Beach Life - The Winter Edition

 We paddled along the southern shore of Loch Gairloch (a tautological name which translates as Loch of the Short Loch) and took a coffee break at Port Henderson where a narrow strip of sand allows an easy landing on an otherwise bouldery beach.

Of course, when there are so many excellent beaches to savour, it pays to have plenty of hot water for coffee!  We headed north and made the 4km crossing of the outer loch to a beach which is simply known as "Big Sand"...for the most obvious of reasons!  A landing on the broad expanse of warm-coloured sand was followed by another coffee break.  To get these conditions in winter is a rare treat; it was actually pleasantly warm due to the lack of wind, clear sky and our paddling drysuits. An advantage of this winter beach-life is a lack of biting insects and crowds...though it has to be said tha the air temperature was hardly above freezing all day.

As Allan headed out from the beach I took a short video on my phone to show the "widescreen" situation, which is pretty special.

On our paddle back along the north shore of Loch Gairloch we took time to hang out with the local youth - these two young Otters were curious rather than wary, a real treat.

It seemed a shame to end such a superb day as we headed back towards Charlestown but the views to the Torridon hills went some way to compensating for the shortness of daylight.

After packing up at Charlestown we drove out to a spot above Big Sand to watch the sun set over the north of Skye.  It had been a great day and the bonus was returning to our base on Loch Ewe to a warm house, home cooked food and a sports recovery drink - all in all a fine day!

Ice, Ice Baby.....

During a winter which had so far been alternately wet or windy, the chance of some sea kayaking in settled weather had Allan and I regularly checking forecasts in mid January.  As a high pressure system built over the UK we made plans to head to Wester Ross - we were disappointed that neither Lorna or Douglas were able to join us for this short notice trip.

A family connection of Allan and Lorna's kindly allowed us the use of a house overlooking Loch Ewe as a base, which made this winter trip very comfortable indeed.  Allan headed up on a frosty morning, I left later in the day and we met at the house.  The view first thing in the morning was very encouraging as pre-dawn light coloured the sky and reflected off mirror calm water - it looked like we had a fine day ahead.

We drove to Charlestown on Loch Gairloch and loaded our boats on the slipway.  there was frost on the boats which made for chilly fingers.

There was also plenty of ice left by the falling tide.  The water in the harbour at Charlestown was free of any ice so the possibility of sea didn't really register with me as we got ready to get on the water.

After paddling out of the harbour we turned south and for a short while paddled straight into a dazzling low sun with reflections from the water - it was really hard work to see where we were headed!  We'd intended to paddle close to the shore past Badachro and around Eilean Horrisdale, but found a large area of sea ice over a centimetre thick drifting towards us on the ebb tide.

 It was pretty obvious straight away that this was hard ice which was probably drifting in and out on the tide, freezing at low water twice a day.  It was too thick to crash through with the boat or the paddle and was, disconcertingly, moving quite purposefully.  I've experienced this just twice before, once on Loch Long and near Kinlochleven - both occasions in similar prolonged deep frosts.

Manoeuvring a sea kayak in ice even a centimetre thick is difficult and unstable, the paddle has to be crashed through and sometimes glances off, destabilising things.  Add to that ice moving on a tidal flow with the possibility of constrictions and it's not a place to be....coming out of the boat would have serious consequences.  Allan and I reversed away from the ice and found a lead of clear water to take us back out into the open.  Just an hour into our winter day and it was already packed with interest!

From gold back to cold on Loch Gairloch

On this day of peerless autumn weather, the beach at Big Sand was a small piece of paradise.  With no breeze the sunshine felt warm on the face...and the views, oh the views!  It would have been easy to spend hours on this beautiful beach, but as you can see from the shadows behind our boats, the short autumn day was already wearing on.  By the time we got on the water for the final leg of our paddle back to Strath the sun was already low in the south western sky.

We paddled steadily back along the shore, occasionally glancing over our shoulders to note the rapid skimming of the sun.  There was a moment of brilliance as it dipped below the skyline of Skye's Trotternish peninsula, with even the briefest of  hint of a "green flash" as the very last of the disc disappeared.

Once the sun had set it became very cold, a contrast to the golden light.  A "sundowner" breeze had started up and we paddled a bit faster to kep up our tcore temperature, and to land before darkness fell.

After landing on the shore a few undred metres east of the slipway at Strath, we carried our boats across the road to unload them on a handy stretch of grass prior to moving them back to the campsite.  A full hour afte sunset the western horizon still had a deep bronze glow.  The lighting here is deceptive, in reality it was virtually dark at this point.

A hot shower awaited us backat te camp site, and then another really good meal at the ld Inn rounded off what had been an outstanding day of sea kayaking in the most perfect of conditions and in a stunning location.

