Category: News

Paddlers: Geoff, Hugh and Ken

Weather: Absolutely glorious.

Report: 

The poor weather forecast (high winds) , unavailability and illness caused a change of time and venue from round Jura to the south east side of Coll and Tiree. Even then we expected high winds and very rough water, especially in the Sound of Gunna, between Tiree and Coll. In the event, although the breeze was apparent, the water was flat and the sun shone and shone, with over 15 hours on both days.

Just like bikes, kayaks are carried free on Cal-Mac ferries. Carrying the boats on to the ferry in Oban we learned the most important lesson of the trip; USE A TROLLEY.  The ferries are big, but the link spans are even longer. With three of us we needed a minimum of 3 trips the length of both. Whilst the Oban carry-on was just tolerable, the length of the boat plus the the length of the link span at Scarinish (Tiree) was close to half a mile, and it took close to an hour of hard labour to get to a point where we could get into the water.  By the time this was completed we were very tired and it was 7.30. The original plan of paddling for an hour was thereupon abandoned in favour of camping on the flat land adjoining the Cal-Mac office (and the water supply and toilets) and a trip to the pub.

A pleasant enough evening followed with a lovely walk of just over a mile and we turned in at about 11.30pm. At 6.45 a loud metallic clanking indicated an early shift by some construction workers at the pier, and at 7am a jack hammer started breaking up a lump of concrete. This continued intermittently for the next hour and a half. By 9 am even Ken was ready to depart.

The most memorable feature of the islands are the glorious beaches, huge, like Gott Bay or tiny coves tucked between the rocks. On Gott Bay can be found the extraordinary cottages peculiar to Tiree. These have rounded roofs covered in pitch (or thatch) and huge walls to deflect the constant wind that blows over the island.

 

The breeze was continuous and would have made any attempt on the North West coast untenable, or at least very unpleasant. For us it simply provided cooling of an increasingly hot sunny day. We got across the potentially difficult Sound to the island of Gunna for lunch.

Gunna has lovely beaches and a large flock of completely black sheep. It also has a cottage that is not new but fails to appear on any map. After lunch we paddled on to Coll and climbed to a trig point to look at the north side, confirming again it was not possible.

 

After a snooze we pushed on south. At this stage Hugh claims to have seen a Basking Shark.  The paddling was wonderful with lots of seals and islets to meander around and through.

The look out for a campsite with drift wood for a fire led us to a small cove near the mouth of Braccadale Bay. A leisurely meal and an excellent fire preceeded a good night’s sleep.

 

The next morning we had a very casual (and late) departure for a short day paddling a wonderful coastline in fantastic weather. Even the breeze dropped. Our first stop was Braccadale Castles (old and new) the ancestral home of the Laird of Coll.

A lot of money appears to be flowing into the castles to provide holiday accommodation. In the weather we had, it is difficult to imagine anywhere nicer.

We paddled on surrounded by seals with excellent views to Mull, Ardnumurchan and Rhum. At one point an Otter ran up a rock just in front of us, saw us, turned and ran down back to the water.

 

After a great afternoon, the only small problem to be solved was how to get the kayaks back on to the ferry. On the route out we had inspected the pier at Arinagour (Coll) for good, indeed any, landing points and potential camp sites close by (the ferry was at 9.40 the following morning). After much discussion it appeared that the only possibility was a landing on the rocks at high tide or a walk of a mile plus from the village. Given the choice of high tide at 5.30 pm and a ferry due out at 7.20 pm or high tide at 6 am the following morning and a 3 hour wait we decided on the former. A trip up to the village and the pub, then back to the pier and a surprisingly easy lift out over the rocks. Note that this would only be an option in the very calm weather we experienced.

The ferry was late and, by the time we had carried the kayaks and gear the length of the boat and up the ramp, it was after 11 p.m before we were ready to get going for Helensburgh.

This was a great trip to three wonderful islands but access to and from the ferries is real problem. A trolley would have halved the time and quartered the effort and would have been essential on Coll in poor weather.  Carrying a trolley (or storing it) is problematic and subject to further investigation.

 

 

 

 

 

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Paddlers: Hugh, Ken, Geoff, Innes and Douglas

Weather: Lovely but windy on Saturday getting less windy but more cloud as weekend progressed, with heavy showers day and night.

Route:

 

Report: Slightly late we left Helensburgh at 7.30 aiming for the 10.20 from Lochaline to Mull and made it easily. A rather slow drive across Mull got us to Ulva Ferry around 11.30 and on the water at 12noon.

There was a brisk northerly F4 blowing but a decision was nevertheless made to go on the north side of Ulva, with the option of cutting through the channel between Ulva and Gometra if there was doubt about the crossing to the Treshnish. So it proved and we stopped at the wee bridge joining the two islands for a break and because the channel was still dry.

By the end of lunch the channel had still not filled sufficiently so we waded through. Almost immediately after resuming the paddle a Sea Eagle appeared soaring above us.

