Sea dogs #2

At Kildonan on the south coast of Arran, a number of rocky dykes run at right angles to the coast out into the Sound of Pladda. They are composed of volcanic intrusions which forced their way through the bed rock of older sandstones and shales. Over time these softer rocks have eroded leaving long fingers of volcanic rock which are known as the Arran tertiary dyke swarm.

You an also see the little island of Pladda and the more distant Ailsa Craig. Both have fine lighthouses built by the Livingstone dynasty.


Bob is Tony's dog and is a very powerful swimmer. As Tony and I paddled out past the end of one of the dykes, Bob came racing along and leaped into the water from the very end. He clearly preferred the look of my Nordkapp LV to Tony's Rockpool Alaw Bach. He made straight for my back deck and managed to climb on as I braced madly.

Bob is a very clever dog but he knows nothing about geology and plutonic activity.

17/08/07

Sea dogs #1

Rory, the Border terrier, likes the Aleut Sea II. He can come along.


He keeps a sharp lookout. He barks 3 times if he spots a picnic beach to port and 4 times for one to starboard. If he spots a sea kayaking pub he barks seven times, regardless whether it lies to port or starboard. He enjoys a small bowl of Guinness with his biscuits. So far he likes the Solway but has not been through the Grey Dogs yet.


31/07/07 one of the many faces of sea kayaking!

Red rock sunset on Erraid

As the sun slowly moved towards the northwest, the granite rocks of Erraid glowed red above the white shell sand beaches.


Finally the sun sank behind the grey gneiss of Iona and the sky above turned to fire. Far below, in the gathering darkness, our boats gently kissed the sands of Fidden and the Ross of Mull.

David Balfour's Bay Erraid

We set off from Fidden on the Ross of Mull to circumnavigate the island of Erraid. It was late evening in July and the thunder clouds of earlier in the day had moved SW over the distant Scottish mainland. After the rain, the sky was clear and bright as we wended our way through the skerries.


We stopped at Traigh Gheal on the island's SW coast. The white shell sand and red granite contrasted with the turquoise of the shallow waters. Robert Louis Stevenson, the author, spent time here while his father was constructing the remote lighthouses at Skerryvore and Dubh Artach (which lie far to the west and south west). In his novel "Kidnapped" the hero, David Balfour, was shipwrecked on this beach.

The Ross of Mull

On leaving Ulva Ferry, we drove to Fidden at the end of the Ross of Mull. Unlike the dark volcanic basalt found round Loch na Keal, the rock here was a red granite.


This beautiful red rock has been quarried for building such structures as the Skerryvore lighthouse, Iona Cathedral and further afield, Blackfriars Bridge, Holburn Viaduct and the Albert Memorial in London.

The leaving of Inch Kenneth

When the tide finally reached our boats, we reluctantly left the peace of Inch Kenneth. We followed its western shore under weathered conglomerate cliffs. In places they were undercut or penetrated by caves. Elsewhere, the elements had sculptured weird shapes from the rock. A great face of stone looked out over the calm waters of Loch na Keal


As we paddled past little Eorsa, the thunder clouds gathered again. They towered high over the foothills of Ben More on Mull, much as clouds of ash would have done when it was last an active volcano. We were soaked in a torrential downpour before we got back to the cars at Ulva Ferry.


This brought the first chapter of our seakayking trip on Mull's west coast to a close. We may only have paddled 85km over 3 full days but what sights we had seen. We would now follow Johnson and Boswell on to Iona and the Ross of Mull.

Postscript added 14/09/07.

Rob asked about the Grey Man of the Merrick. Here it is:

Rock "faces" such as these are called mimetoliths.

Waiting for the tide on Inch Kenneth.

At spring low water, shallow reefs extend far from the east shore of Inch Kenneth. Some say there is a hidden, submerged path from the mainland of Mull to the island.


Our boats were some distance from the tide. We saw no point in straining our limbs, by carrying such heavy boats, when the exercise of some little patience would bring the tide to us. We decided to explore Inch Kenneth on foot.


The fertile ground of Inch Kenneth contrasts with the rough, thin soil of distant Ulva.


This view, from near the graveyard, is looking southwest from Inch Kenneth to the Wilderness and distant Ross of Mull peninsula (at the end of which lies Iona). In the middle distance is the little rocky islet of Erisgeir. This had just enough pasture for 6 sheep!

In the graveyard we also found the burial place of Lachlan MacQuarrie, the last chieftain of his clan, who died on 14/1/1818 at the age of 103. Johnson and Boswell had been entertained by MacQuarrie when they visited Ulva. They were unimpressed with his mean dwelling but Boswell found their host to be “intelligent, polite and much a man of the world.” Sadly MacQuarrie had to sell his ancestral lands shortly afterwards. Even his dying wish, to be interred among his ancestors on the Holy isle of Iona, was confounded by bad weather. He was laid to rest on this sheltered isle instead. For MacQuarrie the tide came in for the last time on Inch Kenneth. Looking around, we saw that there were much worse places to spend eternity.

We did not have eternity on our side but were able to leave with the flood tide.