Rides bikes, paddles sea kayaks, takes pictures. Life on the road & my home in Cornwall.
A Small Islands Journey…
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.. or puffins and other places. Sea kayaking in the Small Isles with a side-trip to paddle around the seabird nesting colonies of the Farne Islands.
When it’s a roughly 700 mile drive, picking a weather window for a sea kayak journey amongst the islands of the west coast of Scotland can be challenging. The Met Office Inshore Waters and Strong Winds Forecast is accurate but only good for 48 hours. Not much use when it takes at least a day to get there. There are a number of predictive wind models available online these days that, by and large, seem to work quite well for a few days into the future… but in this case, not so much….
During nesting season the islands are home to some 100,000 pairs of various species of seabird…including around 40,000 pairs of puffins.
The plan had been to make a tour of the Small Isles – Eigg, Muck, Rùm, and Canna – perhaps moving on to Skye and around after. In the event we were dogged by persistently high winds and only managed two of those islands before crossing back to the mainland ahead of a gale warning for the wider Hebrides area, and another strong wind warning for The Minch. The charts looked poor for the foreseeable future so after 5 days among the islands, rather than just head back to Cornwall, and with fairer weather to the east, a detour was made to enjoy a couple of days paddling around the seabird nesting colonies of the Northumberland coast – Coquet Island, and the Farne Islands. Those latter were a real highlight and while I had been very much looking forward to exploring Rùm especially (it had been a tantalisingly mountainous silhouette on the horizon during previous occasions afloat in the Outer Hebrides), it was a super, fun escape with friends, and easy to tell the story with pictures…
The put in at Traigh, just north of Arisaig on the west coast. It’s a lovely spot, I’m always seduced by the relative absence of people and cars relative to Cornwall…It’s about 17km across from the beach at Traigh to the northern tip of the Isle of Eigg. With a moderate north-west cross-headwind blowing it took about 3 hours. The land in the background is the southern end of Skye with the Cuillins above. Moving clear of the mainland revealed the Cuillins in all of their jagged glory.Terrific skies over the mountains of the mainland.Heading around the top of Eigg….. to reach Traigh Chlithe in the Bay of Laig. Conditions were ‘lively’ amongst the rocks and reefs of the approach from the north, and a chunky 3-4ft of surf for landing which, as always, magically disappeared as soon as I pulled a camera out…Unloading…. Super views across the Sound of Rùm to, errm, Rùm.There’s a nice camp spot just behind the beach. I didn’t sleep well.. after a fine night camped at Fort William on the way up, the valve blew out of my air mattress here. I glued it back in but with 12 hours needed for the glue to cure before pressure could be applied, it was an uncomfortably hard night….. below the village at Cleadale. There about 105 people on Eigg and this is the primary conurbation. The island itself is owned by the community; the previous landlord system brought poor housing security, lack of employment opportunities, and lack of investment in key infrastructure. In 1997 the Isle of Eigg Heritage Trust was able to buy the island with help from public donations, the Scottish Wildlife Trust, and the Highland Council. It would appear to have been a huge success. I think it’s fantastic.Evening planning session, tuning in to the hourly VHF shipping and inshore waters broadcast. With a strong wind warning, north or northeasterly, for the following day and a south coast with no safe landing, plans for the crossing to Rùm were dropped in favour of exploring the more sheltered southwest coast of Eigg.Morning dawned cold and drizzly with the expected wind. Nominally around force 6 but with violent squalls powerful enough to knock a passing yacht over on her beam ends. 75p Ikea bags are essential sea kayak touring kit, especially in tidal waters where it can be a long walk from the water to camp…Conditions were enjoyably ‘lively’ heading around the north coast of Eigg… lively enough however that I really didn’t feel like faffing about with a camera in the wind and steep following seas… ;-) The sheltered southwest-facing coast however was much quieter with some decent wildlife, including a fabulous sea eagle spotted lazily cruising along below the cliffs.Kayaks were ‘parked’ on the beach opposite the ferry terminal at Galmisdale, on the southern tip of Eigg….. where there is a small but well-stocked shop, post office, and community-provided visitor facilities including shower and washing machine – contactless payment only. Eigg is almost entirely powered by renewable energy – wind, solar, and hydro, and the Eigg Electric company is entirely community owned.There is also a handy meadow for pitching a tent. It’s a 10 minute walk to the village facilities.The Island is served by the MV Loch Nevis (Gaelic – Loch Nibheis) on her routes around the Small Isles from Mallaig.Isle of EiggIsle of Eigg – the old harbour.Isle of Eigg – the main anchorage for visiting craft is the channel between the main island and Castle Island (Eileen Chathastail).Isle of Eigg.Winds the following morning were high… a walk was in order. Fine views to the mainland.The southwest coast has caves… one in particular being notable as being thought to be the site of the killing, by suffocation (by means of a fire placed at the entrance) of 395 people in 1577 during a feud between the Macleod clan of Skye and the local MacDonald clan. More info here. The cave itself is deep and narrow… take a head torch.