The point of no return, Rubha an Leacan to Gob an Rubha Dhuibh, Oa, Islay

As we approached Rhuba nan Leacan at the SE corner of the Mull of Oa it was 11:19 and should have been slack water as the NW flow was not due to start until HW Dover i.e. 11:31. However, the flood was already established and we had to quickly decide whether to commit to rounding the Oa. I had to put my camera away as the point was pretty rough. The water was being squeezed through a gap between the headland and a reef and the water level was about two feet different on either side. We slid down the slope and wetted our faces in a series of standing waves beyond. There would be no return!


However, the action did not last long and in the bay beyond, there was only a gentle current.


We felt very isolated below the great cliffs of the Beinn Mhor which became higher and bolder with each paddle stroke.


Looking back towards Rubha nan Leacan, the horizon was empty until the distant coast of Jura.


The scale of the place was awesome and we felt very small...


and very alone as we passed under Gob an Rubha Dhuibh.


Then we realized, we were not quite alone...

We have lost our friend.

Our friend Jim Broadfoot died unexpectedly on Saturday. I can't begin to imagine how his mother Margaret, wife Dorothy and daughters, Pamela, Lorna and Alison are feeling at the moment and I send them my deepest condolences.


Some may think that this blog is about sea kayaking or the Scottish coastline but in truth it is about sharing these things with like minded, kindred spirits. David said you get to know someone better after a few days sea kayaking than after a lifetime of socialising. He is right because everyone's safety is dependent on their fellow paddlers. Jim was the perfect companion at sea. He was totally dependable and always considerate of others. Without his help my paddling would have been much more restricted after my accident on Coll last year.

On the night before we left Coll, I was literally rolling on the ground in agony beside the campfire, it put a real dampener on what should have been a great end to fantastic trip. Jim disappeared for a while then reappeared with a big grin, hotdogs in rolls with ketchup, followed by hot buttered scones, jam and whipped cream, followed by hot chocolate! He was always pulling surprises like that out of his kayak, just when people felt down.

He came to visit me last Wednesday and we reminisced about past adventures and planned our future ones. It was a really pleasant day together and I am grateful that Jim took the time to spend with an invalid.


Primarily Jim was a family man and he was so proud of his three daughters. This photo shows Jim and his youngest daughter Alison on the family's Easter holiday to Loch Leven. He also told me that he and his wife Dorothy had been paddling together on Loch Long last week and that this had meant a great deal to him. Jim and Dorothy spent his last day on a paddle in beautiful Loch Striven and shared a magical picnic together on its shores.
















My friends and I feel privileged that we have been able to share great times with a true gentleman.


So thank you Jim....there should have been so many more good times to share with your family and friends...but we will never forget those precious moments in your company.

The SE coast of the Mull of Oa, Islay

From the lighthouse we started our exploration of the remote SE coast of Islay's Oa peninsula. We entered a wild world of offshore stacks, with names like Am Plodan, and this one, An Ganradh; The Gander.


For the most part, the land plunged steeply into the sea making it a remote and trackless coast.


There were only occasional breaks in the line of rock such as here, at the delightful Port an Eas. The landing of the waterfall.


The rain and sleet showers sometimes relented giving a blink of sun as we made our way along the coast towards Rhuba nan Leacan, which was the start of the Mull of Oa tide race.


The NW flow is said to start at HW Dover which was at 11:31. We were still an hour before HW Dover and would have expected an adverse current but, with little effort, we were making between 7 and 8km/hr between the skerries and stacks along the shore. Either there was an eddy or the tide turns earlier close to the shore....

Oa what a beautiful morning, Oa what a beautiful day!

We drove off the ferry and parked a short way along the broad sweep of Traigh Gheighsgeir, the white sand beach on Port Ellen's NW shore.


We were on the water by 10:07. In the background the White Hart Hotel reminded me of an incident when we were unable to purchase an Islay Malt in a licensed premises on the island!


No sooner were we on the water than a downpour of cold sleety rain fell from a darkening sky. The forecast wall to wall winter sun bore little relationship to the actual weather here on the Oa!


Our first way point was the Carraig Fhada lighthouse which guards the entrance to Kilnaughton Bay. As you can probably tell from the architecture, this is not a Stevenson lighthouse. It was built by David Hamilton and Son in 1832. It was taken over by the Northern Lighthouse Board in 1924. From the SE, the correct approach shows a white sector which is flanked by red and green sectors. The light flashes every 3 seconds.

Beyond the light, headland after headland disappeared into the greyness of the day and towards the Mull of Oa.


The Laird of Islay, Walter Campbell commissioned the lighthouse in 1832 in memory of his wife, Lady Eleanor Charteris, who died that year when she was only 36.

Walter had this poem about Eleanor inscribed in a large plaque above the lighthouse door:

Ye who mid storms and tempests stray in
dangers midnight hour.
Behold where shines this friendly ray and
hail its guardian tower.

Tis but faint emblem of her light my fond
and faithful guide.
Whose sweet example meekin bright led
through this worlds eventful tide my happy course aright.

And still my guiding star she lives in realms
of bliss above.
Still to my heart blest influence gives and
prompts to deeds of love.

Tis she that bids me on the steep kindle this
beacons flame.
To light the wanderer o`er the deep who safe
shall bless her name.

So may sweet virtue lead your way that
when life`s voyage is o`er.
Secure like her with her you may attain the
heavenly shore.

