Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Water levels were perilously low


Despite the appearance of Paradise, our comfortable existence in the Sound of Gunna had one serious threat. David had run out of water. Frankly I was surprised that David drank any water at all but apparently he likes a little to brush his teeth. This crisis of mission critical supplies could only be resolved by a little 20km round trip to Scarinish on the nearby island of Tiree. We left Jennifer collecting cowrie shells on the strand and took to the high seas once more.


Unlike the steep bluffs of its rocky neighbour, Coll, most of Tiree is low lying machair. Its wide horizon is broken...


...only by the roofs of croft houses.


Our approach to Tiree was met by a magnificent 6m basking shark.


The hidden harbour of Port na Banaich is entered through a narrow cleft in the rocks.


No one was more surprised than we three to discover that the Scarinish Hotel was furbished with the appropriately named Leanto Bar and that it was a mere step from the beach. The friendly barmaid disposed of our rubbish bags, replenished David's water bottle and poured three perfect pints of Guinness. What a brilliant sea kayaking pub!

13/06/2009

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

We found what we were looking for...


Sea kayaking is a voyage of exploration...


...and of self discovery.


Well when we enterered the Sound of Gunna, we knew we had arrived.


We knew we did not have to prove anything to ourself or to others.


We had arrived where we wanted to be.


We were on a scrap of land, at the edge of a great Northern ocean, isolated by rushing tides of crystal clear water.


We knew we did not have to paddle any further.

13/06/2009

Monday, June 22, 2009

Resplendent in plum on the pink strands of Coll

13/06/2009

Resplendent in plum (this season's must have shade for the discerning sea kayaker) David added a splash of colour to the grey scene. His emergence onto the sands of Hogh Bay was greeted by the appreciative pipping of the resident oyster-catchers. His outfit in plum proved to be very harmonious with the pleasing pink tinge to the sand in these parts.


The kilometre long strand of Hogh Bay was totally deserted, the only footprints apart from our own...


...were of geese and oyster-catchers.


I think the P&H Cetus has really lovely lines.


Soon we were paddling past Ben Feall with more headlands of gneiss.


The north facing Feall Bay's sands stretch for 1.5km. It proved to be as crowded as its northerly neighbour.


Ben Feall is only 66m high but it adds shelter, character and ruggedness to Coll's amazing strands.


Feall Bay backs onto a dune system that falls to Crossapol Bay, only 340m to the south.

13/06/2009

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The North West Coast of Coll


Overnight, fresh winds and torrential rain had battered our campsite on Coll's NW coast. The wind had begun to drop before we launched but as it did so, hordes of midges attacked what little flesh we had exposed to the elements.

The NW coast of Coll is composed of a myriad of skerries, sandy bays and bold headlands. We made our way in through the skerries to explore Cliad Bay...


...before making our way back out to the swell breaking on Rubha Ard.


TT101, FV Tarka, was tending her lobster pots. Built in 1996 her home port is Coll and she is 11.9m long.


The little bay at Clabhach is backed by crofts.


The pink-grey rocks of Rubha Hogh are typical of this part of Coll and are formed from Lewisian gneiss.


The surf in the NE of Hogh Bay was about 4.5' and we did not fancy risking a landing.


Fortunately at the SE end, there was hardly any swell and we landed on the magnificent Hogh sands to take a first luncheon.

13/06/2009

Saturday, June 20, 2009

The poetry of distant mountains' names.


Leaving the Cairns of Coll, we paddled down the NW coast of Coll. As we did so a cold SE wind got up as a front moved in across the sky. We knew that this would bring rain and force 5 winds but that it would pass through within 24 hours. We had come to this area in search of the pod of orcas which yachting friends has recently spotted here. We left without seeing any but sharp eyed Jennifer drew our attention to two breaching minke whales. Fantastic stuff!


We found this bay, which was protected by an offshore island. Magicseaweed.com had predicted a surf height of 4.5' for the next day, so it would make for an easier launch than some of the bigger surf beaches.


We set up camp with the distant mountains of Barra and South Uist in the Outer Hebrides breaking an otherwise empty Atlantic horizon.


A disadvantage of such a sheltered spot was that the entire local midge population joined our evening meal in what proved to be a feeding frenzy, until we donned midge hoods and jackets. Fortunately our midge jackets still allow you to enjoy a cup of coffee in relative peace.


We then set up a little heart warming.


Fortunately as the breeze got up, the midge attack lessened and we were able to emerge into the night from our jackets like giant insects casting off a chrysalis. The aurelian paddlers of Coll were now masters of the night again and not the pesky Culicoides impunctatus.


As we enjoyed our Bowmore and Glenfiddich, the sun slowly went down behind the hazy blue mountains of South Uist. These lay 80km distant, over the now dark Sea of the Hebrides. From the left, we saw Beinn Ruigh Choinnich 276m, Triuirebheinn 357m, Stulabhal 374m, Beinn Mhor 620m, Beinn Corradail 527m and Hecla 606m. We pondered the poetry of their names as the pink clouds slowly faded to ruby red and their summits disappeared into the night.

12/06/2009

Friday, June 19, 2009

The Cairns of Coll


We made landfall at Suil Ghorm, one of the islets in the Cairns of Coll ,which lie isolated by the tide races to the north of Coll.


It was a relief to stop paddling in the shelter of the Cairns. It was just after springs and the tide was stongest just to the east of the Cairns. We came across lots of swirlies and boils and our final approach was complicated by strong eddies and counter eddies.


Within the Cairns grey seals bask on every available rock ledge.


These two otters were completely oblivious to our passage as they devoured a recently caught fish.


We took a welcome break on these stunning white sands. I went for a swim in crystal clear water but did not last long as the icy water gripped my muscles.


To warm up, I climbed to the top of the islet. As there were no sheep or rabbits, the summit was covered in a blaze of wild flowers which smelled so fragrant after the salty air of the crossing.


In the distance, the Suil Ghorm light house stands guard over the channel to Rum.

12/06/2009

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Sea kayaking Ardnamurchan to the Cairns of Coll.


We drove over the summit of the Ardnamurchan peninsula 4.5 hours after leaving Glasgow. The Cuillin of Rum and the Sgurr of Eigg boldly broke the blue vault of the sky.


We loaded our gear at Portuairk as quickly as we could...


...as the tide was ebbing fast.


Soon we were on the water with Muck and Rum to the north.


As we approached Ardnamurchan we met two sea kayakers coming the other way. We were delighted to meet with our regular paddling buddies, Gavin and Tony, who were nearing the end of their Kayak Caledonia expedition. They had covered 770km but amazingly we had been the first kayakers they had spoken to!


After a very pleasant half hour catching up on each others news, we went our separate ways. Tony and Gavin headed for a 2 hour snooze on the beach to the left of the lighthouse. They then went on to complete a 60km day from the Sound of Mull to Loch Moidart. We turned our bows to the distant Cairns of Coll.


A banana is a great pick me up on a 17km crossing.


In mid channel we were surrounded by a blizzard of Manx shearwaters who wheeled round us with wingtips flashing past our bows.


Jim looks SW to the tops of the distant Treshnish Isles that were "hull down" below the horizon.


P&H have very kindly lent me a new Cetus to try. It is beautifully finished with a glitter blue deck. Jennifer blagged first go. I will post a review once I have tried it in a variety of conditions. You can rest assured that it will be unbiased as I have 4 very nice sea kayaks in my garage and so did not "need" another to go paddling!

I expected it to be bigger than my beloved Quest but it is a much more delicately proportioned kayak. I like the look of it a great deal.

12/06/2009