Surreal on Loch Shiel, surrounded by solitude and silence.

After visiting the monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie at Glenfinnan, we turned our bows to the SW and were rewarded by the dramatic view of Loch Shiel stretching away through the mountains of Sunart and Moidart. Although it is seldom visited, this view is familiar to millions as it features in the Harry Potter films. The railway to Hogwarts circles the top of Loch Shiel via the Glenfinnan viaduct.

The loch stretches for 28 kilometres until its outflow into the River Shiel. It was carved by a glacier in the Ice Age and is 128m at its deepest. After the ice retreated about 10,000 years ago it was a sea water loch. However, Scotland is slowly rising after the weight of the ice sheet has gone and the loch is now 4.5m above sea level and has been a fresh water loch for the last few thousand years.

There is no public road on either side of the loch and it was only recently that a forestry road was constructed along its SE shore. The loch side still has extensive areas of native woodland (Scots, pine, sessile oak, birch, rowan and alder) as its remoteness protected it from over grazing and clearance by man.

The remoteness of Loch Shiel is preserved to this day as none of the surrounding mountains exceed 3,000 feet in height and therefore achieve Munro status. As a result, they do not attract droves of Munro "baggers", those at the OCD end of the outdoor sports spectrum who collect all 282 (or whatever the current number is) summits. This creates great erosion on the Munros while neighbouring peaks, just a few feet below 3000 feet, often remain in near pristine wilderness.

After leaving Glenfinnan we passed the delightful wooded isle of Eilean Ghleann Fhionainn and then we were surrounded by solitude and silence. The surface of the loch was so calm that the only disturbance to the reflections of the...

...forests and mountains was our wake. These were perfect conditions for spotting An t-Seileag (or Shiela as the monster of Loch Shiel is more commonly known). If you have not heard of Shiela you probably are more familiar with her cousin Nessie  who inhabits the depths of Loch Ness. Other large fresh water lochs in Scotland also have monsters such as Morag in Loch Morar, just to the north of Loch Shiel. We kept our eyes peeled for any sign of disturbance on the surface of the loch but Sheila was shy and there was no sign of her serpentine coils.

 As we slowly made our way down Loch Shiel we savoured every stroke as we passed Sgurr Ghiubhsachain, 849m on our left and...

....Bein Odhar Mhor, 870m on our right.

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.

SKIES: three things small, independent paddling groups need to know before paddling with someone new.

Sea kayaking can be a challenging activity and the people you choose to paddle with can have a direct influence on your own safety, not to mention enjoyment. The BCU Star system is supposed to help match people and give some confidence in a new paddling partner's abilities. Certainly many clubs concentrate on coaching their members through the star system. Being in the club environment also lets you get some idea if a new member might match your aspirations for a suitable paddling partner. Clubs often set off on the water in very large groups, possibly in the hope that an unsuitable member will be diluted by the "safety in numbers" mantra. However, my old club had such little confidence in each others' abilities (regardless of how many stars that were held) that they constantly just practised "skills" without actually going anywhere.

So how is the independent minded paddler, who likes to paddle in a small group, going to find paddlers of suitable ability and compatibility?

The very first sea kayak trip that Mike and I ever did together was 30km one way in the winter with few places to land. How did that happen?

The first time Ian and I went paddling together was also in the middle of winter on a multi-day expedition. So how did we decide that it would be safe and enjoyable to paddle together?

Photo by courtesy of  OceanPax blog.

Duncan has eruditely written about "connections" and the first time, he Joan, Ian, Mike and I paddled together so successfully. How did that happen?

At the age of 70 (plus) David is a regular member of our little group both on the water...

...and (Aherm) ashore not to mention regularly starring in P&H adverts. How did that happen?

Phil didn't even have a paddle, never mind a kayak when David and I found him down Ayr beach one day. Look at him now, how did that happen?

Tony and I had never met until our first paddle, 15km out to Ailsa Craig. Calm on the way out, it certainly was not on the way back. So how were we sure about our respective abilities?

