Three unexpected swims in the Sound of Arisaig.

Leaving the skerries, we made our way to the north shore of the Sound of Arisaig where we discovered...

 ...this stunning white shell sand beach...

...which nestled between rocky outcrops.

 We drew our kayaks up...

...on the pristine sands and...

...made our way up to a closely cropped grassy sward and...

 ...found a most suitable vantage spot to partake of...

...our first luncheon.

 A solitary rock pipit hovered round waiting for crumbs.

From the little hill beside the beach there was a stunning view back to the Moidart hills behind Samalaman bay from where we had set off.

 There was another stunning view of Eigg and Rum...

 ...not to mention Skye.

 Next we turned our attention to the beach...

 ...which was covered by thousands of shells.

Despite looking very hard...

...only Jennifer found a solitary northern cowrie. They were much harder to find here than on our visit to Gunna.

 Finding the cowrie seemed to go to Jennifer's head, she did a series of cartwheels straight...

 ...into the sea, which was only 7 degrees Celsius!

Photo by Philip Toman

Not to be outdone, Ian and I also felt obliged to go for a quick dip. Swimming in Scotland in mid February...whatever next?

Into the blue, in the Sound of Arisaig.

It was back on the 19th of February that Ian, Mike and I were joined by Jennifer and Phil for a paddle in the Sound of Arisaig.

 The bay at Samalaman was in deep shade and a hard frost covered the sands...

 ...but just offshore we entered full sunshine...

 ...which helped to warm frozen fingers as we got the spray decks on.

 Mike took advantage of a light breeze but...

 ...it did not last long and soon we were paddling on a glassy sea.

Ian has already drawn attention to the amazing quality of blue light we experienced that morning.

In the distance the distinctive outlines of Eigg and Rum dominated the western horizon while...

...behind us the hills of Moidart were thrown into relief by the  low winter sun.

We were making for a series of skerries that guard the mouth of the Sound of Arisaig.

Scotland Outdoors, Spring 2013 issue.

The Spring 2013 issue of Scotland Outdoors magazine has just been published. I was very pleased to be asked to contribute an article about sea kayaking the seas at the end of the Road to the Isles. Scotland Outdoors magazine presents the best in outdoor activities to a readership who are passionate about Scotland's wild places, so it is great that sea kayaking has been given such exposure. Sea kayaking really is a great way to explore Scotland. As an "ex" walker, hill walker, scrambler, climber, mountaineer, skier, cyclist, mountain biker, white water kayaker, dinghy sailor, yachter and windsurfer I should know!

Under a blood red sky at Cul na Croise.

Ian and I paddled out of Cul na Croise  bay towards the mountains of Eigg and Rum under a sky that gradually turned...

 ...to blood red.

As Mike paddled directly back to the shuttle car at Ardtoe, Ian and I sat in our kayaks and savoured the stunning sunset until it was nearly gone.

By the time we got to Ardtoe it was nearly dark with only a few embers of the long gone sun slowly fading in the south west sky.

The north coast of Ardnamurchan, Portuairk to Ardtoe (27.5km) proved to be a stunning but committing paddle. On the narrow single track roads, the shuttle took two hours to set up and another two hours to recover the car at Portuairk two days later. I am particularly grateful to Ian and Mike for the driving as I would have been unable to drive that distance on these roads, never mind paddle afterwards!

You can read another illustrated account of this Ardnamurchan trip on Ian's blog here, here and here.

Time was running out and we left the shifting sands to darkness.

 As we paddled SE towards Ardtoe and the sand dunes of Cul na Croise a chill wind got up as the sun began to set. We were now in deep shade but the summits of Beinn Resipol (845m) to the ESE,...

...Rois-Bheinn (882m) to the ENE and...

...the west end of Eilean Shona (199m) to the NE were still in the sunshine.

By the time Ian and I arrived at the dunes and...

...shifting sands of Cul na Croise the sun had set and we thought we had missed a great photo opportunity.

However by the time we had pulled the kayaks up the beach and...

...started to walk along the sands...

...it was obvious that the pink tinged sky...

...still gave a lovely light to the wet sands.

Out at sea the distant mountains of...

...Eigg and Rum were nearly silhouetted against the rosy sky.  

All too soon it was time to leave this lovely spot. Time was running out and we left the shifting sands to darkness.

Ockle Point to Rubha Aird Druimnich, Ardnamurchan.

Paddling east, the next Ardnamurchan headland we came to was low lying Ockle Point.

Once we rounded Ockle we could see the final headland of the day in the distance. Rubha Aird Druimnich was sunlit and standing out against the dark slopes of Rois-Bheinn (878m) beyond.

 The sun was steadily sinking to the SSW and...

 ...Muck which was directly in front of Rum when we started was now lying away to the left.

 From Rubha Aird Druimnich, Eigg now lay directly in front of Rum.

 The convoluted folds of rock on Rubha Aird Druimnich were thrown into sharp relief by...

 ...the low winter sun.

We now turned SE for the final 5km. Ian and I hoped to make the shifting sands behind the beach at Cul na Croise before sunset. We tried... but we didn't make it.