Sea kayaking desktop wallpaper calendar, July 2010

July, sunset over the Outer Hebrides from Coll.

The seakayakphoto.com July desktop calendar is available for download here.

Made in Scotland from girders and glaciers.

We now entered the outer part of Loch Etive. The loch stretches away for 30km into the mountains, where it becomes the most fjord like of the Scottish sea lochs. It was cut by a massive glacier that gouged a U shaped trench through the mountains and was flooded by the sea when the glacier melted.


At the Connel narrows the view is dominated by the Connel bridge. It was built in 1903 to take the railway from Oban to Ballachuilish and its slate quarries.


In 1914 a roadway was added, which allowed vehicles to cross when no trains were on the line. The railway was closed in 1966 and since then it has been used only for road traffic. A one way system controlled by traffic lights is required as the bridge is not wide enough for two lanes. When it was built in 1903, no one could have expected the explosion in road traffic, even in this relatively remote part of Scotland.

As we approached the bridge it looked as if a light plane was going to try and land on it, but it was on its final approach to the small airfield just north of the bridge.


The Connel narrows formed where the glacier met the warmer sea and melted. As a result the narrows are very shallow and if the sea level was only a few feet lower, Loch Etive would have been a fresh water loch like Loch Lomond, Loch Shiel and Loch Morar.


The bridge is of cantilever construction and like irn bru was made in Scotland from girders, not to be drunk but to last!


We drifted under the bridge just an hour before HW slack and there was hardly a ripple to disturb the surface. However, there is a shallow sill, just below the ducks, over which the spring ebb tide pours as the Falls of Lora. A series of standing waves creates a very testing playground for play boaters. Tony Hammock of Seafreedomkayak has produced an excellent guide to kayaking the Falls of Lora.

All quiet at Dunstaffnage

Leaving Ganavan Bay the conglomerate rocks of Ganavan Hill tumble steeply into the sea. Silver birch cling to the steep slopes and survive on ground that is too steep for sheep to get at their seedlings.


Rounding a headland a strip of low lying ground links Ganavan Hill to an isolated hill called Chapel Hill which was once probably an island. On the flat ground, the modern buildings of the Dunstaffnage Marine Laboratory of the Scottish Association for Marine Science are being extended with the construction of a new teaching building.


We had now reached the point in our voyage where we turned east through the gap between Rhuba Garbh to the north end of Chapel Hill and the island of Eilean Mor. In the distance the snow covered slopes of the Benderloch mountains rose into patches of drifting cumulus clouds.


Through the trees, at the back of a delightful gravel beach, we could just make out the grim curtain walls and towers of Dunstaffnage Castle . The name has mixed Gaelic and Norse origins, Dun means fort in Gaelic and staffnage is derived from "stafr nis", staff headland in Norse.

There has been a fortification for at least 1500 years. In the days of sea communication, this site, at the junction of Loch Etive, the Firth of Lorn, the Sound of Mull and Loch Linnhe, had incredible strategic importance and the castle walls would not have been hidden away in trees. They would have dominated the landscape from every direction. Dunstaffnage was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dalriada, which was founded by the Scots, who came to this coastline from Ireland. They brought with them the Stone of Destiny, upon which their Kings sat to be crowned. The stone reputedly came from the Holy Land via Ireland and Iona to Dunstaffnage. It was moved inland to Scone Palace in 843 with the advent of Viking raiders.

Most of the current castle was built in the early 1200's by the McDougall clan, who paid homage to King Hakon IV of Norway. In 1249 Alexander the II of Scotland assembled a fleet in Oban in order to seize Dunstaffnage as part of a campaign to regain control of the Western Isles from the Vikings and their allies. He died unexpectedly on the island of Kerrera and the attack was aborted. Unfortunately for the MacDougall's the respite was short lived. Dunstaffnage was captured after a siege by King Robert the Bruce in 1309, after the MacDougalls had backed his rival John Balliol. In 1470 it was transferred from the Royal estate to the Cambell clan.


