Explorers and the rock tower of Eilean na Cloich.

This intriguing rock tower is on Eilean na Cloiche, one of a group of delightful islands in the Lynn of Lorne.


We stopped on nearby Eilean nan Gamhna to admire the view of the tower. It is backed by the distant mountains including snow flecked Bidean nam Bain, which is the highest mountain in Argyll and Ben Starav.


This view demanded a prolonged luncheon break.


The seakayakphoto.com staffers are hardened athletes in the peak of fitness. They put themselves through extremes of physical endurance and hardship (often in the depths of winter) in order to bring to you, dear readers, photos and tales of voyages to these distant places. In a word, they are explorers.

27/12/2008

Red rock at sunset

As the sun sank to the west of Loch Roag on the Isle of Lewis the grey rocks of Lewisian gneisss began to glow red.


Paddling under these great cliffs we basked in the radiated heat that had built up during the day.


The sun finally set on the western horizon, below which our destination, St Kilda, still glowed in the last of the day.

30/05/2008

Amazingly the wind dropped.

Tour de Rozel, Jersey, Channel Islands.

We left St Catherine's in the NE of Jersey with the wind gusting to force 7 but it was veering rapidly from NE to SE. The water rounding Le Coupe Point was quite rough but once round we had calm seas and were shelteed from the winds all the way to Greve de Lecq. Amazingly Jersey canoe club had managed to lay on another great day despite the winds.

The last day barbecue was held in torrential rains and the local roads were like red rivers. The soil from the recently lifted potato fields was carried towards the sea.

U2 can Bono Rock

U2 can Bono Rock in the Sound of Luing, if you have a sea kayak!


But you had better look for it 750m to the NE of where the chart says it is!

Rainbow Rock

Rainbow Rock, Rhinns of Galloway


Leaving Slouchnamorroch Bay, we continued our paddle past cliffs that plunged straight into the sea. Just offshore huge blocks were inclined to the same angle as the cliffs.


With increasing tidal assistance we made our way round Crammag Head and found ourselves under the rocky ramparts of Dunman Hill. Two millenia ago, ancient Britons held a hill fort on its southern flanks.


On the north going flood tide (this is looking south) the sea builds up behind this gap and you shoot through the gap like a river rapid.


Far beneath the summit of Dunman lies the "Y" cave.


We stopped for a second luncheon of Christmas cake, just south of Portdown Bay, at the stunning Rainbow Rock with its folded strata.

17/02/2008

The bare bones of the Earth exposed in Slouchnamorroch Bay

Rounding Cairnywellan Head we came across the most amazing coast of indented coves and jagged headlands. We entered a small cove just to the north of Slouchnamorroch Bay. Just for a moment, dwell on what sort of a landscape gives rise to such an original name as Slouchnamorroch! There are only a couple of references to it in Google and one of these is this site! Let me now introduce you to this corner where land and sea meet.


We drew our kayaks up onto a beach of bare bedrock.


There were boulders scattered about on the rock and you could see where they had worn hollows in the rock. One can only imagine the bedlam here on a stormy night when wild waves drive these boulders about the beach like some crazy pinball machine.


The beach was mostly bare of sea weeds and shellfish, but here and there a few barnacles and limpets survived in protected hollows and crevices.


A dyke rose boldly in the middle of the beach and marched its way inland to rise to the sky in the cliffs behind.


One can only imagine the cataclysmic forces that have created this place and yet we had it all to ourselves. We did not even need to get up particularly early, we left the house at 8am!

17/02/2008

And pretty maids all in a row.

"With silver bells, and cockle shells,
And pretty maids all in a row."

Leaving the ancient stones of Turnberry Castle we made our way north past a series of rocky skerries called the Maidens. They were the ruin of many ships but also gave shelter if the sailors had sufficient local knowledge. In later years a sea wall was built that linked a series of the Maidens and a bell was hung at its end. It was rung to guide returning sailors to the safety of Maidens harbour.

We stopped at the delightful little cove called Carrick Bay which nestles in between the cliffs at the south end of Culzean estate. The sands of these bays are rich with cockles, scallops and Norwegian prawns many of which find their way to the restaurant tables in Spain.

20/01/2008

Rockhopping in the wake of the Stevensons.

I have posted about Turnberry lighthouse before. This lighthouse will be a familiar sight to TV golf fans as the Open Championship has been held here in 1977, 1986 and 1994.

Turnberry lighthouse was built on the recommendation of the Receiver of Wrecks in the nearby town of Ayr. The reefs of Turnberry Point and nearby Brest (or Bristo) Rocks were notorious as the graveyard of many ships making their way to and from the busy ports in the Firth of Clyde. The lighthouse engineers, David and Thomas Stevenson, recommended construction on the point rather than on the offshore rocks and it was completed in 1873.


It is funny how we Scottish sea kayakers often find ourselves rockhopping in the wake of the Stevensons.

