Eclipsed by the moon and retinal scarring on the Sound of Arisaig.

On the third day of our circumnavigation of the lands of Moidart we awoke early after a warm and comfortable night in the Glenuig Inn.

 Outside was breezy, grey and cold what had possessed us to have an early breakfast and be...

 ...on the water for 0830?

 It was not just us. Steve and Chris from the Inn joined us as well!

This was the morning of 20th March 2015 when the eclipse of the sun  was expected! We wanted to see it from the water but...

...things did not look too promising. Using local knowledge Steve suggested paddling straight into the NW wind to get away from the mountain Roshven which was throwing up the clouds.

At first this seemed to be a good plan as there was a hint of sunlight ahead on the  hill sides of Eigg. This was taken at 09:28am some 6 minutes before the maximum eclipse at 09:34.

This was taken at 09:34 at the point of maximum eclipse. It was an eerie feeling being on the water when it should have been getting lighter not darker. Note how the slow shutter speed caused by lack of light has blurred the waves and spray.

It was at this point that I noticed that there were some hints of brightness back the way we had come. So we turned our bows to face the entrance to loch Ailort and Ian raised Steve on the VHF on our prearranged channel 72 and told him where we were headed.

I launched the sail and used it to broad reach towards the bright patches. Steve who had not seen a Flat Earth Kayak sail in action before, made this comment afterwards "We saw your sail up as you raced off downwind on a broad reach, chased by your rooster tail!! Does the hull get hot at that speed? Couldn't believe how quickly you put clear water between us!!"  He has now  borrowed one of my sails...

Meanwhile the others ran directly downwind as I drew towards the ever dwindling patch of bright water.

Amazingly I got this shot at 09:56 through a thinning of the clouds. Despite the bouncy conditions, I wanted the best shot so I got the Canon 5D mk3 out and took three quick shots. This one was the best but I now have three images of the eclipse burned on my retinas, I just need to close my eyes and there they are...who needs photos!

Turning full circle at Smirisary with the sun on our backs all day.

 We continued north past the...

 ...ancient stratified rocks of Smirisary.

 We reached the most northerly point of our day at Rubha Ghead a' Leighe where...

 ...we turned towards the east, into the Sound of Arisaig. The distant bulk of mighty Roshven was turning pink with alpenglow.

The many crofts of Smirisary were sited on infertile land with little access to the sea. The inhabitants were cleared here by former estate owners who wanted the better land for sheep and deer. Although still remote by today's standards, Smirisary was at one time almost inaccessible. The road into Glenuig from the Fort William/Mallaig road was not built until 1966 and even then it was still a footpath from Glenuig to Smirisary! "The Spade among the Rushes" by Margaret Leigh describes living as a crofter in Smirisary in the 1940's and makes an insightful and enjoyable read.

 During our long day of travelling west, north and then then east, the sun had followed behind us so we enjoyed...

 ...the constant views like this one of Samalaman Island and Samalaman Bay without being dazzled.

The big house at Samalaman makes quite a contrast with the crofts.

 Gulls were pairing up for nesting on Samalaman Island as we passed between it and...

 ...the entrance to the sheltered bay.

 At the final wooded headland we had one final turn to make. For a brief time...

 ...we turned south into Glenuig Bay, past the public jetty, to our final destination...

...the Glenuig Inn. We arrived at just after sunset at high water so did not even have to carry the boats very far. We intended to stay the night and the first thing we did was to have a hot shower in our dry suits in Steve's excellent sea kayakers' washing and drying facilities!

After changing we made our way into the inn where we received a warm welcome and ordered pints of real frothy sports recovery drinks and bowls of prawn tails in garlic butter! From our early start at our camp site on the shore of Loch Shiel it had been an incredible day. One which we each agreed was one of the best sea kayaking days ever but our journey round the lands of Moidart was not over yet!

Raising the standard of our paddling at Glenfinnan.

It had been an awful winter dogged by bad weather and ill health. Ian and I had originally planned to paddle down Loch Shiel to the sea in February but I was not well and although Ian hoped to paddle it solo, the weather was not really conducive.

A small weather window opened on 17th March and Ian, Mike and I met at the Glenfinnan House Hotel at the head of Loch Shiel. We had intended to stay the previous night to make the most of the day but the hotel did not open till 20th March. However, the hotel manager Duncan Gibson kindly let us park in the hotel car park and to launch from the hotel grounds. This was much appreciated.