A little further round, we could see the more modern addition to the castle, the Gatehouse, which is still the occasional private residence of the Captain of Dunstaffnage. The rest of the castle is open to the public for a small charge to Historic Scotland who now care for it.


Nowadays Dunstaffnage is a quiet backwater and we drifted past the castle in peace, to enter Loch Etive.

Trouble in the Isles

The Scottish tourist board have been hoping for a record breaking tourist season. What with the recession, volcano dust interrupting plane flights and the exceptionally dry June here in Scotland, things were looking promising....


This is the MV Clansman, she is one of the hardest working ferries in the Calmac fleet. It is 0743am and she is steaming out through the Sound of Mull towards Coll, Tiree then back to Coll. After visiting the islands she will return to Oban for a mere 40 minutes before heading back through the Sound of Mull and out to Castlebay in Barra! She is known as the loudest vessel in the Calmac fleet. We were camping at the SE entrance to the Sound of Mull but woke up when she started her engines 18km away in Oban! Sadly she has suffered a catastrophic engine failure and the life line she provides to Coll, Tiree, Barra and South Uist has been disrupted.


To maintain service, Calmac have transferred the MV Hebridean Isles, which normally does the Kintyre, Islay, Colonsay, Oban run, to help cover the Clansman's normal routes.


The MV Isle of Mull, which normally does the Oban to Mull run has also been drafted in to help cover the Clansman. The effect of this is that services to Islay, Colonsay, Mull, Coll, Tiree, Barra and South Uist are all affected. To make matters worse, the Scottish school holidays have just started.

If this was not enough, the record dry June has left reservoirs depleted in what are some of the wettest parts of the world! We now have an almost unbelievable situation where Mull is having to import water at a time when the ferries have restricted sailings!

As we say in Scotland, "It never rains but it pours!"

A welcome break at Ganavan.

We followed the Argyll coast across the sweep of Ganavan Bay and landed at its NE end.


The other end of the beach has beautiful sands but was crowded with walkers from Oban enjoying the first sunny day of the year. We chose to land at the quiet end and did not mind the cobbles.


We were rather hot and parched because we were all in dry suits, with multiple thermals underneath.


So it was a great excuse to stop for second luncheon. Jim W's kayak is a Sea King. The low winter sun showed off her fine lines and chines.


Jim produced orange slices while Phil got the stove an for tea but as it was afternoon, it was appropriate for a variety of malt whiskies to be sampled. On this occasion we had Bruichladdich Rocks, an 18 year old Glenfiddich and a 10 year old Springbank. I am sure there was another one but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was!


We enjoyed the thin winter sun in this beautiful spot. Recently a new housing development has been built on the site of a former RAF sea plane base in the SW corner of the bay. In a way it is a pity that such a development has taken place in such a beautiful spot. However, access is certainly a lot easier now. The owners of the previous holiday village of chalets, which was there from about 2004 to 2009, used to charge to launch from the beach, in addition to parking.


At our end of the bay, all was natural and wild. The view extended across the blue waters of the Lynn of Lorn to low lying Lismore, then to the mountains of Morvern beyond.

The skies cleared over the Firth of Lorn.

We left Oban harbour under cloudy, grey skies...


...but no sooner had we entered the Firth of Lorn...


...than a remarkable meteorological transformation took place...


...and the clouds parted above us.


We continued our voyage up the Firth of Lorn under welcome winter sunlight.

Waving goodbye to Oban.

Oban harbour is a busy place. MV Isle of Cumbrae was heading out to Lismore while...


MV Lord of the Isles was making her way in from Mull.


The harbour has a very narrow entrance and the basic rule is that sea kayaks keep right out of the way.


The ferries make an announcement on channel 16 just before they enter the narrows...


...which gives just enough time to position yourself ready to surf their bow waves!