Jim and I had never met until our first paddle round St Abb's Head on a big spring tide and a lumpy swell in borrowed boats. How did that come about?

Some think we operate some sort of secret society with funny handshakes and initiation ceremonies but nothing could be further from the truth. The answer is very simple: SKIES, the Sea Kayaking Independent Evaluation System. This truly is an unparalleled system for the non club paddler to meet compatible paddling partners. And...


...unlike the BCU Star system....


...we do not hide our stars away in drawers.


Oh no! We wear our honours and...

...epaulettes with pride.

Charcoal and herons in the Burnt Islands.

From Eilean Dubh we paddled across the north end of the Kyles of Bute to the delightful Burnt Islands. The first we came to was Eilean Fraoich (Heather Isle).

The daffodils were out and it was only the 14th of March. There was little sign of any heather however.

 Looking over the Kyles of Bute to the Bute shore we could see the new composting toilet and cooking shelter that has has been provided for those that follow the Argyll Sea Kayak Trail.

The west going tide had already started so we worked our way uptide close to the island before crossing...

 ...the shipping channel which is clearly marked by red and green cans.

 The tide had just started running so was very gentle but it rips through here at 6 knots on a spring tide. Our destination was Eilean Buidhe (Yellow Isle).

 We landed on rocks at the north end of the islands. Although the rock hereabouts is...

 ...very interesting, composed of contorted lichen covered swirls, it was not the purpose of our visit.

Ian and I  braved bramble covered defences to ascend to the south point of the island. Here are the grass covered remains of a vitrified dun (fort). Its circular walls are 4m thick and enclose an inner area nearly 20m in diameter.It was extensively excavated by JH Maxwell in 1936. He found a thick layer of charcoal at the base of the vitrified walls which was presumably the source of the combustion process that fused the stones of the wall together.

From the dun we had a good view over the Kyles to Eilean Mor which is the largest of the Burnt Islands. Some years ago Mike and I camped on Bute just on the far side of Eilean Dubh. We suffered one of the worst midge attacks we have experienced anywhere. Then we were kept awake most of the night by the cacophony from the large heronry which takes residence in the island's trees in the summer.

The dun also affords a good view over Eilean Bhuidhe to the West Kyle beyond. It must have been a great location for a fort.

 Leaving the Burnt Islands we just had a short trip down the East Kyle to Rhubodach, the Bute ferry terminal  where we had left the cars. An easterly wind got up and we launched the sails. I was able to leave the others far behind by using the forward fin on the Aries. However the others caught up as I had to wait for the ferry MV Loch Dunvegan to leave her berth.  I remember using the MV Loch Dunvegan to cross to Skye in the days before the Skye Bridge was opened in 1995. She was built in 1991 at Fergusons Yard in Port Glasgow. After leaving Skye, she was relief vessel on various crossings until she moved to the Kyles of Bute route in 1999.

 We landed just to the east of the ferry slipway, a few metres from the cars.

We had enjoyed a wonderful day in the Kyles of Bute. We may only have covered 18km but on the other hand we had spent some very pleasant time in the Kames Hotel!

Eilean Dubh, the dark island of the Kyles of Bute.

We set off from Caladh Harbour to exit via the north channel with the thickly wooded island of Eilean Dubh on our starboard side.

Like the south channel, the north channel also has a stone beacon to mark the entrance.

Eilean Dubh means the dark island and the dense growth of non-native rhododendron means that not much light reaches its base and so it gradually chokes out native species. Many places in Scotland are trying to eradicate rhododendron such as...

...here on Riska Island in Loch Moidart.

Back in the Kyles of Bute, we paddled round the steep, dark shore of Eilean Dubh till we came to..

...one of the few landing sites which is situated on the east side of the island.

The sign at the top of the jetty says "Strictly Private". This of course is irrelevant since the  Land Reform Act (Scotland) was introduced. There is a path from the jetty to the burial ground of the Clark family (of Clarks Shoes)  who owned the Caladh estate for much of the 20th century. There are eight graves dating from 1937 to 1999. Sadly one is of a child who died at only 9 years of age. We decided not to land.