Ardnamurchan to Mull

About 1km to the south of Ardnamurchan we came to the black basalt rocks of the headland of Corrachadh Mor. This is actually the most westerly point of Britain, not Ardnamurchan. However it is possible to drive a car to Ardnamurchan so this lesser point receives the vox pop laudit of being the most westerly point.


Working round the coast of the peninsula we came to the little isle of Eilean nan Seachd Seisrichean at the mouth of the Sound of Mull. The MV Lord of the Isles can be seen entering the Sound on her voyage from Barra to Oban.


We now struck out across the Sound of Mull aiming to land on Mull some 8km distant.


We enjoyed a great crossing with a fair tide, a following wind and helpful swell.


We landed just to the SW of Quinish Point on Mull.


Ardnamurchan lighthouse seemed a very great distance away.

10/05/2009

Kayak Caledonia

My good friends, Tony Page and Gavin Gerrard, are about to embark on a fundraising paddle of at least 800km round northern Scotland: "Kayak Caledonia".


Tony Page.


Gavin Gerrard.

They are raising money for MacMillan Cancer Support and also for Childline.

I wish them a great trip!

:o)

Sea kayaking round Ardnamurchan Point

The channel at Portuairk was draining fast due to the spring tide and with three kayaks to move it was quite a logistics exercise to keep up with the disappearing water!


Sanna Bay on the north of Ardnamurchan is fringed by glowing white shell sand beaches.


Soon we had Ardnamurchan Point and the lighthouse in our sights. In the distance, the low lands of Coll and its Cairns lay to the west. We were nearly tempted to go there as a day trip!


The spring tide was in full flow to the south and we were carried effortlessly towards the point.


The lighthouse was built by Alan Stephenson in 1849. It is built of granite quarried on the Ross of Mull. There are Islamic influences in the architectural detail. The tower is 36m high and the light stands 55m above sea level. There are two white flashes every 20 seconds. The lighthouse was automated in 1988.


The south going tide starts at +01:00 HW Oban and the north going starts at -05:22 HW Oban. The maximum spring rate is only 1.5 knots but if there is any wind against tide there can be a fearsomely rough tide race and yachting pilots advise giving the point a wide berth of 2 miles! We were at the point during maximum south going spring flow, with a light northerly wind. Conditions were very calm

10/05/2009

Journey to the far west.

Our original plan was a camping trip from Ardnamurchan over to the Cairns of Coll, down west of Coll to Tiree then back up east of Coll and over to north of Mull and back round Ardnamurchan. Unfortunately the weather Thursday, Friday and Saturday of last week put paid to that. Surprisingly Sunday promised to be fair so instead, we planned a little day trip from Ardnamurchan, the most westerly point of mainland Britain.

We left Glasgow at 6am and arrived at the Corran ferry at 8am. Since I was last here, the 08:15 ferry has been cancelled and the first Sunday sailing was not till 08:45. The ferry was still tied up at its mooring on the far side of Loch Linnhe.


Rather than wait, we decided to drive the long way round Loch Linnhe, Loch Eil and finally Loch Shiel. This way added 33 miles extra to the 23 miles and 15 minute ferry journey but only saved about 15 minutes.

This is the monument to Prince Charles Edward Stewart who raised the standard of the 1745 rebellion at Glenfinnan at the head of Loch Shiel. Just behind and out of sight, is the curved Glenfinnan railway viaduct which has been made famous by the Harry Potter films.


At 09:51 we finally crossed the watershed of the Ardnamurchan peninsula above Loch Mudle and there before us lay the distant "Small Isles" of Rum and Eigg.


At 10:20, 4 hours and 20 minutes and 186 miles after leaving Glasgow, we arrived at our destination. The little shell sand cove of Portuairk is a natural harbour, formed by a deep inlet through the rocks of this exposed coast of Ardnamurchan. The tide was ebbing fast so we had a long carry before we finally hit the water at 11:13. We couldn't wait for the day's adventures to begin. But it was to be a long day...

10/05/2009

On location in Paradise!

10/05/2009

On location on Mull

Just paddled from north Ardnamurchan south round A. point. Fantastic day.

10/05/2009

Economy of scale.

This is the Maersk Beamont entering the Clyde on the 2nd of May 2009. We had stopped on Bennane Head to get a good view of Ailsa Craig. At first we thought she was an aircraft carrier but it was soon apparent she was an empty container ship. It is unlikely that Scotland would have enough exports to fill such a giant ship. Indeed tonight, a week later, she is still anchored in the Clyde north of the Cumbraes.

It would apear that she is a victim of the economic crisis and has come to the Clyde for shelter and to weather out the recession. She was launched in Germany on 30/11/2007. She is 294m long with a beam of 32m and a draught of 13m as such she is one of the largest ships to enter the Clyde.

