Leaving Ewe....

Overnight the wind dropped somewhat but it was still breezy early in the morning.  While waiting for the tide to come up a bit  I explored the side of the bay I'd only briefly visited when scoping sites to camp.

In amongst the bracken are two mounds, each about three metres long which definitely look man-made.  Each has a large stone at the shoreward end.  this one isn't so easy to make out on the photograph....

...but this one is a bit more defined.  They look like burial mounds but I can find no information about them. 

As the rising tide approached high water I got the final bits into the boat and  prepared to leave Slaggan Bay.  I know that I'll come back here, saving it for a bright day to get the best from the amazing quality of light.

My morning paddle would take me back along the eastern shore of Loch Ewe to Aultbea, with plenty of interest along the way.

Geos, caves and channels cut through the sandstone cliffs....

...along with a mighty sloping slab at Leacan Donna, foreshortened in this image but quite impressive.

There was plenty of the World War 2 infrastructure in evidence too, this lookout has been converted into a fishing hut.

I'm sure I've read somewhere that the slipway and detached pier near Mellon Charles were used to service RAF Sunderland flying boats - antisubmarine patrol aircraft - but can't find the original source.  A different kind of air force is based at the pier now; a colony of Common Terns is using it as a nesting site, their noisy screeching filling the morning air as I passed.

All too soon the first houses of Mellon Charles and then Aultbea appeared and I landed at the slipway on the west (outer) side of Aird Point.  This is actually a better place to launch and land than the harbour slip at Aultbea as it has parking immediately adjacent and keeps the slipway clear for the creel boats and Scallop divers.  The stretch from aultbea to Slaggan and return via Isle of Ewe would make a great day paddle on its own - one to come back for!