Feb 28th – March 4th 2019
A 4+ hour drive across on Day 1 (Thurs Feb 28th)
and boat packing at Aird just down the Craignish Pennisula from the yachty
place at Ardfern. Got underway by 15.45hrs with a fully laden Pace Tour 17
heading across to Scarba. This was a
neep tide day and I was planning on passing through the Jura / Scarba passage
at slack water. As it turned out I was a
little early and had to head into the north Jura shoreline to avoid residual
current. No sign of the notorious
whirlpool at Corryvrecken though as I went through – just a few eddy lines and
squirrely bits. I did see a porpoise
arching above the surface to welcome me, and an eagle sitting imperiously atop
a rock buttress.
I was short of daylight hours so had to press on past Eilean
Beag & Mor and southwest to find a campsite – lots of caves in the rock
walls along here. 18.00hrs and it was
still just light enough to paddle but by 18.30 it was pretty dark
grey/overcast. I pulled up short of my
plan at a spot in Glengarrisdale Bay and rapidly got the tent up. As I’d got sorted there were eerie glowing
eyes in the darker corners which made me double check what sort of creatures
were here. Fortunately they were just
wild goats (but they do have pointed horns).
Cooking by headtorch but dinner and a malt completed things nicely. Day 1 = 15 kms.
Friday dawned reasonably brightly and I set off southwest
along the coast into a F3. Its about 20 kms of straight coastline here so I
simply “hand-railed” it with a brief leg stretch at one sandy bay. I had
planned on going into Loch Tarbert to explore /have lunch but that intention
was wiped away when I saw the conditions at the mouth of the loch. Wind was energetically bursting across from
the east (upper reaches of the loch) and raising whitecaps all across. I chose not to try and paddle directly into
the loch /wind so set up a big ferry across from Rubha an t-Sailein aiming to
land at Rubha Lang-aoinidh – about 2.5 kms to the south.
The ferry across was about 1hr20 of hard slog and that was
not much fun. I didn’t look over my
shoulder but I was well aware that the bail out plan would have been a full-on
downwind leg across to the Ruvaal lighthouse on Islay. When I got across the loch mouth and was
still on plan A (the Jura shoreline) I decided to stop for coffee/lunch 2. I thought the Reed Chillcheater storm hood
had been a real boon in these conditions – not too restrictive, bright yellow
for hi-vis, and really windproof.
Moved on down the coast and at one point was accompanied by
another eagle (it hovered about 50ft above me), after a few minutes he gave up
thinking I was a possible snack and went back over the shoreline and raised
beaches. Also just a brief sighting of a
seal. Now well into the broad funnel of
the Sound of Islay. Still blustery although it was a continuous southerly as
per forecast. I pulled in to the small
bay before Rubha Aoineadh an Reithe for a campsite as planned – being able to
see the Bunnahabhain distillery across the 3kms of water. Greeted this time by about 10 red deer hinds
grazing with their bigger Stag up on the ridge watching. Day 2 = 33 kms.
Well Day 3 turned out to be a non-Day as the winds increased and it wasn’t fit for paddling. My tent was lashed by squalls coming down off the Paps and by the surging southerly arriving up the Sound. I did get a little walk about and took photos of the basalt dikes, the shags, and a poor red deer stag lying on the bog grass – still with an intact 10 point antler set. Again saw lots of deer but that’s why the place is called Jura isn’t it? Otherwise it was a “book” day. I stuck 3 big boulders inside my boat’s cockpit so it wouldn’t blow away overnight.
So by Sunday morning it was easing and I got underway
smartish. Past lots of caves eroded into
the low shore cliffs. The atmosphere was
a bit moody with residual mist/cloud banks sitting on the Paps and the sun just
about showing above it as the morning progressed. Went south past the Caol Ila distillery and
the harbour of Port Askaig but stuck to the Jura side. The tidal window was in
theory after 14.00hrs but by virtue of a few eddies and a bit of sneaking, I
made reasonable progress. Lots of oyster
catchers shouting at me as I passed though, plus low circling geese with their
endless honking. I cruised on the inside
of Glas Eilean for a laugh even if I was in about 6” water depth.
Went round the outside of Am Fraoch Eilean looking for Claig castle but there’s not really much left anymore. The island is tricky to land on due to rocky defences and “lagoons” that would leave you high & dry as the tide receded. Watched to CalMac ferry pass on its way up the Sound. Wind had dropped to about a F2 now so it was an altogether easier paddle across the southern end of Jura doing about 7 kph. Passed the big house, Brosdale Island, and then turning north up the inner sound. I could feel the remnants of the atlantic swell helping me along. In fact a bit of gentle surfing was in order I was trying to get back on plan for the circumnav.
Pulling into Craighouse Bay was a little surreal as quite
suddenly you are in a large flat water area with that evening feel to it (it
was also Sunday evening so few folk about and certainly no signs of life at the
distillery). I weaved between the Small
Isles and headed for a landfall. However
the first two sites turned out to be just bog so I paddled further north to Lowlandman’s
Bay and tucked myself away amongst the twitch grass. A number of seals came out of the evening
mist to see what I was but I was keen to get my dinner. Day 4 = 34kms.
Hopefully “completion” day but that would need a good stint
on the water, and the help of the tide.
A slightly earlier than normal launch to get me some time credit and it
was out across the flat sheltered bay and turn left up the coast. Set course NE
and slowly accelerated as the flood tide developed. The wind varied from a gentle F2 SW to a more
brisk F4 SW; the clouds had that wintery, energetic, look to them so I stayed
wary of stuff creeping up from behind.
Bright though.
A beach lunch stop was taken before the Ruadh Sgeir light as
I didn’t want to get swept too far NE by the 3-4 kt tide. Afterwards I hugged the coast a bit more and
stayed in control of when to step out towards Craignish Point. In fact the Barnhill property (George Orwell,
1984) was as good a marker as anything – so off out into this bowl of sea that
takes a flood tide up from the south, has a stream squirting through the Dorus
Mor, and vents out to the west through the Gulf of Corryvercken plus other
passages to the north. It is indeed a “confused” body of water. Given the bright fresh feel to the day, the
excitement factor was welcomed and I made a reasonable course across to Reisa
an t-Sruith and then into Aird jetty mid afternoon. Day 5 = 38kms
Circumnavigation complete in 3 & a bit paddling days
(plus 1 bad wx day);
total = 120 kms.
