In the wake of the dead: a sea kayaking pilgrimage to Oronsay and Colonsay via Jura.

For those who would like to follow the thread of this great trip to Oronsay and Colonsay via Jura from start to finish, I hope this index will be useful. We launched from Carsaig Bay NR735877. We paddled 136km over four days. On the outward trip we portaged the 2km over the Jura isthmus from Tarbert Bay in the east to Loch Tarbert in the west. We returned through the Corryvreckan.

Read Ian's trip summary here.

Day 1 Carsaig Bay, Argyll mainland to Glenbatrick Bay, Jura: 26km

Blog 1 Paddling and portaging in the wake of the dead.

Blog 2 Enchanted again by the remote west coast of Jura.

Day 2 Glenbatrick Bay, Jura to Kiloran Bay, Colonsay: 41km.

Blog 3 You may rue the day you meet the giant bothy rat and adders of Ruantallain.

Blog 4 Landfall in an Oronsay midden.

Blog 5 Why sea kayakers should consider carrying a PLB, unless they are full sibling to an ostrich.

Blog 6 Our sea kayaking pilgrimage comes to a peaceful end in Oronsay Priory.

Blog 7 Between a rock and a hard place on the wild west cost of Colonsay.

Blog 8 Breaking the spell of the Cailleach Uragaig on the NW coast of Colonsay.

Blog 9 Two schools of seakayaking campers, a tattie howkin' stick and a Colonsay sunset.

Day 3 Kiloran Bay, Colondsay to Shian Bay Jura: 30km.

Blog 10 A washed up whale and an adequate supply of washed up wood on the machair of north Colonsay.

Blog 11 Absolute consensus, armadas, wrecks and goats all end up at Balnahard Beach.

Blog 12 A cuckoo in every cove, flapping sails and giant wings on the NE coast of Colonsay.

Blog 13 Cake, beer and wind in Scalasaig harbour, Colonsay.

Blog 14 Perfect paddle sailing past the Paps of Jura.

Blog 15 Hebridean boules on the machair of Jura.

Blog 16 Baked Bramley apples at a Shian Bay Sunset.

Day 4 Shian Bay, Jura to Carsaig Bay, Argyll mainland: 40km.

Blog 17 A cold second breakfast at dead end beach, Jura

Blog 18 Waiting for the Corryvreckan tide at Glengarrisdale.

Blog 19 The skulls of Glengarrisdale, Jura.

Blog 20 A traverse of the Gulf of Corryvreckan disturbed only by a shoal of fish.

Blog 21 Taking a break at Red Rock.

Blog 22 End of day in Carsaig Bay.

Postscript

If you would prefer not to paddle the Corryvreckan in the conditions in this photo, you can time your traverse for slack water:

The west going flood begins +0430 HW Oban (-0100 HW Dover)  at 7 to 8 knots at springs and +0515 HW Oban (-0015 HW Dover) at neaps.

The east going ebb begins -0145 HW Oban (+0515 HW Dover) up to 8 knots at springs and -0100 HW Oban (+0600 HW Dover) at neaps.

The time changes by 6.5 minutes each day between springs and neaps. The constant between HW Dover and HW Oban does vary, so most accurate times are calculated by using HW Oban times (though not if you have calculated HW Oban indirectly from HW Dover!!).

Slack water lasts up to 30 minutes at neaps. At springs there is no real slack, there is always water moving about somewhere in the Corry. These times are pretty good as long as there is high pressure. Low pressure and wind can alter timing considerably.

End of day in Carsaig Bay.

As we left the lonely rock of Ruadh Sgeir the tide was still carrying us back towards Carsaig Bay and as it was nearing the end of our expedition, it was nice to take a break from paddling. The light was beautiful and...

 ...we enjoyed views to the Paps of Jura which had dominated the horizon on much of our trip.

Nearing the end, we broke out of the tide into the sheltered inlet behind Carsaig Island.

 We had to start paddling again but...

...the water was calm and we enjoyed the warmth of some late evening sun.

At the SW end of the channel we came across the lovely wooden yacht Wild Rose. We had last seen her in Tinker's Hole on the Ross of Mull and off the west coast of Iona the previous year.

 As we cleared the SW end of Carsaig Island, the Paps of Jura briefly came into view for the last time until...

 ...our journey came to an end at Carsaig Bay on the Argyll mainland. It was from here we had set off 4 days previously.  Ian, Sam and I had originally intended camping out one last night further down the Sound of Jura...

...(at a delightful spot I had camped at in 2003, see above) but I was done. I was waiting for treatment for a significant health problem and I had run out of steam. I was grateful that Ian made the decision to stop at Carsaig Bay and stay the night at the nearby commercial campsite in Tayvallich. Despite the wonderful location, overlooking the Sound of Jura, I really could not have faced another night and morning of unloading and loading boats.

It was a bittersweet moment, unloading our boats in the sunset for the last time. Sad because it was the end of an unforgettable trip but happy because we were already sharing great memories.

Although Maurice and David were driving home that night, we all had dinner in the Tayvallich Inn. The staff very considerately took our food orders well past their normal last order time (we had forewarned them of our late arrival).

 So Maurice, David, myself, Sam and Ian enjoyed our last supper together on this trip. We recounted some great experiences but above all, a successful sea kayaking trip (like so many things in life) is greatly enhanced by those you share it with.

Over the four days we covered 140km on our sea kayaking pilgrimage to Oronsay and Colonsay via Jura. Unfortunately it was to prove to be my only sea kayak camping trip in 2017 but what a trip it was! :o)

Read Ian's account here.

Taking a break at Red Rock.

After transiting the Corryvreckan, we arrived in the Sound of Jura. The ebb tide had built rapidly and we were making 10km/hr with little paddling effort. Our destination was our starting point at Carsaig Bay. This lay 12.5km down tide but 6.5km across tide on the far side of the Sound of Jura. It did not take a mathematician...

...to calculate that we needed to paddle across the sound at a high ferry angle to avoid...

 ...being swept past our destination and out to the open sea beyond.

So we paddled almost straight across the Sound so that the vector of our paddling and the tide would take us safely to our destination. The Paps of Jura seemed to get nearer very quickly!

Fortunately there is a good marker of whether we were making sufficient progress. The tide swept islet of Ruadh Sgeir (Red Rock), with its little lighthouse, lies in the middle of the Sound of Jura and is in a straight line between the Corryvreckan and Carsaig Bay.

Despite being carried along at 11km/hr as we approached the lonely rock, we managed to cross uptide of it so we were bang on course. It was a beautiful evening and despite being very tired...

...we enjoyed passing so close to this  seldom visited little rock with its views to the Paps of Jura. Sam and I even revelled in breaking out of the tide into the eddy on the far side of the rock....

Some edge control was required to break back into the stream that was running round the rock at 14km/hr! The tide then continued to carry us on towards Carsaig Bay and the end of our journey.