You do need to be careful when crossing to Ailsa Craig!

I have posted about the history of the Maersk Line previously.

02/05/2009

A day at the races.

11/04/2009

Stolen: Tiderace Xcite sea kayak.

Pish! Low life have struck again.

This time the victim is Aled Williams, designer and founder of TIDERACE Sea Kayaks.

Here is his story:


"Stolen: Tiderace Xcite
Taken from my parents' back garden in Four Mile Bridge, Holyhead, Sunday night, 26/04/09.

Colour: All white (hull, deck, seat + rim, bulkheads), Kevlar 10mm outside seam, black ropes and elastics + hatch rims
Construction: Full Carbon (the inside is all black, chequer-board cloth pattern 10mm squares), epoxy resin, vacuum construction.
Serial No: XC078EC21 (label inside front deck day hatch)
Condition: As new

This particular boat is a one-of-a-kind, with a custom layup to my specification, estimated retail value: £3500

Please contact me on 07973 785537 or info@tideraceseakayaks.co.uk should you have any information on the whereabouts of the kayak.

Aled"

Three waves....

How to overtake a sea kayak: catch three waves.

11/04/2009

Surf's up on Ayrshire's Atlantic coast!

Yesterday the surf was up on Ayrshire's Atlantic Coast.


Most people think the Ayrshire coast is a sheltered backwater in the Firth of Clyde. However, its southerly aspect is exposed to the North Atlantic through the North Channel between Ireland and Scotland. Add to this, steep surf beaches such as at Ballantrae, the tide race of Bennane Head and a coast remote from roads with cliffs, caves and reefs and you have the recipe for a great day out! Magicseaweed.com was predicting a surf height of 10.5 feet and period of 13 seconds from the NW at Macrihanish. Weather forecast was for force 4 SW dropping to 2 then increasing to 6 southerly.... just perfect!


Driving south towards Ballantrae the road rises over Bennane Head. What a prospect lay before us. Peeling surf as far as the eye could see!


We launched at Finnarts Bay on Loch Ryan and paddled north to Lendalfoot. Unfortunately the car park by the beach at Finnarts Bay is in the process of being converted to a caravan park and vehicular traffic has been blocked. It looks like they might be constructing a new car park well behind the beach so I hope that public access will not be blocked. It does now mean quite a long carry to the water though.


Within minutes of launching we were enjoying some superb sea kayaking below bold cliffs and ...


... exposed headlands. Two golden eagles soared overhead.


It was soon time to stop for luncheon but there are few landing places on this coast. Little Portandea came into view between the backs of huge crashing surf monsters. The seakayakphoto.com luncheon club is not put off by such things and we steamed in between two huge sets. Billy said "do you hear that one?" as a huge wave crashed over the protecting reef behind...


... then smashed into the little bay. During a very pleasant luncheon we were able to observe the effects of succesive waves on the cliffs. Boulders were rumbling and being tossed about the steep beach by the heavy surf.


Our kayaks looked mighty frail sitting there! After lunch we then enjoyed a very exciting launch.


Refuelled, we then made our way up to the surf beach at Ballantrae. What a hoot! Well spaced peeling monsters were making their way shore wards at 20km/hr.

After a while it seemed only right to do some practice surf rescues. Billy volunteered to get wet as he was keen to test out his new Fourth Element gear. Please note, this is not a very safe arrangement of kayaks with a large approaching wave! I turned parallel to Tony and rafted up well before that next peeler arrived!


All bailed out...


... and Billy is on his way again, delighted with the effectiveness of his Fourth Element thermocline top and shorts.


Next we had to negotiate the race at Bennane head. It was neaps but we had timed it so that we were rounding the headland 3 hours after the turn of the tide. There were some huge swells and the water off the head was very confused and so there are no photos in the race itself.


However, it was a flood tide, where the incoming tide is split by the headland. This is always calmer than on the ebb. On the ebb, the south going current to the north of the head joins the north going current to the south of the head. Where they join can be a maelstrom!


The end of a perfect day.

02/05/2009

South West Sea Kayak Meet - 12th-14th June

Mark Rainsley has organised the second South West Sea Kayak Meet for the 12th to 14th June

This promises to be a fun alternative to the many established UK symposia. The SW has a stunning coastline and I am very tempted to go myself but I can't travel very far from home at the moment.

Have a great meet!

Zen and the Art in Sea Kayaking

12/04/2009

Sea kayaking Carsethorn to Southerness

Crossing the broad expanse of Drum Bay we approached Carsethorn .Having been denied white topped foaming Solway Steeds we now looked forward to some white topped foaming pints of Guinness in the waterfront beer garden of the Steamboat Inn. Sadly, our thirst went unslaked, not only were the no rooms, the Inn was closed!!!! Hopefully, it will reopen soon.


