set on the shore so we paddled down the rocky coast looking for somewhere to land and set up camp before dark. Mike and I landed in a little rocky inlet and were just about to explore when our VHF radios burst into life. It was the ferry MV Finlaggan warning the "warship in the Sound of Islay" to keep clear while she berthed at Port Askaig.

 The warship very politely assured Finlaggan that there would be no obstruction to berthing.

 The warship proved to be a Royal Navy type 23 frigate, HMS Iron Duke, which was also involved in Joint Warrior. This was her on her way south after live firing exercises at Cape Wrath in which she used her 4.5" front mounted gun. Unfortunately the wash of both vessels trapped Mike and I in the gully for some time and the sun...

 ...had well set before we were able to launch and found somewhere more suitable to set up camp. If you enlarge this photo, you will just see the light from Ruvaal lighthouse 17km away to the NNW up the Sound of Islay. The photo also shows what would have been a glorious sunset when viewed from the little cove between the dykes of Jura, where we had last stopped and were tempted to camp.

 It does not pay to think of what might have been, either golden sunsets or warm bothy fires, instead we concentrated on getting the loaded boats up the beach and setting up...

 ...the tents in the light of the gloaming and a full moon.

Not only had we brought tents we had also brought wood and a bag of charcoal, we soon had a warming fire going. What might have been a very uncomfortable night passed in great comfort, no doubt helped by some generous snifters of malt whisky. Another disaster was realized when I realized I had left the flask of Islay malt (Caol Isla) in the car. Fortunately reserve supplies of Jura and Speyside malts were available!

Sanctuary at Maclean's Skull Bay for the potato men of Glengarrisdale

The tidal flow along the NW coast of Jura always runs SW to NE so we were quite tired by the time we approached Glengarrisdale Bay. We really were in need of a break. There had been nowhere to land as the swell was breaking heavily on the rocks and sending spray high above our heads. to get some idea of the scale, you can just make out Iasn paddling to the right of the red roofed cottage.

 I had no worries about landing at Glengarrisdale as some islands and reefs protect the beach from the swell. Indeed former inhabitants had constructed a seawall of cobbles between the shore and one of the islands.

Glengarrisdale Bay was a Maclean stronghold in the mid 17th century. Their stone built fortification, Aros Castle, no longer remains but its site is marked by a solitary tree. The Macleans were defeated here by the Campbells in 1647.

The former shepherd's house was finally abandoned about 1947 and is now a well maintained MBA bothy. We hoped to spend the night here but as we approached we could see clothing airing on the line and a tent pitched at its front. We feared that it might be full.

However we found only a charming young couple, Tom and Frances, who were walking round Jura's coast (a grade 10 walk!!!). They had chosen to camp so there was plenty room. So we hung our own things up to air and...

 ...soon had our stoves on for an evening meal while...

 ...Tom and Frances climbed to the top of the hill behind the bothy to watch the sunset.

We three were so knackered that we delighted in just watching the sunset from the door of the bothy while a full moon rose high in the sky.

Away to the NE, Scarba and the Corryvreckan brooded over the Glengarrisdale shore. Like many places in Scotland, today's peaceful Glengarrisdale had a bloody past. Its alternative name is...

...Maclean's Skull Bay. A gruesome skull and femurs sat on a rock at the edge of the bay for many years. They disappeared in the 1970's. The skull had a "sword" cut in it and allegedly belonged to one of the defeated Macleans from the 1647 battle. Modern legend says it was situated in Maclean's skull cave at the east of the bay. However, in John Mercer's book "Hebridean Islands, Colonsay, Gigha, Jura" published in 1972, the above photo shows the sad relics on a rock at the west end of the bay. Their current whereabouts are unknown.

 As night fell we got the bothy fire going, We had brought a bag of charcoal some wood and a saw. The estate had left some large logs which we warmed ourselves by sawing.

Tom and Frances joined us at the fire and we swapped outdoor tales. This was their second night at the bothy and both had had a strange dream the night before. Quite independently they had dreamt of men bringing baked potatoes for the fire. It was with some satisfaction that Ian, Mike and I produced sweet potatoes wrapped in tin foil and placed them on the fire, we had plenty to share. Our new friends were amazed! Nothing beats a baked sweet potato with butter and pepper! From that moment on we were known as "the potato men of Glengarrisdale"!

Dawn in the Sound of Islay

 We rose at dawn in the Sound of Islay.

 The warm light dir not reflect the air temperature which was rather cold.

 Surprisingly we were not the first to be afloat on the Sound. The MV Scot Isles was on her way to Wicklow in Ireland. At 1am she had been off Arnamurchan Point then made her way down the Sound of Mull and Firth of Lorn before entering the Sound of Islay.

 The water off An Cladach was still and clear but...

...once we left the shore it was moving like a train. This is the view up the Sound and...

 ...this is the view down the Sound past McArthur's Head lighthouse.

 The ebb tide was flowing SE down the Sound. We paddled at right angles to the flow. To the SE, the distant mountains of Arran rose beyond the Kintyre peninsula. After leaving Islay we paddled towards...

...the green can on the above chart and continued paddling NW. You can see how far we were carried SE before we hit a NW going counter eddy.

 We arrived off Am Fraoch Eilean which is topped by...

 ...the remains of the 15th century Claig Castle.

Soon we left the Sound of Islay and Claig Castle behind us. We would shortly enter the Sound of Jura and when the tide turned about mid day, it would accelerate us back to our starting point at Carsaig Bay on the mainland.