Fidden sunset

After returning to Uisken we loaded up the kayaks and drove back to Fidden on the Ross of Mull. We arrived just as the sun was setting.


One of the cottages in Fidden was momentarily bathed in this beautiful warm light...



... until the orb of the Sun sank below the distant rocks of Iona and the gathering darkness of night wrapped around us.

20/07/2007

Wind turbines on Windy Standard

The weather has not been particularly conducive to sea paddling this weekend so Tony and I decided to go for a little bike run in Galloway instead. We planned to cycle over Windy Standard, a 698m hill in the Carsphairn Forest.


The clear sky of the morning gave way to mist and sleety rain. As we climbed through the clouds we heard a "whoosh whoosh whoosh" long before we saw the wind farm. It was quite surreal cycling along at above 600m in height with 36 turbines all round us. Windy Standard currently generates up to 21.6 megawatts but another 30 turbines are planned. My legs could have done with some of that power.


We got up to 685m which was above the snowline. Bob the dog had never seen snow before.


We needed to stop for a breather, below the cloud line, after a white knuckle descent.


We did 31km and ascended a total of 940m in just under 4 hours. I was quite pleased with that!

Reclining nude figure of Uisken

The reclining nude (and cross legged) figure of Uisken can be seen at low tide among the skerries.

20/07/07

Exsisto paratus on the Ross of Mull.

It was a long paddle back from Malcolm's Point to Uisken. We stopped at this deserted and unnamed white shell sand beach.


There was not a hostelry in sight. We had to wash our freshly caught mackerel down with what ever refreshment we had to hand. Exsisto paratus.


We did not want the day to stop so we took a little detour past Uisken, through the skerries, to Ardalanish Bay.


We turned back from Ardalanish as the sun began to sink in the west.



The skerries of Uisken are such a maze, it is unlikely you would ever retrace your wake.



20/07/2007

"I'm at the Arches"

Carsaig #1 from Carsaig #2


Carsaig #1 from the sea.


"I'm at the Arches."


Even the great Carsaig Arches are dwarfed by the scale of Malcolm's Point. mind you if this is the size of his point, what size was Malcolm?

20/07/2007

Carsaig Arches, Mull

Not far from the great slab of Leac nam Leum, there are even greater wonders of Mull's volcanic past.


The Carsaig Arches are now high above the sea but during the last Ice Age, when water levels were higher, Atlantic swells surged through the arches.


Hexagonal basalt columns teeter on top of layers of lava.


In turn the lava layers are interspersed with layers of volcanic ash. The ash is very soft and can be picked with a fingernail. As you can see, wave action is undercutting the basalt by wearing away the ash. One day, probably quite soon in geological terms, the whole lot will come toppling down.

Might I be presumptuous and recommend that you visit the Carsaig Arches sooner rather than later?

20/07/2007

Look before you leap.

We landed on extremely slippy green boulders at the foot of Malcolm's Point.


Mike is dwarfed by the scale as he casts a line from Leac nan Leum.

We were unprepared for the huge scale of Leac nan Leum, a great basalt slab, which stretched for hundreds of metres. This was testament to the violent volcanic past of the island of Mull during which, huge volumes of lava spilled down from the Ben More volcano. Even today, after some 50 million years of erosion, the lava fields are up to 1.8km thick.

Leac nam Leum is Gaelic for Slab of the Leap....


At its eastern end, the slab is riven by a great chasm over which one of our ancestors is reputed to have leapt while being pursued by an army of dreadful giants or some such terror.

Tony, who did not have the same constraints on his time, made a more measured judgement and, after a long look, decided not to leap.

20/07/2007