Daisies , shells, pottery and a marble at Dunskeig Bay.

By the time we pulled our kayaks up the fair strand of Dunskeig Bay it was after 9:30am and way past breakfast time so we set...

 ...our stoves up on the rocks at the edge of the beach and cooked up a three course first breakfast. Favourite course was bacon, egg, tomato and edam cheese in a tortilla wrap. While we sat and enjoyed some postprandial sunshine, Jennifer went scavenging along the shore line.

She returned with a sting winkle, a periwinkle, a cowrie, a bit of an oyster shell, a variety of weathered pottery fragments and a marble!

After breakfast I enjoyed  a stroll on the daisy flecked machair that backs the shore and enjoyed...

...distant views to Gigha, Islay and Jura.

Much toing and froing on the crossing to West Loch Tarbert.

We set off across the Sound of Gigha towards the Kintyre mainland in glassy calm conditions but it is not always like this...

...as this photo, taken in the same place 6 yearrs previously (2007), shows all too clearly. Strong tides, shallow sea and wind against tide can soon rustle up some rough conditions.

 Although it was calm, our route lay along the course of the Islay ferries, the ...

 ...MV Flaggan passed on her way out and the...

 ...MV Hebridean Isles passed us on her way in to Kennacraig.  We kept well to the south of the ferries and...

...after a 10km crossing we entered the mouth of West Loch Tarbert.

We made landfall at the head of Dunskeig Bay. Dun Skeig hill towers above the bay and on its summit lie the remains of 3 successive hill forts or duns.

As we unpacked our breakfast things the MV Hebridean Isles made its way back out of the narrow entrance to West Loch Tarbert.

We were not alone on Gigha.

We awoke to a beautiful morning on Gigha but unfortunately we were not alone. We had been joined by billions of midges who enjoyed breakfast on us.

 So we missed our own breakfasts and hurriedly broke camp and loaded the boats.

 It was such a relief to be out on the cool midge free water.

In the early morning sunshine, we paddled to the north end of Gigha where we caught sight of our next destination. The mouth of West Loch Tarbert was highlighted by the silhouette of the morning ferry to Islay, the MV Finlaggan.