The hidden isles and recesses of Loch Moidart

 We left Castle Tiorum and continued...

 ...our exploration of the South Channel of Loch Moidart. The wooded sides of Riska island fall steeply into the blue waters of the loch.

Our tour of the inner Loch Moidart continued past Eilean an Fheidh (deer isle) and...

...tiny Eilean na Craoibhe (tree isle). Normally we are in a desperate hurry here as we have  usually been rushing before the ebb tide dries the \North Channel. This time we were...

...in no hurry as we were waiting for the flood tide...

...to fill the the North Channel. It was most pleasing to round the east end of Shona Beag and see clear water stretching away down the channel towards the Sgurr of Eigg on the distant horizon..

We passed the long abandoned hamlet of Egnaig on the north shore. Its inhabitants had abandoned their homes long before the first road came to this part of Moidart in 1966. The road arrived well before grid electricity which did not arrive in Moidart until 1988!

The Sgurr of Eigg is a magnificent sight all the way down the north channel. It was formed when an ancient river valley was flooded with lava from the Rum volcano. The lava cooled quickly forming very hard pitchstone. The glaciers in the Ice Age then scoured away the softer rocks that had contained the river valley, leaving the Sgurr as it is today.

The north channel has a narrow entrance hemmed in by precipitous cliffs then...

....opens out into an area of reefs with coral sand beaches that are exposed at low tide.

As we left Loch Moidar,t a pair of sea eagles watched us from high on these cliffs.

Our bows turned north again. It was getting late in the afternoon and fourth luncheon was calling. Not far ahead we spotted the ideal place...

Fair birlin' doon the loch to Castle Tioram.

We left Shoe Bay and set off up the South channel of Loch Moidart with both a fair wind and a flood  tide behind us. We were soon birlin' doon the loch at a most respectable rate of knots.

As we paddled deep inland, the loch narrowed and the wind dropped. To the south the land was relatively low lying and is where the outflow of River Sheil carries the fresh water from Loch Sheil into the salt water of Loch Moidart.

 To the north we were hemmed in by the rough slopes of Eilean Shona which fell steeply into the sea.

 Ahead and to the east, lay our next objective...

...Castle Tiorum (pron. Cheerum) whose ancient grey walls rise from the grey rocks of...

 ...the tidal island upon which it stands. On its NW side there is a sheltered cove, which at one time would have had...

 ...wooden birlinns, like this modern reconstruction, drawn up on its sands. Many think the Celtic birlinns were developed from Viking longships but it was actually the other way round. The Celts were using birlinns some 800 years before the time of the longships. Indeed, in his third book of the Gallic Wars, Julius Caesar describes them in detail and how they were superior to the Roman galleys.

 Today it was kayaks and an F-RIB rather than birlinns that drew up on the sands  below...

 ...the castle walls. Long gone castle defenders might have viewed our approach with some suspicion but we were intent on nothing more than...

 ...stopping for our fourth luncheon....

More sea eagles than you can shake a stick at in Loch Moidart.

From the ancient walls of Tioram castle we...

...proceeded to explore the inner recesses of Loch Moidart with the flooding tide.

The local sea eagle put in another appearance, soaring above the steeply wooded slopes.

 A series of delightful channels separate the many isles that dot the inner loch.

As we paddled deeper into the wilderness, clouds streamed out from the summits of the high hills creating delightful contrasts between light and shade.

 Some of the isles plunge steeply into the sea but others are...

 ...easier to land on being low lying. However, beware of camping here if a high spring tide is due in the early morning. Attractive, close cropped, level grass becomes covered at HW.

 It was a joy not to be racing to get through the tidal North Channel of Loch Moidart on a falling tide (as we have often done).

 The line of the North Channel runs straight as a die and the iconic...

...summit of the Sgurr of  Eigg draws the eye...

 ...towards the open sea. Suddenly Lorna saw yet another...

...sea eagle wheeling over the crags above the channel.

It is a bit of a sea eagle hot spot here. David and I had seen these two here seven months previously.

 As we neared the sea the clouds drew back and we paddled the outer half of the North Channel in...

 ...glorious sunshine which enhanced the autumn colours.

 At low tide the mouth of the North Channel is a maze of skerries but...

 ...at high tide most are covered. We exited the North Channel and entered the open sea with a most marvellous prospect over the Sea of the Hebrides to Eigg and Rum.

 We now proceeded to Port Achad an Aonaich where we intended to...

 ...set up camp on the machair. I went for a quick swim in 11C water then...

...we set up the tents, but the day was not over yet..oh no!

For the full stereovision experience follow this trip on Ian's blog:

here and

here 

Tourists fled from Castle Tioram on our approach.

We were quite hot by the time we had finished the portage and manoeuvred the boats over a salt marsh to the edge of Loch Moidart where we...

 ...joined these mallard ducks on salt water (for the first time in this trip.)

 I always love that feeling of weightlessness when you paddle a heavily loaded boat away from the shore.

 We were not going very far. We still had to do second luncheon and we needed to wait until the flood tide had filled the tidal north channel of Loch Moidart.

Castle Tioram (pronounced Cheerum) sits on a tidal island and would make an ideal place to stop. We saw various tourist fleeing the island as the rising tide threatened to cut them off. However we would not have the castle entirely to ourselves...

 ...this magnificent sea eagle was wheeling overhead on its great barn door wings.

I always associate Tioram Castle with the birl of the bagpipes because on my first visit,  there was a piper playing at the foot of the castle wall. He was not a local, in fact he was on holiday from Nova Scotia! The sound of the pipes echoing from the castle walls and the misty cliffs round lonely Loch Moidart was spine tingling. I nearly expected to see the Young Pretender himself being carried up the loch in a birlinn.

At first it looks like there is nowhere to land as the grey walls of the castle merge into the grey rocks of the isle which fall steeply into the sea but...

 ...turn a corner and there is as delightful little beach. However, who knows what grisly deeds took place there in the castle's heyday?

Tioram was the ancestral home of  Clan Ranald from the 14th century. The family owned the castle until the early 20th century, though it has been a ruin since  the early 18th century. The castle currently belongs to a Scottish businessman, Lex Brown, who has been in a long battle with Historic Scotland to restore the building to a habitable state.

We spent a lazy hour as the tide rose and I even managed a swim in the 11C water then it was time to continue our exploration of Loch Moidart.

For the full stereovision experience read Ian's account here...