Kerrera August 2015

Paddlers: Hugh, Geoff, David, Tim and Robert

Weather: Clear, Sunny or light, high, cloud. Wind F1/2 increasing to F3/4 at end of afternoon

Route: 

 

kerrera

Report: With high winds forecast further south on Jura, the proposed trip was altered to a trip around Kerrera. This proved ideal as 3 of the 5 paddlers had not been before and it was a lovely trip on a wonderful day. The wide sand beach at Ganavan is 2 miles north of Oban and is a perfect launch spot with excellent parking, toilets and a wide slip. Parking is a modest £2 for 24 hours.

The Beach at Ganavan
The Beach at Ganavan

The sceney is magnificent with Lismore and Morvern to the North, Mull to the west and Kerrera to the south. The odd photogenic ferry also helps

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Our paddle south was quite fast and we overshot our intended coffee beach at Slatrach, although the next sand beach at Barr-nam-boch was extremely pleasant. After lunch we paddled on round the point heading for  Gylen Castle.

Heading South. The Garvellachs are directly ahead
Heading South. The Garvellachs are directly ahead

Once again we spurned the poor beach to the west of the promontory in favour of the worse beach to the east.

Gylen Castle
Gylen Castle
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The East Beach
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Looking South from Castle Gylen
In the castle
Fashion Show in the Castle Fireplace
The castle looking south at the top
The castle looking south at the top
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A difficult launch

500m up from the castle is a lovely tea room; thoroughly recommended.

Tea Time in the warm sun
Tea Time in the warm sun

The journey north was assisted by a rising tide .

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Heading north

At Oban, whilst Hugh, Tim and Robert decided to mix it with the ferries David and Geoff decided coffee was more inviting and pushed on to Gallanach arriving about 6pm. The tidal flow and the increasing breeze made the final couple of miles quite interesting (bouncy) and rounded off an excellent days sea kayaking.