On the busses

Today was spent either on busses, or waiting for busses, as we lugged our 4 large bags back to our car

We zigzagged across scotland .. from Ullapool to Inverness to Fort William, to Tarbet (a junction and hotel beside Loch Lomond) finally arriving at a tiny busstop at the entrance to the Point Sands Campsite at Taylinloan: our starting point a month ago. All in, it took nearly 12 hours. Not bad

The scottish bus network is surprisingly effective. Even tiny places seem to be connected, although it may well be by the postman's van (which sometimes also serves as a rural bus) or a "dial a bus" service which can be booked the evening before to travel on certain rural roads.

Even though the regulations said that passengers could only have one piece of luggage, we found all the staff very helpful and interested in what we'd done. Some even helped us load the bags!

For those tempted to follow in our footsteps, the Traveline Scotland website is great for route planning

Celtic Fringe is also a useful community run website with a wide range of public transport options in Westerross (the area south of Ullapool)

The busses seem busier than we're used to down south, so although its possible to by the tickets on the bus, its more relaxing if you buy them in advance (even by an hour guarentees you a seat) We were relieved we'd booked the tickets for the remainer of the journey as we passed through Inverness Bus Station.

As the sun finally set over the paps of Jura, we were sitting beside a campfire on the white sand of the beach, chatting with a a couple of other campers and finishing the contents of our wine box.

What a trip.

The disappearing kayak

After a wonderful month, we arrive in Ullapool. We check in to the lovely Arch Inn (5m from the sea, 300m from the busstop) and start the preparation for the return journey.

Most kayakers would be faced with the prospect of recovering their car,then driving it all the way back to load the kayak on the roof rack, before returning home. But this is where folding kayaks like the K2 come into their own.

We just take it apart, fold it up and load it and all our stuff into 4 (very large) bags, ready to go on the bus.

Priest Island

After 2 days in Poolewe the wind died & let us out on the sea again, rounding Greenstone Point. Conditions remained good so we crossed to Priest Island, the most remote of the Summer Islands, once occupied by hermit clerics, but now owned by RSPB - with good reason. The sea cliffs abound with nest sites for fulmars, razor bills. Artic Skuas patrol, ready to attack if you get too near their moorland nests. It was a fitting finale to our trip to be on a wild Summer isle for the shortest night, although we celebrated without my suggested midnight paddle.

Having been determed to avoid goals & challenges, we did secretly aspire to paddle from Gigha to Ullapool, and it's been a classic. This journey has a rounded completeness, with a great variety of scenery & paddling. We've been lucky with mostly clear weather, although on 7 days we stayed ashore because of strong winds. We lived it up on 9 nights in hotels or B&Bs, 3 with friends, 3 on campsites & 17 wild camping. All our wild beach meals were cooked on driftwood with our home-made "Turbo-Barbie" (details to follow in a techie-post). Hoping our fellow bus passengers, going back to the car, manage with our kippered smell!

Thanks to everyone who's supported us, made it possible and shown an interest.

Safety at Sea.. or not

For a second day, we're happily installed in Lilly's B&B in Poolewe (Riversdale B&B 01445 781227) , waiting for the Force 6/7 winds to calm down. It looks like we'll be able to get out to sea again on Saturday

On days like this one of our more unusual pieces of Kayaking safety gear comes into play: walking boots! These make it a pleasure to explore the surroundings on land when its not safe to be at sea. As a result, hopefully, our distress flares and other bits of more conventional nautical safety equipment can remain unused.

There's not much room in a kayak, so Kayakers often have nothing more than blister-inducing Wellies as footware on land, so boredom must make it tempting to set out to sea when really it would be safer not to. We get round the space problem by taking walking shoes, held tightly together with strap and kept in a waterproof 3 litre Lomo bag. (This keeps the sea water out, and the festering smell of damp socks in!) http://www.ewetsuits.com/acatalog/Dry-Boxes-dry-bags-uk.html

Rubha Reidh

Rubha Reidh (say: "Roo Ray") is a wild, rocky headland on the mainland, North of Skye, that catches any swell & tide. You wouldn't want to be kayaking there in the wrong conditions. For us it was just pleasantly exciting, with stunning scenery. We managed to get into the tiny Port An Amaill, where massive quantities of cocaine was landed after being dropped off in creels, resulting in the UK's largest drugs bust. East of the point we enjoyed threading through a playground of beautiful stacks & cliffs.
We decided to land on Camas Mor a wild, sandy beach, surrounded by cliffs - trickier than expected because the sand shown on OS maps has been washed away, exposing more rocks. Fortunately there wasn't too much surf'. There was great camping! The "ruins" above include a delightful bothy, Camas Trollvaig, from where we could see to Cape Wrath, with Suilven & the Assynt mountains beautifully arrayed. Gorgeous.