Chugging up and down, just off shore, the Leah Marie, MT117, was dredging for cockles. For most of the day the Carse Sands are dry land. They are only covered by water for a couple of hours at high tide. This little trawler from Maryport on the English coast of the Solway had to time her arrival with some precision. She is quite a new boat having been built in 2006 but it looks like she has a wood burning engine in there!


Quite thirsty we came to the Thirl Stane. At high tide you can paddle right through this natural arch into a delightful sandy cove behind. As it was, the tide was retreating quickly and we had to press on to our final destination Southerness.


Southerness is a rocky point which extends south into the sands of the Solway coast. The lighthouse is the second oldest in Scotland. It was commissioned in 1748 to encourage ships to use the ports of Carsethorn, Glencaple, Kingholm Quay and Dumfries.


The lighthouse is surrounded by water at high tide. It was heightened on at least two occasions but due to decrease in shipping traffic in the Upper Solway it was last lit in 1936.


The old village of Southerness is rather attractive with low cottages which seem to shrink into the ground to escape the winds that blast across the point. Unfortunately it has grown somewhat and is now surrounded by a huge caravan park. We chose not to stop at the pub.

All in all a thirsty 25km trip from Dumfries to Southerness but what a magnificent way to enter the Solway!

13/04/2009

The Nith bore

Leaving Glencaple, we entered the 2.5km straight channel, which is hemmed in by mud banks and connects the Nith to the sea at Airds Point. It was here that we expected to meet the Nith bore. It was 2 days after springs, on an 8.1m tide, so we expected a wave or two! It was 12:43. High water Hestan Island (0n the Solway) was due at 14:47 (HW Liverpool 14:21) We were drifting downstream with the river current at 8km/hr when all of a sudden the water ahead began to slope down towards us, its colour darkened and its surface was contorted with small ripples, then whumph! We were now travelling back towards Dumfries at 12km/hr. There was no broken water just a sudden change in velocity of 20km/hr! It was really quite disconcerting.

We were going to make nothing against the current on the right side of the channel, so we ferried across to the far side where the water was shallower. This and the help of an eddy allowed us to get another 500m towards the sea. We then ferried back to the right side of the channel where a series of piles created a little eddy from which we clambered onto the mud bank.


We dragged our kayaks up the steep mud and onto the merse above. We decided to have a lunch break and watched the tide rush by, filling the bay and covering the mudflats.


Just as suddenly as it had begun, the flood tide began to ease after only an hour.


We were soon on the water again and clearing Airds Point. Criffel came into view with Carsethorn at its foot. Carsethorn is another of the ports of Dumfries.


Carsethorn lies on the long low peninsula on the horizon, it was still 6km away.

13/04/2009

Quays, trawlers, geese and the White Steeds of the Solway.

Making our way down the River Nith from the port of Dumfries, we came to Kingholm Quay.


Substantial boats can use Kingholm Quay at high tide. Petronella of Portsmouth is a converted beam trawler P673. She was built in Holland in 1964 and is 78 feet long. She worked out of Portsmouth then Shoreham before becoming unregistered in 2004.


Beyond Kingholm quay we caught our first sight of distant Criffel, 569m. Our destination Southerness, lies a further 8km south of Criffel's summit.


Huge flocks of wintering barnacle geese made an impressive sight as they flew from field to field, fattening themselves on spring shoots before their migration to Svalbard.


We now approached the quay of Glencaple on the long entrance to the Nith from the Solway. There is a warning in the Nith Navigation web site for boats not to anchor in mid channel as the Solway bore can flood in increasing in depth by 2 metres in 2 seconds!

In his History of the Burgh of Dumfries, 1867, William McDowall wrote:

"The Solway, into which the Nith flows, has peculiar characteristics, that render it quite a topographical study. Numerous currents meeting near its mouth keep up a perpetual conflict; and twice in every twenty-four hours the tidal flow, suddenly raised above its ordinary level, and rendered fierce by the tumult, seeks an outvent at the estuary, through which it rushes with a speed that is nowhere rivalled in the United Kingdom, or perhaps in the world. It hurries on, carrying a head four to six feet high, filling up the tortuous channels, and sweeping over the broad level beds of the Frith with a rapidity that has earned for its foam-crested billows the title of the White Steeds of the Solway."


Another old trawler Alison Louise, UK77, is tied up at the quay. She looks very battered and forlorn. She last operated out of Brixham but her days at sea are over. The smaller flat bottomed boat is the Askari, BA17 a scallop dredger. She can also be seen in Kirkcudbright and Girvan harbours.

The tide was due to arrive at any time. We could have waited for its arrival in the safety of the Nith Hotel but we chose to press on in search of the White Steeds of the Solway!

13/04/2009