End of the road: the Mull of Galloway tide race.

After we reloaded the kayaks onto the car, we drove to the road end at the Mull of Galloway, the southernmost tip of Scotland.


Looking east on the spring ebb tide you can see the main race comes very close to the east end of the Mull but it then heads SW, out to sea, leaving most of the cliffs below the Mull standing in a relatively flat eddy.


This is the spring ebb race running against a force 4 to 6 SW wind.


Looking south towards the Isle of Man over the ebb race.


Looking west, the ebb race is well offshore...but the water round Gallie Craig is not exactly flat.


To give an idea of the scale this is Gallie Craig from the sea looking east towards the lighthouse! (17/02/2008)


The above photos show the ebb race. The flood race come much closer to the cliffs than the ebb. We went through against the flood tide, 2 hours from slack water at springs. This photo (in a similar wind to that which we experienced) shows the water state below the fog horn, 2 hours from slack water at neaps. It gives an idea of what we met. We found more broken water and the conditions persisted without a break for 2km! To give some idea of scale, the photo was taken from a height of 71m. (28/12/06)


Going east to west, on the west going ebb you have only a short 100m or so of race to cross at the east end of the Mull. After this you enter a large relatively flat eddy which extends right to the west end of the Mull and beyond.

Going east to west on an east going flood as we did, even in close to the rocks, you are much closer to the main race. From the light house you have to fight adverse currents at each headland. The red arrow highlights a submarine reef which throws up standing waves especially on the flood.

What a fun place! No wonder several legends attach to this place.....

PS Of course most people would have driven up to the road end at the top of the cliffs and looked at the race before they paddled it. Many would have decided that one look was enough! The trick with this type of paddling is not to look first! We didn't, but of course I am not recommending this ostrich type of approach to planning sea kayaking expeditions! In truth I knew exactly what it would look like as I have gazed down on the race in many different conditions but not paddled it afterwards.

15/12/2008

Sea Kayakphoto.com trip index 2008

I have been posting little snippets of various trips concurrently. For those who would like to follow the thread of a single trip, I hope this index will be useful.

Less is more round Lismore!
27/12/08

What a carry on round the Mull!
15/12/08 The Mull of Galloway

Another West coast sunset! Firth of Clyde
14/12/08 Bute from Portencross,

Dunure from Maidens, Firth of Clyde
06/12/08

The Four Castles of Carrick, Firth of Clyde.
02/11/08 Turnberry to Ayr

The River Fleet from Fleet Bay
17/10/08

Loch nan Ceall and the Sound of Arisaig
13/09/08
14/09/08

To the Corryvreckan
30/08/08 Seil to Scarba via the Corryvreckan
31/08/08 Scarba to Seil via the Grey Dogs and the Cuan Sound

The Mull of Kintyre
26/07/08 Macrihanish to Sanda via the Mull
27/07/08 Sanda to Davaar Island

To Islay
12/07/08 Claggain Bay
13/07/08 Traigh Bhan
14/07/08 An Claddach
15/07/08 Port Askaig

To St Kilda
30/05/08 Loch Roag
31/05/08 Taransay
01/06/08 Monach Islands
02/06/08 Hirta and Dun
03/06/08 am Village Bay, Hirta
03/06/08 pm Boreray and the stacks
04/06/08 Loch Reasort to Scarp
05/06/08 Pabaigh Mor and Bhacsaigh

To the Garvellachs
10/05/08 Seil to the Grey Dogs via the Corryvreckan
11/05/08 Grey Dogs to the Garvellachs and Seil

Lady Isle
08/05/08 A busy night at Troon

Ailsa Craig
05/05/08 Gannets and granite

Fleet Bay
02/05/08 Solway sunshine

A misty Firth of Clyde
27/04/08 Maidens to Ayr

Arran
18/03/08 Portencross to Brodick via the Wee Cumbrae, Bute and Glen Sannox

Mull of Galloway
17/02/08 Ardwell Bay to East Tarbet

Dorus Mor
12/02/08 Craignish through the Dorus Mor to Crinan and Loch Craignish then back through the Dorus Mor as the sun set.

The four maritime castles of Carrick
20/01/08 Turnberry to Ayr.

The Cumbraes and Bute
12/01/2008 A day trip in the Clyde from Largs

The long and winding road, to the Mull of Galloway

I might have mixed up my McCartney songs but you get the idea...

Despite being part of mainland Scotland, when you are travelling through the Rhinns of Galloway, you feel you are on an island and so must have fallen asleep on the ferry.


The lambing season starts early here, hinted at by palm trees being just about the most common garden plant in these parts. In the southern half of the Rhinns of Galloway, you are never more than 2.5km from the Gulf Stream warmed sea and so frosts are rare.


However, it is not always like this in winter. High on the Mull, Kennedy's Cairn commemorates a postman who died on this road while delivering the mail in a snowstorm .


We left one car at East Tarbert to pick up later when we landed there. There is a road down to the old lighthouse boathouse and jetty.


You can get right down to the grass beside the boat house. The jetty was built to service the lighthouse before the road was built. If you look carefully at the top of the beach you can see a huge steel deck hatch that has been washed off a ship rounding the Mull in a storm.

17/02/2008

End of a Mull of Galloway day.

We continued eastwards along the Mull of Galloway and came to a huge cave.


As we left the cavern in the gathering twilight, we caught sight of a waxing gibbous moon.


That reminded me of a total eclipse of the moon that was due at 3am on 21/02/2008. Since I had already got a great view and some photos on the last eclipse at 23:20 03/03/2007, I decided to give this one a miss!


Rounding the Mull of Galloway we encountered a brisk eddy which impeded our progress towards East Tarbert.


The chill February air caught our breath as the sun sank below Tarbert leaving us in darkness.

I have said this before, but you should come and paddle this amazing coast before the crowds come!

17/02/2008

Sea kayaking perfection at the Mull of Galloway.

When we entered the Mull of Galloway tide race we found ourselves travelling at 12km/hour when not paddling. Fortunately there was no wind or it would have been a real wild ride!


There are a couple of bays along the Mull that you can break out of the tide into. There are a variety of caves and stacks to explore.


As the sun went down we realised we would need to move on...


..to allow time to play on the eastern race beforer the sun went down.


Why do we go sea kayaking?

17/02/2008

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

Rockhopping down the Rhinns.

We set off from High Ardwell Bay on the wild west coast of the Rhinns of Galloway.


What followed is some of the best sea kayaking rockhopping you will get anywhere.


Round each headland there were yet more rocky channels and small stacks.


As we approached the Mull of Logan the flood tide began to build.


It ran through the channels like a river.


This magnificent arch is just SE of the Mull of Logan, it is not even marked on the map!


For the second time in a week, we bypassed a perfectly good sea kayaking pub (at Port Logan). Instead, we rounded Cairneywellan Head on our way to our first stop at Slouchnamorroch Bay.

17/02/2008

Winter sunset, playing in the Mull of Galloway race.

Today was just another day here at seakayakphoto.com. Can you imagine the hardship watching the winter sun set while playing in the tide race off the Mull of Galloway?


Earlier we had paddled the remote and seldom visited west coast of the Rhinns of Galloway. I had been so inspired by an article on paddling the Mull of Galloway, which is in the newly published Ocean Paddler issue 8, that Tony and I just went out and did it!


27km on a short winter day and we did not start paddling till 1130 am.

Just about as close to perfection as it gets!

17/02/2008