We left at high tide next afternoon, because stronger winds were forecast later, and shot round into the shelter of Loch Ewe.

Badachro Inn, Gailoch

Just arrived at this highly recommended pub, in a sheltered bay off Loch Gairloch.
Near perfect: Great food, Our kayak is tethered at their doorstep, and we're booked in for B&B! Who cares that the weather forecast for Wednesday/ Thursday suggests that our run of perfect weather may be coming to an end!

Kayak Camping

A great site for wild kayak camping has 5 things...

• Safe and easy landing, at all states of tide
  
• Great views
• Comfortable, flattish, grassy, breezy camping, not too far from the landing
• A nearby stream
• No roads or houses around

Sometimes we find all 5. Other times, as last night in Torridon, we need to compromise!

The view was great though!

Nautical Chelsea Tractors?

Well, yesterday was indeed very relaxing. We had a late start and enjoyed relaxing on our beach on Loch Alsh, watching the passing boats heading east and waiting for the afternoon westborn tide "window" when we would be able to go through the narrows at Kyle of Lockalsh and out into the open sea. However by the afternoon, the wind had got up.. We didn't fancy a slog into a good force 4/5 westerly, so decided on an early morning start the next day.

When the alarm went off at 05:10, surprisingly it still seemed like a good idea. It was a georgeous day: sunny and calm, with just enough breeze to deter the midges. We cruised North, through silken waters with gambling dolphins, arriving at lunchtime at the wonderful Applecross Inn for a huge plate of Applecross bay prawns.

During our trip, we've seen quite a few nice yachts, but I'm getting increasingly suspicious that they are the nautical equivalent of a Chelsea Tractor. Almost all of them seem to be chugging around using their diesel engines, even if there's a nice following wind. The only boats we've seen that were REALLY sailing, was a small (engineless) dingy tacking up into the wind a few miles south of Applecross , and a gorgeous yacht from the Youth Sailing Trust Scotland on Mull with a crew of 17.

Are the sails just for show: the nautical equivalent of having 4x4, when you seldom use it for anything more challenging than the speed bumps at Waitrose? Maybe a yachtie can enlighten me!?

BTW. mobile phone coverage may get a bit sparce from here on, so we'll have to see where we can next post the blog from ...

Sgritheall and Kyle Rhea

Yesterday, (yet again) we had a super but strenuous day, which ended by us saying "we really must relax a little more!"

Tuesday morning we had kayaked up to a beach just south of the kyle rhea narrows between Skye and the mainland, then carried our (rather heavy) camping gear a few miles up the Glenn Beag valley, visiting several Brochs on the way. These are amazing structures: about 2000 years old, looking a bit like double walled cooling towers. They were probably built partially for defensive purposes, but also for living in. Glen Beag has the second best preserved example which is about 10m high (the best preserved is on the island of Harris in the Outer Hebrides)

The next day we climbed Sgritheall (pronounced Scriol!) for a wonderful view from Ardamurchan peninsula to Torriden and the Hebrides, before coming down, repacking the kayak and zooming (at 15kph) on the tide through the Kyle Rhea narrows. The tide slooshes through here to Loch Alsh and out through Kyle Akin, giving 2 narrow opportunities each day to go through. The next opportunity was going to be 4am Thursday. Not an attractive proposition!

We finally put the tent up on a beach just W of Kyle of Lockalsh at about 7pm, determined to relax the following morning while we waited for the next tidal "window" to open at 3pm so we could go through the Kyle Alkin narrow to the open sea once more.

Knoydart Crofter

The North wind lessened so we could paddle away from Eigg, feeling inspired, heading for the mainland. Again the shearwaters put on a wave-skimming flying display for us. Returned to a beach just south of Morar, where I led a group of Barnardo boys Kayak-camping in 1967. Got a beautiful sunset over the Skye Cullin, as in the film, Local Hero.

