Showing posts with label Loch Sunart. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Loch Sunart. Show all posts

Sunday, 28 June 2009

Day 3 - Loch Sunart

Chez Vince for night 2. A pleasant enough bay with room for a couple of tents but exposed to the northerly wind that was blasting away for most of the evening and which lulled me in to a deep sleep very quickly. I was visited by a red deer doe, which came within a yard of the tent, grazing the grass around where I had pitched. I lay still and quietly with the tent door open and watched her. Absolutely brilliant.


My stove was still playing up and the strong late afternoon winds that seemed to have set in to some sort of weather pattern preyed on my mind so I made the reluctant decision to return to Reisipole rather than travel further along the Ardnamurchan coast. I needed some hot water to give the stove a strip down and good clean: Moral of the story - use Coleman fuel rather than unleaded petrol, or get a gas stove. I paddled across to the Ardnamurchan shore and turned east, passing Glenborrodale Castle and a maze of rocky islets.

The trip back up the loch was basically a paddling slog and fairly boring. My destination was
below the summit of the distant hill.

Salen, a small village on an inlet favoured by the yachting fraternity, provided a brief interlude from the drudgery of the inner stretch of the north shore. A couple of interesting islolated bays also offered decent enough food stops.



Wednesday, 24 June 2009

The Big Trip 2009, day 1


Launch was from the campsite slipway on the north shore of Loch Sunart at Resipole. They allow cars to be left for £2 a night. The kayak is loaded up with provisions and water for a four day trip. The sun is shining and the sea loch is almost mirror calm. It was good to get on the water and start paddling.



For the first day the plan was to follow the Sunart (southern) shore. The Sunart Oakwoods are an internationally important site for mosses, lichens and liverworts as well as various vegetation communities, birds and animals. Much of the southern shore of Loch Sunart has this important semi-natural woodland dominated by oak, but there are also enormous conifer plantations and significant areas of rhododendron, which thrive in the climate here. The alien conifers and rhododendron are being removed.

There are massive areas of clear-fell and jetties exist in a number of places to facilitate the removal of the timber by coasters. This particular one looked more redundant than used.

This coaster had arrived on Monday evening for loading at a jetty on the southern shore of Loch Sunart opposite the Resipole campsite. I had seen it earlier that day heading south down Loch Linnhe near Fort William, so presumably the timber is going to the pulp mill at Corpach. 24 hours later it was loaded up and on its way back.

After a few hours of gentle paddling I reached the island of Carna, an island with narrows on either side that is at the entrance of Loch Teacuis. The hill in the background is Ben Laga.
I came across this urchin shell on top of a rock that had presumably been used as an anvil or lunch place by a gull or perhaps an otter, which are plentiful hereabouts.

The channel on the west side is narrower than on the east and has quite a few submerged rocks. The tide really rips through here and it was fascinating watching the changes of the tidal flow as time passed by.
It was at this point I decided to make my campsite. It was a very warm day and as it was my first days paddling I didn't want to over do things or become dehydrated. I'd only paddled for about six hours, perhaps covering 25km, but sometimes it is best to quit while you are ahead.

The ketch on the far left seemed to be some sort of research vessel that came in to anchor on the north side of Eilean nan Eildean. A couple of tenders were working the channel and there appeeared to be some sort of observation of the sea floor and collection going on. Apparently there are some important reefs hereabouts. Later in the afternoon the wind started to blow a real hooley from the north west and during the night the ketch had to be moved around the Eilean for more shelter.

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

2009 "The Big Trip"

Hello!

It's 1st June 2009 and I've scheduled four days to solo paddle a fair chunk of the Sunart and south Ardnamurchan coasts wild camping and fully self supported before moving on to the luxury of a cottage on Skye and day tripping. Time to get away from work and retain my sanity.