Exsisto paratus on the Ross of Mull.

It was a long paddle back from Malcolm's Point to Uisken. We stopped at this deserted and unnamed white shell sand beach.


There was not a hostelry in sight. We had to wash our freshly caught mackerel down with what ever refreshment we had to hand. Exsisto paratus.


We did not want the day to stop so we took a little detour past Uisken, through the skerries, to Ardalanish Bay.


We turned back from Ardalanish as the sun began to sink in the west.



The skerries of Uisken are such a maze, it is unlikely you would ever retrace your wake.



20/07/2007

"I'm at the Arches"

Carsaig #1 from Carsaig #2


Carsaig #1 from the sea.


"I'm at the Arches."


Even the great Carsaig Arches are dwarfed by the scale of Malcolm's Point. mind you if this is the size of his point, what size was Malcolm?

20/07/2007

Carsaig Arches, Mull

Not far from the great slab of Leac nam Leum, there are even greater wonders of Mull's volcanic past.


The Carsaig Arches are now high above the sea but during the last Ice Age, when water levels were higher, Atlantic swells surged through the arches.


Hexagonal basalt columns teeter on top of layers of lava.


In turn the lava layers are interspersed with layers of volcanic ash. The ash is very soft and can be picked with a fingernail. As you can see, wave action is undercutting the basalt by wearing away the ash. One day, probably quite soon in geological terms, the whole lot will come toppling down.

Might I be presumptuous and recommend that you visit the Carsaig Arches sooner rather than later?

20/07/2007

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

Picture problem in Blogger

Since November 30th there has been a problem with the way Blogger displays large pictures when you click on the small picture embedded in the Blog page. Blogger are aware of the issue and Blog authors can fix it by editing the html references to each picture on each page. If you have your own Blog, the explanation of how to do so is here.

I have now fixed my pages of 30/11 and 1/12 and I hope the Blogger team will have the issue resolved soon.

Howling wolf rock (not the blues).

Shortly after leaving Uisken we passed "howling wolf rock". Rocks whose shape looks like something else are called mimetoliths. This mimetolith is the only grey wolf we saw on our travels. The wolves were native to Scotland but the last was exterminated in 1743.


We gathered the most wonderful seasoned wood from the top of one of the beaches. We filled all the hatches of our kayaks and took it back to Fidden beach which had been stripped bare of firewood. It was to provide the best sea kayaking fire we have ever enjoyed but it did not need to frighten off any wolves. The farmer's dog was quite unafraid of fire and made off with half of David's tea.

20/07/2007

Uisken to Malcolm's Point

After our circumnavigation of Iona we were looking for a more restful day so we ran the kayaks by car along to Uisken on the south coast of the Ross of Mull. We were bound for Malcolm's Point a mere 11km along the coast to the east.


Making progress along the first part was somewhat difficult given that there were deserted white shell sand beaches round every corner.


When we rounded Rubha nam Braithrean the bay opened out and Malcolm's Point lay before us.


As we approached, we were dwarfed by the scale of the cliffs. Layer upon layer of volcanic ash alternating with basalt lava flow soared over 300m above us.

20/07/2007