Sea of tranquility in Loch Eil.

Last Sunday Jim and I left Glasgow at 6am. We were bound for the head of Loch Eil which is deep within the mountains of Lochaber. We dropped one car off (as our shuttle) on the shores of Loch Linnhe, just north of the Corran Narrows.

Not a breath of wind disturbed the waters of Loch Eil and to the west, the mountains above Glen Finnan were perfectly reflected on the calm water. From left they are: Beinn an Tuim 810m, Meall an Uillt Chaoil 844m, Stob Coire nan Cearc 887m and on the extreme right, Streap 909m.

There is a long passing place, suitable for parking, on the single track road just above a large rock on the beach. In the distance, Ben Nevis 1344m was lost in thick cloud.

If this old lifeboat is moored offshore and is a pretty unmissable guide that you have arrived at the correct spot.

We soon had the kayaks on the beach ready to go.

The waters of Loch Eil are a long way from the open sea and not a hint of swell reached the upper recesses of the loch. We set off on a tranquil sea.

A hall of mirrors in Loch Goil.

The dying sun shone through...

...gaps in the cloud layers and illuminated  strips of the mountains high above us.

Down below we paddled on in the gathering gloaming.

The reflections on the glassy sea created a bizarre vision of an alternative world, like a fairground hall of mirrors.

Navigation is easy in a long narrow loch like Loch Goil. We could not even paddle past our destination as it was at the head of the loch.

On the way we passed the research barge Maytime. Loch Goil is up to 85m deep and is used to test the sound signatures of submarines.

We arrived at the douce Victorian villas of Lochgoilhead 30 minutes after sunset. They had been built before the mountain road was constructed. Each day, the owners commuted by steamer into the dirty smoke and smog of Glasgow. Just like them, we had come to Lochgoilhead to escape from the city. The darkness gathered round us, pouring down the hillsides and spilling out over the water of the loch like Indian ink. The reflections were blotted out by the night and our adventure in Loch Long and Loch Goil was over. We returned to the lights of the city, reflecting on the sights we had seen.

Carrick castle and the leading lights of Loch Goil

We crossed the mouth of Loch Goil...

...and arrived at the grim stone keep of Carrick castle.

Carrick Castle was originally built in the 14th century. It is thought to be named after Robert Bruce who was Earl of Carrick (South Ayrshire) before becoming King. It was later used as a hunting lodge by King James IV. The current building is 15th century but has some 14th century features and belonged to the Campbells. It was burnt out in the late 1600's as punishment for the Campbells' part in a rebellion.
 

We now turned NW towards the head of the loch and passed the leading lights that guide vessels, making their way up Loch Long, into Loch Goil.

In the recesses of the narrow loch, the sun had already set and the temperature was dropping like a stone. The light in the sky and its reflection on the still waters of the loch had a magical and ethereal quality. We knew it would be soon gone and our paddle would finish in darkness.

War and peace at Carraig nan Ron.

Carraig nan Ron (seal rock) is a navigational hazard to both the warships and civilian ships that ply Loch Long. It lies off the point which separates Loch Long from Loch Goil. The light beacon is operated by a solar panel. In the distance is the Royal Naval Armament Depot at Coulport. Unlike Glenmallan, which services surface warships, Coulport is specifically designed to service submarines armed with Trident nuclear missiles. The large rectangular building is a covered floating dry dock for submarines. It was built in 1993.

Looking back up Loch Long, Ark Royal and Ashna were just visible in the distance.

A telephoto shot shows the storage tanks of the civilian Finnart oil terminal on the hill beside Ashna.

We now turned away from the bustle of Loch Long and entered Loch Goil...

...which is somewhat in the shade of its longer sibling.

The mark of a good bothy.

We stopped by one of the few beaches on Loch Long and enjoyed an excellent luncheon in this sheltered spot.

We could not stay long  as we were not even halfway to Lochgoilhead...