We were quite anxious not to encounter storms and tempests on our trip round the Oa!

The most southern point of the Hebrides.

After crossing the Sound of Jura, the Islay ferry, the MV Hebridean Isles, made her way along the south coast of Islay. Heavy snow showers suddenly appeared, blotting out the clear blue sky of the early morning. Away to the SSE, the bold headlands of Kintyre rolled away until suddenly ending at the Mull of Kintyre.


Today we were bound for another Mull, the Mull of Oa (pron. Oh!), which is the most southerly point in all the Hebrides. In this view from the ferry you can see the summit of Beinn Mhor, 202m, the highest point in the Oa peninsula. It lies behind low lying Rhubha nan Leacan, which forms the eastern most point of the headland. All the tidal streams that fill and empty the north part of the Irish Sea are squeezed past the Mull of Oa and it was spring tides! We would be in for an exciting time but fortunately there was not much wind forecast, despite the snow showers.


The ferry has to wend its way in through a series of islands and skerries as it approaches its jetty at the entrance to Loch Leodamais.


All round the coast of Islay there are a series of very large sign posts telling you where you are. To some people, some will have very familiar names! This is the Port Ellen malting works which prepares malted barley to the exact requirements of many of the distilleries on Islay. Sadly the Port Ellen distillery closed in 1983 but its bonded warehouses are securely locked and still contain many barrels of whisky.


Our sense of anticipation rose as, ever so slowly, MV Hebridean Isles made her final approach to the jetty. Port Ellen's characteristic whitewashed houses with black windows and doors clustered round the head of Loch Leodamais. It was good to be back.

Day return to Islay, please.

Back at the beginning of March we left Glasgow at 4am and arrived at Kennacraig at 06:23. As the MV Hebridean Isles was nudging into her jetty from the southern Hebridean Isle of Islay, the moon was setting in the west.


We drove aboard and were soon steaming down West Loch Tarbert as the sun was coming up at 07:30. We were bound for Islay! Regular readers of this blog will know that the staff of seakayakphoto.com have a particular affinity for this isle. You can read more of the delights of Islay here and here.

Earlier in the week, I had noticed that one of the two Islay ferries was off for servicing and the Hebridean Isles was to be running extra sailings later in the evening to make up for the lack of crossings. Her last return was to be at 20:20 from Port Askaig which is about two hours later than the normal last winter sailing. Just enough time for a sea kayaking day trip from Glasgow! A cunning plan was being hatched!


At the mouth of the loch, the lovely low lying isle of Gigha came into view. Closely followed...


...by her mountainous neighbour Jura. Her magnificent Paps rose white above the dark waters of the Sound of Jura. We were off on another sea kayaking adventure!

St Kilda, artist in residence.

The population of the Village, St Kilda has increased by one tonight. St Kilda lies 40 miles out into the Atlantic, beyond the Outer Hebrides. Before their evacuation in the 1930's the St Kildans were the most remote community in the British Isles.


My daughter Jennifer, who is a final year photography student at Glasgow School of Art, is staying on the island for the next week to complete a photographic assignment for her final degree show. She was dropped off by Kilda Cruises's high speed boat from Leverburgh on Harris this morning and hopes to be picked up again next week.


In the course of her research she came across a number of letters written by St Kildans to John MacKenzie, the factor of the MacLeod Estate on Skye. MacLeod was the St Kildans' landlord. These letters were part of a collection held by the St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow but were "undiscovered" in that neither the National Trust for Scotland, which holds most of the St Kildan archive, or any of the very many authors who have previously written about St Kilda knew of or had access to these letters. Jennifer based her dissertation on the letters and now on her second visit to St Kilda, hopes to create a photographic interpretation of the island and relics of the St Kildans' existance there to accompany her dissertation at her degree show.


This letter was sent by Donald Ferguson, the factor's groundsman on St Kilda in 1897. In her dissertation, Jennifer presents evidence that the letter was hand written by Donald's son Neil Ferguson. In 1896 two brothers Richard and Cherry Kearton visited St Kilda and their written and photographic record of the island, the islanders and their life; A camera on St Kilda was published in 1897. In it, there is a photograph of a letter from Neil Ferguson sent in a St Kilda mail boat to the mainland. The hand writing appears to be identical to the handwriting in this and other letters from Donald Ferguson.

This is a transcript of Donald's letter:

St Kilda 15th July 1897

Dear Sir

Please send us a hogshead of coal tar, we only got two barrels and 4 pounds 2 inch nails. You must also send 28 slaps for the house and 7yds of felt its empty on both sides of the chimneys. The bull is of no use. We are sending it back by the Dunara. Please send for my mother 20 deals of grooved wood to cover the walls inside 21 feet long ½ inch thick
I hope that you got everything sent you by the Dunara quit safe, I have their casks of oil ready. Our weather is fine and warm, I’ll have fish to send by the Dunara.
I received your letter at present and got the book all right. Norman Gillies cow had her first calve last may

Yours faithfully
Donald Ferguson

I am not quite sure why they thought the bull was no use, maybe something else sired Norman's cow's calf!

Jennifer is in for a very rare experience. However, there are gale force winds expected in St Kilda over the next few days so I hope her tent survives. There are very few people on St Kilda at the moment as the NTS work parties have not yet arrived. Jennifer will experience a little of what the St Kildans lived through; extreme weather and isolation.