The original plan had been to creep up the end of Gometra before crossing but it rapidly became clear that we would need to wait for the wind to go down. We stopped at a potential camp site with a view north with a poor landing on wet, seaweed covered extremely slippy rocks and waited in the sun

By 6pm it became clear that progress was not going to be possible and this was to be the camp site. Here is where the Strops come in. Hugh had designed a pair of lifting strops that proved a godsend in getting the loaded boats up (and down) over the terrible beach. These proved invaluable.

If there are four of you and you have strops, the camp site is strongly recommended with large relatively flat area, good pegging and a supply of driftwood. The latter provided the fuel for a good camp fire with turn in sometime after 11pm with an agreed rise at 7.oo for a departure at 8.30. Otters also frequent the area.

Overnight there was heavy rain which damped both tents and wind. However it stopped at 7 and stayed away most of the morning. We headed directly for Carn na Burgh into the increasing wind. Although both islands have fortification and history both have terrible landings with Beag almost impossible. The views however were fantastic.

Some History: The two islands have a long history as part of the boundary between the Norse and Gaelic cultures. Easily fortified they were used in a number of clan battles including the battle between the Maclean’s and Argyll in 1680 that ended with the supremacy of Argyll. Its last use was during the 1715 rebellion when it was occupied for the Jacobite cause by the MacLeans whose chief had been imprisoned by Argyll. 

The paddle was then south to Lunga past Fladda and a host of islets and skerries. The wind had been picking up all morning and winds caused a few flutters as the kayaks surged forward. The landing on Lunga was again on rocks although they were somewhat smaller. There we joined yachtsmen and tourists off the multiple boats that operate from Fionphort, Bunessan and Ulva Ferry. The attraction was the magical puffin colony where hundreds of Puffins in their Sunday best parade for the camera.

 

 

The numerous tourist boats were eventually joined by a Cruise Liner!

 

From Lunga we headed directly to one of the most incredible places in Scotland. Staffa is formed of nearly perfect hexagonal vertical columns of basalt sandwiched between sandstone and at its most magnificent has three large sea caves.

Mackinnon’s Cave is the largest with a wonderful vaulted entrance. The Boat Cave is the deepest and houses a pair of nesting guillemots. In their distress at being disturbed they accurately dive bombed Ken with rather smelly faeces. Ken alone was not amused at this sign of good luck.

 

One amazing phenomenon at this point is the tilting ocean.  The columns are vertical on the sandstone but the sandstone layer is slightly tilted. It seems impossible for the brain to cope.

 

The third cave, Fingal’s,  is the masterpiece with vaulting throughout its length.

 

The public are able to access the cave by a path at the base of the basalt. The tourists during our visit not only had the magnificence of the cave but 5 beautiful sea kayaks to admire.

We had a quick break at the only “beach” at Clamshell Bay, another rough rocky landing. After much discussion we  headed back to Gometra in degenerating weather, reaching there about 6pm. It had been a fantastic sea kayaking day with two amazing natural phenomena and around 20 miles of excellent kayaking in fantastic surroundings.

Monday promised a relatively short paddle along the south side of Ulva to get us home for early evening. The cliff scenery was excellent the whole way and the wind , now from the South, had little impact. We stopped at a private bothy at Cragaig used by at least one kayak club. Perhaps a winter trip?

We arrived back at Ulva Ferry at about 1pm and decided to take lunch in the Boat House cafe on the island. This was excellent (if slightly expensive) and the Heritage Centre (Free) was well worth the 2 minute walk from the cafe. In stark terms it described the clearance of Ulva/Gometra from a populationof 850 at the start of the nineteenth century to 15 in 1981.

Finally a quick paddle across the Sound and home.

 

 

 

Continue reading “Magical Puffins, Magnificent Caves and a Couple of Strops: Staffa and the Tresnish Islands, May 2014”

Paddlers: Adele, Ann, Fergus, Douglas, Mark, Geoff and Hugh

Weather: Cold, damp and windy

Report: The initial plan was to paddle from Cragendoran to Mark Cottage , stay the night and return. Day trippers could join/leave at different locations en route. The original good weather forecast degenerated throughout the week  until it became clear that the return leg would not be possible. A decision was then made to start from Coulport.

The sea was quite bouncy but the trainees did extremely well and the group was well disciplined and cohesive. The crossing to Ardentinny was quickly accomplished and we pushed on to the beach for a break and use of the excellent toilets . The delightful picnic was periodically interrupted by sleet showers.

Then it was back to the boats and further up the loch.

As the loch narrowed the following swell increased in height with the occasional one breaking. The instability this caused was uncomfortable and after about 20 minutes the decision was taken to abort the expedition, primarily because the chances of getting back in the light were diminishing rapidly. A battle against the swell and wind then followed as we pushed back down to Coulport. The MOD police in their  boats, were, for the first time ever, noticeably absent and a more direct route to the shore was followed.

What might be surprising is how positive everybody was about the trip. It was cold, wet, windy and thoroughly enjoyable.