...but we could not resist a further stop at Mark Ferry cottage. Before the mountain road (which we used to leave a shuttle car) was built into Lochgoilhead, a ferry crossed to here on the Ardgartan peninsula, between Loch Long and Loch Goil. The ferry left from Portincaple on the other side of Loch Long.

The cottage is now maintained by the Mountain Bothy Association and as you can see from the roof, they are doing a great job.

What a great bothy, everything was neat and organised.

It is very well equipped with an excellent fireplace...

and a separate bedroom.  Clearly it is not near enough a road end to attract the neds (Non Educatit Delinqwints) it has been very well looked after.

In the woods behind the bothy, there was no sign of trees having been hacked down for firewood. The grass was still frosted and unsullied by human faeces which surround many of the bothies that attract the neds.

Despite its remote location on the west side of Loch Long, at one time, Mark Ferry cottage was once home to Scotland's oldest man.

A photo above the bothy fireplace commemorates his residence in the cottage. James Grieve is shown here in 1905, seated on the right of the photo. He was 105 at the time and lived till he was 110. The "old man" standing next to him was actually his son who was often mistaken for him. At the time this photo was taken the son was probably about 80 so it was an easy mistake to make!

Two million barrels of crude in Loch Long.

 Leaving the Ark Royal we continued SW down Loch Long. As we cleared Cnap Point a Very Large Crude Carrier all but obliterated the view ahead.

She was an Indian owned ship called MT Ashna. She has a capacity of 2 million barrels of crude oil.

We met another kayaker who had launched just south of Glenmallan jetty.

Ashna was off loading her crude at the Finnart deep water oil terminal. A pipeline takes the oil 57 miles right across Scotland, to the Grangemouth refinery on the Firth of Forth.

A tug was moored at the Finnart buoy. The SD Nimble is a Royal Navy support tug operated by Serco Denholm. She is 38m x 9m and has two diesel engines producing 2640bhp. She was probably waiting to manoeuvre Ark Royal from Glenmallan after the munitions had been unloaded.

HMS Ark Royal is a large ship but she was dwarfed by the scale of Ashna. By the time we had paddled her 330m length it was time for lunch.

HMS Ark Royal, final voyage to Scotland.

This is what we had come to see. HMS Ark Royal, the third in the Invincible class of light aircraft carriers.

She was launched in 1981 and commissioned in 1985. She weighs 22,000 tons and measures 210m by 36m.

She can carry up to 18 Harrier GR 6/7 aircraft. Her ramp is steeper (than that of her two earlier sister ships) to enhance the Harriers' take off performance. She is currently flagship of the Royal Navy fleet.

 Here she is  moored at Glenmallan pier in Loch Long to off load her armaments.

There is an exclusion zone that extends all round Glenmallan, almost to the far side of the loch! When munitions are being loaded or unloaded it is patrolled by a naval launch and so we made a point of sticking to the far shore. I wasn't sure if photography would be exactly welcomed and my white barrelled Canon L telephoto lens  is not exactly inconspicuous. I tended to take photos when other boats were traversing the edge of the exclusion zone and distracting the patrol boat!

Sadly HMS Ark Royal is to be decommissioned...

...and so we said our farewells to this fine ship. We were glad that we had managed to kayak past her on her final trip in Scottish waters.

Sea kayaking in search of the lost Ark.

Loch Long runs very straight and it is also very deep. It  has some of the finest deep water jetties in the World. From north of Ardgartan we could see a VLCC* berthed at the Finnart oil terminal some 9km away. But this was not what we were looking for.

We continued paddling down Loch Long under the high peaks of of Argyll...

...round which the mists still clung.

The NW shore of Loch Long is remote from tarmac roads and being in a sheltered location...

...the forests still had some autumn leaves for colour. We were enjoying the natural beauty of the loch when...

...Jim thought he spotted something ahead.

Ever so slowly...

...a strange shape materialised out of the glare of the low winter sun. We had found what we were looking for!

*VLCC: very large crude carrier!