20/01/2008

The Moa of Mull

Unlike the moai of Rapa Nui, which all turn their backs to the sea, the great moa of Mull faces resolutely towards the west and the open sea. This mimetolith can be found on the pink granite rocks on the coast of Eilean Dubh which lies to the west of Erraid.

21/07/2007

Reclining nude figure of Uisken

The reclining nude (and cross legged) figure of Uisken can be seen at low tide among the skerries.

20/07/07

Look before you leap.

We landed on extremely slippy green boulders at the foot of Malcolm's Point.


Mike is dwarfed by the scale as he casts a line from Leac nan Leum.

We were unprepared for the huge scale of Leac nan Leum, a great basalt slab, which stretched for hundreds of metres. This was testament to the violent volcanic past of the island of Mull during which, huge volumes of lava spilled down from the Ben More volcano. Even today, after some 50 million years of erosion, the lava fields are up to 1.8km thick.

Leac nam Leum is Gaelic for Slab of the Leap....


At its eastern end, the slab is riven by a great chasm over which one of our ancestors is reputed to have leapt while being pursued by an army of dreadful giants or some such terror.

Tony, who did not have the same constraints on his time, made a more measured judgement and, after a long look, decided not to leap.

20/07/2007

Lewisian gneiss caves

At the Stornoway Storm Gathering there was considerably opportunity to explore caves.

Ayrshire agate

This banded agate was found on the south Ayrshire coast under the cliffs on which Culzean Castle stands. Agates form as nodules within cooling lava. As the lava weathers the nodules are released and get broken open by wave action. They are also found on Ayrshire's raised beaches which are used to grow Ayrshire potatoes. Hunters of the semi precious stones will often follow the tractors which plough the fields.

White Port and the Cow's Snout

One of the great pleasures in sea kayaking is the satisfaction of battling round a headland in challenging conditions to find sanctuary and rest on a sheltered crescent of sand. Nothing was more welcome after rounding Balcary Point (no photos) than finding White Port which nestled in the shelter of Hestan Island and Almorness Point. We had a very pleasant luncheon here but decided we would need to press on rather than detour up the Firth to Kippford and the Anchor Hotel.



Looking east from White Port across the mouth of Rough Firth all looked calm but a roller coaster awaited until we cleared the rock formation called the Cow's Snout.

Burrow Head

Last Wednesday, Tony and I paddled Burrow Head in south west Scotland.



It juts into the strong tidal streams of the Solway and separates Luce Bay and Wigtown Bay.





We found strong tidal streams, some of the best rock architecture, caves and rockhopping which either of us have found anywhere on Scotland's west coast or the Hebrides. Another plus for the magnificent south west.

Rainbow rock

Earlier today


A clue to rainbow rock's location. This cave is directly below one of the most prominent lighthouses on the Scottish mainland.

A grey day on Floday!

Really getting into this grey business now!

The remote island of Floday lies at the mouth of Loch Roag on the north west coast of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. On a wet, grey day our sea kayaks slid into the lagoon on its southern shore. The subtle colours of these Lewisian gneiss boulders stood out from the greyness. These rocks were formed 3,000 million years ago. They seem to have faded quite slowly.

When mountains crumble to the sea.

If the sun refused to shine, I would still be loving you.
When mountains crumble to the sea, there will still be you and me.
"Thank You" Led Zeppelin

Finding an erratic pink rhyolite pebble on the beach at Inchmarnock took my mind to its source. It came from the mountain of Buachaille Etive Mor which sits between Glen Etive and GlenCoe nearly 100km away to the NNE. Its Gaelic name means great shepherd of Etive. It is composed mainly of rhyolite, a pink volcanic rock, which gives excellent scrambling and rock climbing.


This is the Rannoch Wall which has many popular climbing routes.


My friend, John, completes a climb up the face of the Rannoch Wall,


This is an old B&W print I took in 1973. I used an orange filter to darken the blue in the sky. It shows the King's House Hotel, which is situated at the Buachaille's feet. It was one of the old staging inns at which horse drawn carriages would stop after a day's travel. The next inn on the road north is the Clachaig, at the west end of Glen Coe, some 14km away and the next to the south is the Inveroran Hotel, 15km to the south over the Rannoch Moor, near the shores of Loch Tulla. It took a long time to travel in those days.


I wonder how long this pebble took on its journey south to Inchmarnock?

Inchmarnock's beach of treasures.

Our weekend trip to Inchmarnock in the Firth of Clyde was blessed with stunning light.



We landed on a lonely beach which was patrolled by a golden eagle.



We were not the only ones disturbing the eagle's domain. Herring gulls were mobbing it.



The beach was full of treasures. The pink pebble is rhyolite which was transported here from Buachaille Etive Mor, nearly 100km to the NNE, by glaciers in the last ice age.