Thirty Years After

At pretty close to midnight on the 12th August 1981, thirty years ago, Mrs Smith and I met for the first time just on the other side of that headland. We were both Assistant Leaders on a Schools Hebridean Society expedition, her to lead kayaking, me climbing and both with some marine biology and ecology thrown in. My recollection was that the opening greeting was something of a Dr Livingstone / Stanley moment. The island is Colonsay and although we've visited many if not quite all of the other inhabited Hebridean islands since, we had never been back to Colonsay until June this year.  

 The changes have largely been subtle. Certainly part of where we camped is now beach. The island also has this developing whale sculpture. The artist Julian Meredith started this 183m long beast on a raised beach and visitors are invited to continue to fill the outline with stones.

Then there are the beaches...... according to a Scottish Natural Heritage Commissioned Repot No. 048, "The Beaches of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland", four of the top twenty beaches in Scotland are on Colonsay. This is one of them, Kiloran Bay. OK, the report is largely subjective but I could easily add a couple more to the four!

Oh, and guess what we had with us! My objective, perhaps not shared with Mrs Smith, was to kayak from/to the said four beaches. This is Kiloran Bay and I launched and paddled solo here in large surf and significant swell. There are no on the water shots and Mrs Smith stayed in the cottage, so there are no paddling photos from the land either. The kayak is my daughter's Rockpool Isel, which was superb in the very challenging surf but a little cramped for me. Landing was very interesting! 

Hell Hole

 There's a place near us called Hell Hole. This forwarder found it!

They've been felling a line of lombardy poplars by the brook and this piece of kit had been extracting the logs. I'm surprised they didn't fell the trees to the west side as it least they wouldn't have been constantly driving through the same place, constrained by a gate.

Unfortunately it passed through the gateway once too often and the ground had become well and truly liquified! It's bad enough here in the summer. Over the top of wellys stuff.

Dusting off the cobwebs

Sunday 6th March 2011 

It's that time of year where you just have to get the boats out and get on the water again. A seven and a mile  return bimble from Porth Trecastell to Aberffraw. Great weather and loads of waders alomg the coast - redshank, greenshank, curlew, oystercatcher, turnstone, dunlin, sanderling...... 

Arisaig in the autumn

So often you see "Caribbean" pictures, but it certainly wasn't like that in late October. A raw, strong south-westerley and a rising swell curtailed our time out in the skerries. This picture was taken from very much in the lee of the peninsula.

Loch Ailort

photo: Angela Smith

We launched at one of the fish farm slipways in to a very calm Loch Ailort and headed west towards the open sea.

After passing a few islands and skerries in the confines of the hemmed in upper sea loch, the view opened out towards Eilean nan Gobhar, with Eigg and Rhum in the distance. 

Gobhar has an iron age fort on its southerley summit and has a large pebble beach that joins the northern to the southern half of the island. This shelves steeply in to the sea and provides for a fun, often wet, landing if you don't get it right.

Eigg came more in to the view as we headed down the northerly shore.

It was very quiet and Fiona enjoyed drifting whilst admiring the scenery.

This beautifully renovated and isolated cottage (no road) is presuambly someone's summer retreat.


Meanwhile Angela had driven down to Glenuig to walk over to Smirisary before collecting us at the Glenuig slipway.... and the wind had got up.



photo: Angela Smith

We'd been having a leisurely lunch on Gobhar in the shelter from the wind. After lunch we paddled around the north side of the island and hit a very strong south-westerley head on. It was a bit of heads down battle back to Glenuig and a smug-looking wife!





Loch Moidart revisited - pt.2

photo: Angela Smith

It isn't often I spend a day on the water and don't take a photo from my kayak, but this was one of those days. Loch Moidart is my favourite sea loch and I'd decided  to be absorbed by the experience rather than fiddling with a camera.

photo: Angela Smith

When we got back to Dorlin the tide was advancing quickly across the sands, however earlier on out at the mouth of the loch the tide was so low the only way to get in to the lagoon had been to approach from the open sea.

photo: Angela Smith

The birds gathering as the evening closed in.



photo: Angela Smith

This confiding deer had been standing in the middle of the road and been very reluctant to cede its ground to my car with two kayaks aimed at it on the roof.



OK, my only photo of the day but Fiona does rather like her Isel!

Loch Moidart revisited - pt.1

 Being 300 miles further north than home, light arrives later here. This was 8.15 a.m. BST. on a cold and frosty morning

 

photo: Angela Smith

Having had a long journey yesterday, we were in no particular hurry to get going, especially with a superb and constantly changing view as the mist and frost retreated and Loch Shiel was gradually revealed. 

photo: Angela Smith

Eventually we dragged ourselves down to Dorlin and Loch Moidart. Time to pack the boats and get going, at a very low tide.