A journey towards the edge of the World.

My journey north to St Kilda started at 17:30 after work last Friday. It was a slow drive due to the number of caravans and motor homes heading north. These vehicles carry such evocative names as  GT, Cheetah, Concorde (Mach 2 model), Monza, Le Mans etc. However, the road quietened after Fort William and by 21:30 I was watching the sun set behind Eilean Donan Castle.

I spent the night at Gordon and Morag Brown's new Skyak sea kayaking centre on Skye. After meeting some of the others, we spent a very convivial evening chatting and planning our adventure. We rose early the next morning and loaded the kayak trailer. We drove to the Calmac ferry terminal at Uig...

 ...and were soon enjoying the in flight entertainment. A large pod of dolphins were leaping out of the waters of the Minch.

 The Cuillin of Skye were soon slipping astern...

...to be replaced by the mountains of Harris as we entered Loch Tarbert.
 

We drove through the high mountains of Harris and descended to the wide open moors of Lewis. Lewis and Harris form the third biggest landmass in the British Isles after Britain and Ireland!

We had a long drive ahead of us to the little port of Miavaig in Loch Roag on the west coast of Lewis.

 Here we met the Cuma and her Skipper Murdani.

 Soon we were loading the kayaks onto the Cuma and our journey was about to begin. Murdani at the stern supervised the loading but he didn't seem to be quite himself. I overheard him say to the Gary the Cuma's mate " I don't like leaving without it." and "I know we have got plenty plastic ones but stainless steel would be better."

We set sail without it and with plenty plastic ones on board....

St Kilda preview!

Looking back to Stac Lee, Stac an Armin and Boreray while en route to Hirta.

Tony and I had planned a week to St Kilda with Murty and Murdani on the MV Cuma at the beginning of June. We were both well pissed off when the University changed the dates of the exam season and we couldn't go. I was then completely gobsmacked when Gordon Brown phoned up and asked if I would like to go on a trip to St Kilda the following week, as he was filming some sequences for his second sea kayaking DVD with Simon Willis. It took me all of 0.3 secs to say yes. There was Gordon, Morag, Simon, Liz, Donald (who led the first return trip to St Kilda by kayak from the Outer Hebrides), Anne, Ken, Callum, Janice, Sue, Ian and myself. Murdani was joined by Gary and Louise on the Cuma.

The company on this trip was real fun and considerate. I was troubled by some bad knee pain on this trip but the thoughtful help with handling of the kayaks and with launching and recovery was really appreciated. When I last visited St Kilda, I didn't venture far from the village as my knee was recurrently dislocating. This time, my knee was totally stable after the operation and I went a walk with the others round the island. All went well until we started to come back downhill. That proved very painful and I fell a long way behind the others. However, Gordon stayed behind with me and we had a great chat. One thing is for sure, I would never have been able to attempt a trip like this without considerable help from other people. Thank you all! :o)

The thrift is still flowering on top of the cleits.

Village street, Hirta.

 Soay ram, Hirta.

 Bonxie attack Conachair, Hirta. Our near permanent smug mode was temporarily disengaged.

Glen Bay, An Campar and Soay from Mullach Mor, Hirta.

Dun from Ruabhal, Hirta.

West coast of Hirta.

Stac Biorach and Stac Soay in the Soay Hirta gap.

Lunch stop off SE coast of Soay.

Entering the arch through Stac Soay.

The 8km crossing to Boreray is assisted by a useful little transit called Stac Lee.

Rounding Stac Lee.

The Cuma and Stac an Armin.

 The great cave on the west of Boreray.

Looking back at Stac Lee Hirta and Soay from the north end of Boreray.

Rounding the north end of Boreray.

The east coast of Boreray.

Been there! How lucky we were!

On location

Returned from the edge of the World.

On location

Normal service will be resumed next week :)

Navigational aids in the Sound of Islay.

The tide in the Sound of Islay whisked us south to the Carrag an t-Sruith lighthouse. Unfortunately it was not big enough to have its name painted on the side, thus somewhat hindering its navigational usefulness.