The hotel dates from 1755 when it was opened as an inn by Alexander MacDonald who had fought a Culloden for Prince Charles Edward Stuart. It later became a farm then a grand house for the MacDonalds of Glenaladale. It remained in the MacDonald family until 1916. The house was bought by the MacFarlane family in 1971 and they converted it into the current hotel.

As the guests had yet to arrive, this red deer was making the most of the peace and quiet in the hotel grounds.

Our intention was to paddle down fresh water Loch Shiel to the sea then paddle over 60 kilometres to the head of Loch Ailort a sea loch which is only 17 km from Glenfinnan by road. I trolleyed the kayaks to shore while Ian and Mike ran the shuttle. I then enjoyed a very pleasant half hour chatting to Bill, a photographer from Glasgow.

 We were on the water by 14:40 and we found the...

 ...waters of the loch to be incredibly still and glassy calm.

 The mountains were mirrored with...

 ...incredible clarity.

 It was almost a shame to disturb the serenity of the scene with our paddling!

 At first we made for the head of the loch under the steep slopes of Sgurr Ghiubhsachain, 849m.

The beautiful Glenfinnan Catholic Church of St Mary and St Finnan was built by Fr. Donald MacDonald in 1873. He was a brother of the Laird of Glenaladale.

Standing above the shallows at the head of the loch is the Glenfinnan monument to Prince Charles Edward Stuart. He landed here in 1745 in an attempt to regain his father's James's crown from the protestant Hanoverian monarch George II. His father, George I, succeeded  from the childless last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne, due to the Act of Succession of 1701 which prevented a Catholic from becoming monarch.

Those who supported the restoration of James as monarch were called Jacobites after Jacobus, the Latin form of James. Bonny Prince Charlie's rebellion finally came to an end after his defeat at Culloden in 1746. This was the last battle fought on the British Mainland and afterwards the Jacobites were subjected to much persecution. It was not until 1815 that tensions had relaxed enough to allow the monument to be raised in memory of Bonny Prince Charlie and his ill fated rebellion.

You can follow our adventures on Loch Shiel in stereovision by following Ian's blog which starts here.

The Kames Hotel, a long way home.

After our blast up the West Kyle of Bute, we were looking forward to a luncheon in the Kames Hotel...

...we ordered beef and veggie burgers with pints of frothy sports recovery drinks. We had got chatting to a great bunch of guys from Ayrshire who had been in the bar watching our crossing. After a while they disappeared only to...

...reappear with guitars and an accordion.

My goodness we were in for a treat.  They played traditional Scots...

...and Irish songs...

..along with more recent songs from James Taylor and ...

...this one from Tom Waits....Long Way Home.

Sports recovery drinks were flowing and we knew we were getting into a perilous situation, any longer and we would have been there all night!

So we beat a hasty retreat while we still could and made a run for it up the West Kyle of Bute. This is sea kayaking.

Glenuig expedition cut short after last sunset over Ardnamurchan.

 From Moidart we still had 4km to go till we got back to our setting off point at Samalan Bay near Glenuig. It would have been lovely to watch the sunset over Ardnamurchan from the beach at Port Achadh an Aonaich but it was getting cold and I began to feel rather unwell. I thought it was because I was feeling sick about my camera not working but...

There are many skerries and submerged reefs on the coast up to Smirisary but the swell and wind had both died away and we reached the headland at...

 ...Rubha Ghead a' Leighe without incident. To the east, the peaks of Rois-Bheinn, 882m, rose into a cold winter sky above Samalaman Island. It was a lovely sight but I turned back...

...to get this view of Ian and the setting sun which was heading for  the open Atlantic, beyond the tip of the Ardnamurchan peninsula.

We arrived at Samalaman in the gathering darkness to find the ladies of the Mallaig and District Canoe Club loading up after their outing in these beautiful waters. They were also staying at the Glenuig Inn and told Steve Macfarlane of our arrival. Steve kindly drove along with his trailer which was much easier to load than our cars!

Unfortunately I became very ill that night and was not even able to finish a delicious plate of prawns. I had developed 'flu which is still hanging over me 4 weeks later! Unfortunately I was not able to join Ian and Allan on the next two days paddling so you will need to read about them over on Ian's blog.

I was actually too ill to be upset at missing more paddling, anyway I had just enjoyed one of the most varied and best winter days ever! We might only have covered 26.5km but the scenery was stunning.