I'm fond of Mallaig, but it was pretty crowded, so the next day, after shopping and fish & chips, we headed into a northerly headwind again. We were glad to reach Airor in the west of Knoydart, where my old friend Dave lives. We worked together at Camusrory (at the head of Loch Nevis), where Barardos had an adventure school - but he stayed!



He's been crofting on Knoydart, the most remote part of UK mainland, ever since. He was making silage for his cattle when we arrived, but took the time to give us a fine welcome. I couldn't refuse his beef stew -my vegetarianism relaxes about once a decade in "3rd world", non-factory farm, situations. Dave's pushing 70 and is considering scaling down his crofting, but wouldn't move -he loves the real neighbourliness of this isolated community.

Muck to Eigg

Had a second day roaming Muck: with vivid views & time for relaxed chat. The bright skies & superb visibility are from a stable weather pattern, also bringing fresh North winds. On Thursday we loaded up the kayak & paddled to the East end of Muck, hoping to cross to Eigg. The wind had risen since we'd first looked, so we landed & climbed to a sheltered spot, waiting for it to lessen. Studying the crossing with binoculars convinced us it was still too rough for us & we returned to camp on a headland with fantstic views. The wind veered in the night & we eventually moved the basha to a more sheltered spot to avoid the noise of incessant flapping!

The Small Isles are served by Calmac ferries that take Kayaks for free - perfect for this situation. We were ferried to Eigg where we've spent a couple of days exploring, staying at Jackie & Mick's B&B. The island's celebrating the 10th anniversity of its community buy-out this year. It's also has virtually 100% renewable electricity from hydro, wind & solar, although last year when we visited the diesel generator was back on because of a severe drought. Lots of dramatic landscape to see, much of it volcanic, as with these lava bombs.

Tomorrow the forecast is for less wind & we hope to paddle to the mainland.

Muck

Great weather made crossing to the Isle of Muck a dream, paddling past rafts of Manx Shearwaters that would sometimes take off & fly at great speed, alarmingly close to us, skimming the sea. Last year we saw the burrows on the Rum mountains, where they nest. Having migrated from South America, they take turns parenting for alternate weeks, meanwhile nipping down to the Bay of Biscay to feed. When the young have grown enough, they're abandoned and find their own way to South America!

Muck is a welcoming small Island that we ambled about today, marvelling at its colourful variety and views of Islands, all around, including the Outer Hebrides, right down South to Mingulay. We get tantalising glimpses of small island community life, which appears idyllic today. People are relaxed & friendly.

The Port Mor House Hotel is providing us a luxury break, which is especially welcome because Anne has strained her back, Kayak lifting - it's now getting better.
When we and the weather are good, we hope to contine to Eigg, where a parcel of more maps & some useful bits should await us.

Rounding Ardamurchan point

Yesterday we rounded the feared Ardamurchan Point, in blissfully calm seas. We had lunch drifting up and down beside a little island where the sand eels (and hence fish) apparently flourished. We put out our mackerel line, with its newly acquired mackerel lures and waited hopefully, salivating at the thought of barbequed mackerel for supper......

Final score: Fish 2,Tom and Anne nil. We continued on our way, fish-less, leaving one fishhook embedded in a lobsterpot rope, another in the seaweed.

We camped on the headland a little futher round the coast, where we got a tantalising view of all the small Isles: Eigg, Muck, Rum Canna and Skye. While we had our (fishless) supper, a basking shark and a minke whale fed in the calm waters below.

Context

UK canoeing was popularised in 1865 by John MacGregor with his book "1000 Miles in the Rob Roy Canoe". Canoeists pioneered our NW waters, opening up routes like ours, before pleasure yachts arrived. We've been reading the marvellous "Canoe Boys", describing a 1934 trip like ours by 2 young men from Glasgow tennements with amazingly basic gear. Their trip was celebrated a couple of years ago on TV by Simon Willis, whose website we much admire.

We'd arranged a kayak rendezvous with Simon & Liz on the south Morven shore, but they turned back because of a bad forecast & urgent demands from his imminent guide-book, based on their Gigha to Ullapool trip last year: . Got a great view there of a white-tailed sea-eagle, perched in a shoreline tree.

We're now staying at the Ardnamurchan Campsite & Study Centre, run by Trevor Potts, who's done some amazing journeys including kayaking across the Bering Straight & re-enacting Shakeleton's Antartica to South Georgia epic. Time now to pack up & head round the Ardnamurchan Point, which, with beautiful conditions, shouldn't be epic. Trevor's told us some good fishing spots.