Useful though white painted lighthouses may be to navigators, we noticed a much more interesting  building on the far side of the Sound, which was also painted white.

This one is quite clearly identified by having its name painted on the side, in large black letters. This makes it an incredibly useful navigational aid. Not only that, the building serves another purpose, it is where one of the spirits of Islay is distilled from base grains of fermented barley. This is the spiritual home of the sublime Caol Ila malt whisky, which we had enjoyed just a few hours before!

I am not sure if it was the powerful tide or the heady vapours emanating from the large white building but Phil seemed to loose all sense of direction and veered off into mid channel.

He very nearly missed the turn off into the narrow mouth of Port Askaig Harbour.

We had completed a great paddle on the north coast of Islay and Loch Tarbert on the west coast of Jura. Maybe it was not the one that we had originally intended but it was one from which we had returned safely.

Northern England & IOM, Jim Krawiecki

The latest in the Pesda sea kayaking guides to the UK coastline has just been published. Jim Krawiecki's Northern England & IOM has been four year's in gestation and the wait has been worthwhile. Jim writes in a fluid and concise style and the pages ooze the detail which comes from the author's familiarity and enthusiasm for the area. There are 50 full routes spread over 267 colour pages. These offer something for all levels of experience. The routes include open crossings, coastal waters, tide races, estuaries, rivers and canals! Some of the routes are really inventive, this is not just an A to B to C round the coast.

The book covers the Isle of Man, the Cumbrian Coast, the Lancashire Coast, the Trans-Pennine canal network, the Yorkshire Coast, the Tyne Tees Coast and the Northumberland Coast. There are even three forays into Scotland.

From the striking cover showing shafts of sun shining through a Filey arch, the photography throughout the book is both an eye opener and a showcase for the region. I for one will be making a point of visiting soon. Clearly I have an interest in Pesda sea kayaking guides as I am currently finishing off the guide to SW Scotland. However, I can say without any risk of bias that Jim has produced an absolute cracker of a book. Buy it now and visit soon!

Catching the 0930 in the Sound of Islay.

We awoke at a decent time and had plenty of time to have a big breakfast in the morning. There was not a great distance to Port Askaig and the south going tide was building nicely to help us on our way. As we packed, the swans entertained us by teaching their cygnets to break into and out of the current in the Sound.
 

We did best to imitate their style and after catching the 0930 southbound, we were soon travelling at up to 14km/hour.

 The SW coast of Jura is an interesting place.

 The tide was carrying us south so quickly that we...

...repeatedly broke out of the current to investigate the many dykes, stacks, caves and raised beaches.

A night with the angels on the Sound of Islay.

We soon had the fire going and cracked open the 18year old Caol Isla (“Sound of Islay”) malt whisky, which had been distilled just a few kilometres away on the Islay side of the Sound. The midges clearly appreciated the local spirit as well, though they seemed to have had enough by nightfall.

Fortunately they disappeared after dark. As the night wore on the embers of our fire slowly died away and the Ruvaal lighthouse beam flashed steadily over the restless dark waters of the Sound.

I can think of no better circumstances in which to savour a malt whisky. I swear we even caught a whiff of the "angels' share" blowing from the distillery in the wind across the Sound. We slept soundly that night.

Swanning about and an invasion of privacy in the Sound of Islay.

There are very many opportunities to wild camp on the Jura shore of the Sound of Islay.  Basalt dykes at right angles to the shore create innumerable secluded coves.

Unfortunately one of the prime sites was already occupied, so not wanting to invade any one's privacy, we turned back a little way.

We soon found a lesser bay and we decided to just make do with second best as the sun was setting fast. I suppose it did have an OK view...

...and the close cropped grass looked sort of level enough to put the tents up. All in all, we felt rather put out and inconvenienced not to have  been able to camp on our first choice of site.

Then to rub salt in our wounds, the occupants of our first choice of site upped camp, then arrived en famille, only to settle down for the night right next to us!