The end of winter and the end of the loch, in Loch Shiel.

We now entered the shallows near the mouth of Loch Shiel. The sandy bottom was visible most of the way across the loch except for a narrow channel in the middle. There was complete silence except when some...

 ...loud Canada geese honked by.

 Looking back up the loch, the mountains now seemed a very long way away.

 For the first time since leaving Glenfinnan we caught sight of a group of houses,...

...the village of Arachacle with its jetty lies at the west end of the loch. Before the modern roads were built this was a very remote place. In 1893 David MacBrayne ran the first weekly launch service on the loch to connect Arachacle and Glenfinnan. This was replaced by a larger steamer, Lady of the Lake, in 1898 by Lord Howard of Glossop, who owned Dalelia estate. It linked up with the mail coach service from Fort William to Arisaig.

The current boat service is operated by Loch Shiel Cruises from end of March until beginning of October. The MV Sileas spends the winter at Moss, on the opposite side of the loch from Acharacle.

We had an enjoyable chat with Jim Michie who has run Loch Shiel Cruises since 1998. He was getting the MV Sileas ready for her annual inspection prior to her summer season. She was built in 1940 at Rosneath as a harbour launch for the Royal Navy. She is 52 feet long and built very strongly of double diagonal teak on oak frames. and Jim told us a little about her history. In the summer her trips from Glenfinnan would be an excellent way to see the loch if you do not have a boat of your own.

Leaving Jim in the warm spring sunshine we realised that we had passed imperceptibly from the loch to the river, from the mountains to the lowlands and from winter to spring. The current in the River Shiel was now carrying us towards the sea.

The tattie stick of Loch Shiel.

 After our "tea stop" we continued down Loch Shiel and passed...

 ..the delta of the River Aladale which flows out of Glen Aladale, the ancestral home of the Jacobite MacDonalds. We were keen to get as far down the loch as possible before night fall so we pressed on. Just as the sun was setting a cold SW wind got up and made finding a camp site more urgent.

We came to a spot where there were two potential camp sites a few hundred metres apart. One had better ground but was exposed to the cold wind. We were getting tired and visited each site twice before making our final decision.

 In the end we decided on the more sheltered location and soon had the tents up and our evening meal cooking.

We got all our things in order by the time darkness fell over Loch Shiel by which time, it was time to get the camp fire lit.

0Baked potatoes were cooking in the embers as we warmed our toes by the fire. We toasted the success of our first day with several malts before the tattie stick was produced to howk the tatties oot the fire. One thing the prudent camper must not do is to chuck all the sticks on the fire before the potatoes are removed. One suitably long stick must be retained! With some butter and salt, the baked potatoes were absolutely delicious and were unanimously voted the best ever.

The Archimedes principle, aluminium, Lord Kelvin, and absolute zero degrees K (Kinlochleven).

 

 Caolas nan Con is really very narrow. This is the view to the right and this...

... is the view to the left, both from the middle of the channel. The surprising thing is that for almost all the 20th century large ships came through these narrows.

 What on earth would bring shipping to this remote spot. Well I will tell you....

 ...water and lots of it brought them. The more insightful are probably wondering if I have lost my marbles and what it is that floats my boat. Well let me explain.I am not talking about the obvious salt water in the loch and the Archimedes principle. What brought the ships here was  fresh water and lots of it. This area gets 75" of rain a year  so what were the locals doing with it, selling it to the Emirates? No let me explain. They (or rather Irish navvies)  built a huge dam high in the hills and a conduit and pipeline to feed a large hydroelectric generator in Kinlochleven.. The ships brought bauxite from Larne in Northern Ireland and France  and the electricity was used to smelt it into aluminium using electrolysis. The ships then took the aluminium ingots to rolling and fabrication mills in central Scotland and England. One of the driving forces of the development of aluminium smelters in the Highlands was the renowned physicist Lord Kelvin who was scientific advisor to the nascent British Aluminium Company.Thes smelters ran from 1908 to as recently as 2000

Once in the inner loch we made steady progress and soon the...

...mountains at the entrance to Glencoe...

...slipped behind or wakes which were the only disturbance on the cold glassy waters of the loch.It is difficult to describe how cold it began to get.

 The sun which never rose above the Aonach Eagach mountains was now visibly sinking leaving this spectacular glory lighting the sky. We decided to make the most of the day and press on to Kinlochleven as as the gathering cirrus clouds foretold the next day's weather.

We came across a large dog otter crunching his catch on the shore here. My hands were so cold he had gone by the time I fumbled to get the camera out.

We were now getting nearer to Kinlochleven which lies at the foot of the great snow covered pak of Am Bodach.

We were not the only ones going to Kinlochleven, this helicopter was delivering fresh supplies of muesli.

The cold was now so bad that even the sea started to freeze.

 Great plates of ice were left cracking on the shore by the ebb tide.

  There was a continuum of cold from the snowfields of the summits to the icy sea loch.

 At first it was easy to crunch through the thinner ice but soon it became thicker...

 ...brash ice. Any drops of water which fell...

 ...on our kayaks froze instantly and frozen sea water started to build up on our paddles.

 As we approached Kinlochleven a cold wind blew down from the icy wastes above but...

...the "melt" water coming down the fast flowing river Leven kept a channel free. We had intended going up to the Ice Factor indoor climbing wall (in one of the old aluminium smelter buildings) for a warm up and a coffee but when we landed on a shingle bank in the river Leven it was so cold that we felt the life force draining out of us by the second. Ian, Mike and I have all spent many days in Scottish winter mountains but we had never experienced cold like this. As my thermometer had broken earlier in the day we had to invent a new scale. as we had never been so cold we set it at absolute zero degrees K. No not Kelvin... degrees Kinlochleven. As we fled the scene, we knew that we would never be so cold again.

Even the Garnock gulls seemed less ordinary.

We suddenly became aware that we were not alone in the Garnock estuary. Everywhere we looked there was teeming bird life seeking shelter for the winter.

 Turnstones were dozing on...

 ...the rocks and...

...oyster catchers were probing the mudflats exposed by the receding tide.

 Even the Garnock gulls seemed less ordinary.

Flocks of widgeon flew backwards and forwards across the estuary as each mud banks was exposed revealing fresh pickings.

As the estuary emptied a whooper swan decided there was not enough room in the narrowing channel and flew off towards more open water as...

 ...did we before being caught high and dry. We paddled out of the mouth of the river and over...

 ...the bar into...

...the open Firth of Clyde beyond.

Who would have thought that this waterway behind the industrial decay of the former Nobel explosives works would have been such a natural wonder?

Amid the decay, something brought a smile to our faces.

 A few weeks ago, David, Mike, Phil and myself set off from the open Firth of Clyde up the confluence of the Irvine and Garnock estuaries.

At first things did not look too promising. This old boat had clearly seen better days and decay seemed to be...

...the order of the day as we passed long abandoned jetties.

 Then as we...

...passed under an old bridge in the Garnock estuary ...

 ...our mood lightened and...

...something brought a smile to our faces.