Twilight, firelight and distant lantern light on Kiloran Bay.

The twilight stole round us...


as we gathered driftwood from the shore.


We soon had a fire going and it radiated a pool of warmth and light in which we stood. We greeted the gathering night with fine malt whisky. Then on the distant horizon (above the fire), a steady double flash announced the location of the Dubh Artach lighthouse.

It is situated on a lonely rock, some 29km WNW of Colonsay. It was completed in 1872 by David and Thomas Stevenson. They built the shore station on Erraid off the Ross of Mull. The light was automated in 1971 and its lantern flashes white, twice every 30 seconds.

End of the day at Kiloran Bay

After dinner we just had time...


to walk over to Kiloran Bay on Colonsay's west coast...


... to catch the end of the day.

A Swedish carry on but no Indian curry in on Colonsay.

We carried our camping gear up to the machair in Ikea Fracta bags.


There was a lovely golden light...


...as we put the tents up.


David and I soon had dinner heating up our the Primus Eta Power stoves but Phil's meths Trangia was not producing much heat.


He left it in disgust and went off to phone for a carry out Curry. He was most distressed to learn that the Royal India do deliver to Colonsay Drive, Newton Mearns but not to Colonsay Island, Inner Hebrides! He has since bought a Primus Eta Express stove.

Sea kayaking campers have a lot to thank the Swedes for!

Kiloran Bay, Colonsay

Just as we were thinking we might be in for another night time epic, the broad sweep of golden sand at the head of Kiloran Bay hove into sight.


In the distance, the peaks of Jura could be seen above the low isthmus, which nearly bisects northern Colonsay.


We found a cove near the main bay to make our landfall.


The sands of Kiloran Bay stretched away for over a kilometer. There was not a soul in sight.

The tale of Cailleach Uragaig, Colonsay

After Pig's Paradise, we came to a grim grey headland on Colonsay's NW coast called Cailleach Uragaig. The Cailleach is a Celtic Goddess who has powers to shape shift herself so that she can appear as a hag, a mother or a virgin. She is a winter spirit who ushers in winter by washing her plaid in the Corryvreckan and she can often keep the arrival of spring at bay. On Colonsay she kept a young girl captive and hid herself from the girl's angry lover by transforming into this grey headland.


Although we slowed in respect, there were no damsels in distress requiring of our assistance.


The long interval swell had increased to about 2m and we now searched for somewhere safe to land before the impending nightfall. Young fulmars wheeled inquisitively round us before returning to their ledges on the headland, to report our progress to the Cailleach. If we were caught out by night then surely the Cailleach would come and get us and then we would be found dead on some remote shore, just like the Scandinavian Prince Bhreacan...

Pigs have wings in Pig's Paradise, Colonsay

Leaving Port Lobh on the west coast of Colonsay we now found ourselves on a very committing part of Colonsay's western coast.


Out at sea the swell just rose and fell gently.


I had hoped to land at Port Ban on the wildest part of Colonsay's entire coastline but the swell was breaking heavily on the steep beach.


Port Ban is a raised beach and the cliffs surrounding it are known as "Pigs' Paradise". Despite its remoteness, someone has carried a heavy wooden picnic table down to the shoreline.


We didn't see any pigs (winged or otherwise) but there were plenty sea birds especially guillemots, black guillemots and fulmars. In the spring these cliffs are one of the biggest bird breeding colonies on Scotland's west coast.


We pressed on as the day began to die. We were looking for somewhere safe to land. Tomorrow's forecast was for 6' surf!

In the wake of our ancestors on the west coast of Colonsay.

We rounded the SW corner of Colonsay protected by a maze of skerries and channels.


Our way now lay to the NE but it was still protected by...


...reefs which sheltered shallow sandy bottomed lagoons.


We lost the shelter of the reefs as we approached a rocky peninsula.


On its summit, a pile of stones marks the remains of an Iron Age fort, Dun Ghallain. At one time Colonsay lay on the path of a marine "highway" which connected the Isle of Man, Galloway and Ireland with the rest of the Hebrides and mainland to the north. At that time, the fort was of considerable strategic importance.


Like our ancestors before us, we decided to stop for a break in Port Lobh, which lies below the rocky ramparts of the fort. One of the great joys of sea kayaking is that we are retracing the routes that our predecessors have used for over 6,000 years.