… the other being appropriately known as Cathedral Cave.Morning… heading southwest across the Sound of Eigg. With the wind forecast to strengthen significantly within 48hrs there seemed little point in moving camp to Muck only to be trapped there, potentially for a few days. Instead a single day across the Sound of Muck, around the island to explore, and back – a nice day paddle of around 28km with time to explore, albeit with a rapidly strengthening headwind for the return.Low water in Port Mor…Port Mor is the harbour and primary settlement on the island, which has a population of about 38. The name, Muck, is thought to come from the Gaelic word Muc, which means pig, or swine. The island used to be known as a sanctuary for wild boar, hence the name… or it might be because ‘Muc na mhara’ is Gaelic for “sea pig” – referring to whales and dolphins/porpoises.. of which there would have been many.There is a small cemetery above the harbour.Isle of Muck, south coast.Isle of Muck, south coast.The beach at Gallanach – a leg stretch, and a spot of shelter from the chill northerly behind a shed for tea. Isle of Eigg in the background.Views of Rùm on the return crossing…..in an increasingly stiff wind.We had already decided we were going to have to return to the mainland the following day. Up early anyway, a fresh gale warning for the wider Hebrides area and a revised strong wind warning for the day issued at 5am added some urgency to get on the water for the 18km crossing back to our launch spot. The day began mill-pond smooth with wind and seas steadily building during the morning. On arrival around midday, gear was thrown in cars and sails were set for the coast of Northumberland….The Farne Islands.. at their closest point of Inner Farne they are just 2.25km from the coast near Seahouses. Arriving midday-ish we sorted permits (go to the National Trust hut at the harbour) for the following day and then enjoyed an afternoon paddling amongst the nesting seabirds, and seals, of Coquet Island, off Amble, further south along the coast.The following morning a put-in near our campsite at Beadnell made for a relaxed few km paddling to approach the Farne Islands from the south, paddling through increasingly dense ‘rafts’ of seabirds bobbing around on the swell.Inner Farne Lighthouse, built in 1811.During nesting season the islands are home to some 100,000 pairs of various species of seabird….. including around 40,000 pairs of puffins; about 10% down from the pre-bird flu years apparently. I once met someone, while sea kayaking in the Outer Hebrides, who professed to really not to like birds very much at all ( an intense dislike rather than outright hatred I think)… including puffins. They were a London lawyer so perhaps it was a case of coming from an environment where birds are considered as little more than a nuisance that spoil the shine of a freshly polished Range Rover…Guillemots. I love watching them diving beneath a sea kayak in the clear water.The cliffs are quite ‘busy’ with them… numbers however are around 46% down on previous years – bird flu and bad weather.Landing, with restrictions, is permitted, with a permit, on the innermost island. The other islands are strictly off-limits for landing. This Arctic Tern is perched by the Chapel of St Cuthbert, once part of a larger monastery complex on Inner Farne. St Cuthbert of Lindisfarne was a Celtic saint for the early Northumbrian church.During breeding season the island is home to large numbers of Arctic Tern. I love these birds, so delicate and elegant in flight….. and yet so tough. They make the longest known annual migration of any animal, covering around 70,000km each year as they swap between northern and southern hemispheres.Not unexpectedly… plenty of grey seals too.. although the real stars are the birds. It’s absolute bedlam among the islands :-)The Longstone Lighthouse (1826) on the outermost of the islands. For the return journey a wind increasing to F5 and the spring flood tide in full flow made for some enjoyably lively conditions between the islands to wrap up a really superb day of paddling.
There you have it. For anyone interested as far as camera gear goes.. utterly inadequate for the Farne Island birds I’d say… I was using my usual sea kayaking solution of an old Fuji X100s in a housing on my deck, and for the Farnes I stuck a secondhand and well battered Fuji 18-135 zoom (such that I wouldn’t be too bothered about wrecking it with saltwater) on my trusty old X-Pro 2, all wrapped in a plastic bag and stored in a dry bag between my knees under my spray deck.
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4 thoughts on “A Small Islands Journey…”
Not exactly a top beach destination, but definitely a very interesting trip. The birds are great!
Excellent adventure and photos as usual. Your comment about the IKEA bags made me smirk. I had no interest in the store or its bags until I learned the bags were good for carrying your kit from boat to car or camp. Now I have the bags in my paddling kit and I keep a couple in my car for carrying wet stuff.
Not exactly a top beach destination, but definitely a very interesting trip. The birds are great!
cheers, and hehe, re “beach destination”… nope, and all the better for it :-) How was your ride south from Mendoza?
Excellent adventure and photos as usual. Your comment about the IKEA bags made me smirk. I had no interest in the store or its bags until I learned the bags were good for carrying your kit from boat to car or camp. Now I have the bags in my paddling kit and I keep a couple in my car for carrying wet stuff.
haha, cheers for writing… the bags are the only Ikea thing I have… £0.75 each, well worth it :-)