Imagine you are at the edge of the sea on a day when it is difficult to say where the land ends and the sea begins and where the sea ends and the sky begins. Sea kayaking lets you explore these and your own boundaries and broadens your horizons. Sea kayaking is the new mountaineering.
Heavy squalls of rain were driving up Loch Linnhe and hiding the mountains of Appin.
Then a chink appeared in the grey clouds...
... and a beam of sunlight fell on Eilean Balnagowan. A flock of black headed gulls wheeled in the sky round the isle. Their wheeling wings flashed white against the gloomy grey of the mist shrouded mountains.
The distant mountains of Lochaber and the Corran Narrows were calling us on to the NE but first it was time to take luncheon on this lovely isle.
North of Lismore, Loch Linnhe stretches away to the NE. It forms part of the Great Glen fault that bisects the Highlands of Scotland.
We paddled NE past Eilean nan Caorach on our way to Shuna on which the crumbling remains of Castle Shuna stand at the edge of woods by the shore.
To our east, the much better preserved Castle Stalker stands on a small island at the entrance to Loch Laich.
Castle Stalker was built by the Stewarts of Appin in the 1440s. Over the years it changed hands with the Campbells several times on one occasion as a result of a bet. It was restored by a descendant of the Stewarts between 1965 and 1975. It achieved more recent fame as "Castle Aargh" in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Having visited these castles before, we made our way up the west coast of Shuna. Her lower slopes were hidden by the bare boughs of birch and alder.
If you are a UK resident and think we should share the planet with the likes of Sammy Seal, please sign this petition which has been raised by Mark Carter.
Saturday morning on the 28th of February saw us driving from Ballachulish SW for the lovely little Port Appin. A nice friendly standing wave or two develops as the tide runs south between Appin and the island of Lismore especially if there is a southerly wind.
After a good winter morning workout we broke out behind Lismore to catch our breath.
We then headed north up the east coast of Shuna. Jennifer Tony and I were joined by...
...Harvey. We don't get out with Harvey so much these days, since he discovered river kayaking in a big way.
Our route was to take us NE up Loch Linnhe and then in through the tidal narrows of Loch Leven.
Back at the end of February, when I was still able to walk, Tony and I drove with our families to the excellent Isles of Glencoe hotel on the shores of Loch Leven. We were bound for the Scottish Canoe Association, luxury weekend.
The hotel is most conveniently situated on a little peninsula that juts into Loch Leven and was once the spoil tip of the Ballachulish slate quarries. A railway from Oban was constructed in 1903 and terminated here at the quarries. In the 1950's I remember seeing steam engines on this line but it closed in 1966 and all that remains is a solitary signal. The line of the railway is being used to create a new coastal cycle and walk way.
I am always on the lookout for boats that have seen better days and this one is an absolute cracker! Clearly, although the owner may not have been very good at parking the thing, he (and I assume it was a he) was quite handy with a welding torch!
David, my regular paddling buddy, used to paddle off the Ayrshire coast with John Young in the Kyle Canoe Club (now KKC). John designed and built his own Kyle, skin on frame, sea touring canoe. It was a fast boat as he was interested in speed and trained with Alistair Wilson of Lendal paddles, who competed in kayak sprints in both the 1964 and 1968 Olympics. John also introduced his son Jock to kayaking at the tender age of two. Jock went on to develop an interest in surf kayaking and was Master Longboat Champion at the 2008 British Surf Open.
Back in 1976, Jock took part in a film of a "coastal journey" from Glenfinnan down Loch Sheil, down the River Sheil and falls, into Loch Moidart, then round the Ardnamurchan peninsula and into Loch Sunart. John paddled his father's Kyle kayak. His three companions, Rusty Baillie, Sue Edwards and Liz Elliot paddled composite Valley Anas Acutas which were the latest development at the time, though they did not have either bulkheads or hatches.
The film is beautifully shot and features a great scene where they ask the Ardnamurchan lighthouse keeper (think Peter Sellers does Thunderbirds)for a weather forecast.
The closing seconds of the film feature Jock and Rusty paddling along the dark rocks of Ardnamurchan in a huge swell. Jock turns just in time to meet a monster wave and his sea canoe gets tossed high into the sky, with big air below his keel. As the film fades he is heard to say "I don't feel safe in a dinghy."
When you see this clip you will know what it takes to be a Master Surf champion!
I would love to track down the original of this wonderful film. It deserves to be shown again, perhaps at the Perth Canoe show. Simon Willis was not aware of this film but has kindly agreed to use his professional contacts to try and track the original down.
I had decided to look for the lost cave of Knockbrex, not at the current shoreline but at the back of the ancient shoreline of the raised beach. I found the cave almost straight away, though I had passed this spot many times before. Ivy draped itself over the rocks round the cave. An ancient bough, above the mouth, had recently broken thus possibly exposing the cave for the first time in many years.
Inside it was one of the driest caves I have ever been in, the floor was so perfectly level, I suspect it had been made by the hand of man. The beaches in these parts were frequented by the Solway smugglers and almost certainly this one would have been piled high with casks of claret and rolls of tobacco from the Isle of Man. There were even flat rocky ledges to store a bottle or two! It may well be that the covering ivy had been "planted" by the smugglers for the purposes of concealment.
I paddled home with a sense of satisfaction that my short 9km pasddle had solved a long standing mystery. I think Lucy Walford would have written another novel about it.
