First job of the day was to make the 7km crossing of the Firth of Lorn. This is an interesting and active stretch of water. The flood tide splits into three streams here, one stream goes up the Sound of Mull, the others go up up Loch Linnhe passing either side of Lismore. Conversely, the ebb streams meet here, with the stream in the main channel rotating gradually clockwise. I'd chosen a quiet time near slack water at the end of the ebb and so had a quiet crossing.
Part way across I was overtaken by the Calmac ferry "Isle of Mull" on her first run from Oban to Craignure. She's one of the bigger Calmac ships and carries 70 cars and 951 passengers. Her service speed is 15 kts so it pays to look over your shoulder on this crossing! Fortunately she announces her arrival and departure in Oban Bay on VHF so I could estimate when she'd pass me.
Arriving at Eilean Musdile I passed underneath Lismore lighthouse and looked for a landing spot. There are slipways either side of the lighthouse, but at low water they weren't useable. Even at this quiet state of the tide, swells were surging around the island.
Heading along the island I came to this bridge spanning a tidal passage - not quite a bridge over the Atlantic but impressive all the same.
At the north tip of Eilean Musdile I landed on weed covered rocks and walked back to explore the lighthouse. Looking north to Lismore, I spotted a likely campsite for the evening if I could manage the whole way around Lismore.
No comments:
Post a Comment