Our trip had been a very leisurely 25Km/15 miles in seven hours on the water - given good weather we can absolutely recommend this as a day paddle!

Wonder after wonder on Loch Gairloch

From the beach at Port Henderson we looked straight out across the Minch to the "Long Isle"; the conjoined islands of Lewis and Harris, the more mountainous skyline to the left of this image is An Cliseam and the hills of Harris.  The two small dark islands just showing to the centre right of this image are the Shiants.....they're a destination which is most definitely on my radar for an expedition.

Our plan had been to paddle south from the mouth of Loch Gairloch for a short distance to check out Opinan beach.  Allan decided to omit this diversion and to make a leisurely crossing north to Longa Island.  Lorna and I headed south into the eye of a searing autumnal sun......

...and soon reached Opinan.  The beach is a good one, reddish sand backed by dunes; in low swell conditions makes for an easy landing.  We didn't linger too long before getting back on the water and heading straight north towards our rendezvous with Allan at Longa.

With the sun now behind us we enjoyed a superb view of the Flowerdale hills - Baos Bheinn (Wizard's Hill) to the left and at the extreme right of this image, Beinn an Eoin (Hill of the Birds - this usually refers to eagles).

Part way across the mouth of Loch Gairloch I stopped to take in the suroundings.  A kayak on a flat calm sea, under a searing sun and backed with a view to the Trotternish peninsula of Skye - it's one of my favourite memories of this trip.  But if that scene was special, to look the other way was a wee bit special too....

We'd met up again with Allan at Longa (from the Norse Ship Island), where I'd briefly landed on an awkward bouldery shore.  The view to the Torridon skyline was really, really fine.

Sometimes the sheer beauty and majesty of Scotland just grabs you by the throat - and this was one of those times.

And to make things even better, a shape on the summit trig point of Longa unfurled itself into a White Tailed Eagle and flew purposefully and powerfully across the loch towards the mountains fo Torridon....really, it doesn't get a lot better than this...........

.....although second luncheon on a sweep of immaculate beach simply called "Big Sand" helps too!

From cold to gold on Loch Gairloch

When a few days of very good weather coincided with the height of the autumnal colours and some planned leave from work, it was much too good to miss!

With a firm forecast for settled conditions starting three days ahead, Allan, Lorna and I looked at where we might go.  We discussed various options and settled on two days of paddling, one on the sea at Gairloch and one on fresh water at Loch Maree.  The nights are fairly long in the north of Scotland in the last week of October, and the forecast was for particularly low temperatures overnight.  As we weren't doing a continuous journey it seemed a good idea to use a commercial campsite in the area to allow hot showers and the chance of evening meals in a pub.....no point in suffering unnecessarily!

We had a journey of about four hours from home in Aberdeenshire across the country then north to Wester Ross, so decided to travel on the day before the settled conditions established.  The further north west we travelled, the more unsettled the weather became; the iconic Slioch was playing hide-and-seek through veils of snow showers and it was clear that there had been a good deal of wet weather in the preceding days.

Arriving in the village of Gairloch, we booked in at the camp site at Strath in a very heavy shower of cold rain.  In the hope that it would "soon pass through" we adjourned to the nearby Mountain Coffee shop for a hot drink.  The rain slackened rather than passed through and we got our tents up and kit stowed without getting too wet.

Once sorted out we headed off to walk around to the "other" part of Gairloch - which consists of Strath on the north side of the loch and Charlestown towards the head of the bay.  We were nicely warmed up by our 3km walk (for which you need a head torch after dark, part of the road is unlit) to the Old Inn at Charlestown.  I've eaten here before and persuaded Allan and Lorna it was worth the walk.   Despite the fact that the Inn was closing a for the season a few days later there was a full menu of great home cooked food available, along with a selection of craft beers.  The walk back kept us warm and we turned in early before we got chilled down back at the camp site.

Our tents had been wet from the evening rain, but we woke to quite different conditions with frozen tents from a sharp overnight frost.  The early morning was undeniably chilly but we soon got going and warmed up.

The morning sun takes a wee while to rise above the mountains to the southeast of Gairloch, but when it did things started to warm up quickly.  We were staying at the Gairloch Caravan and Camping Site - a place I've used regularly through the years.  The new owners have invested in brand new toilet and shower blocks which are immaculately clean and centrally heated, and the old shower block has been turned into a "shelter" for campers.  Recognising that lightweight camping in Scotland's north west can have some unpredictable conditions at times, this shelter is a basic building with a picnic bench inside, plus a microwave, fridge-freezer and a kettle.  It sounds simple, but what a difference it made to be able to boil a kettle for breakfast and to fill flasks rather than firing up cold gas stoves on the ground.  In very wet and/or midgy conditions the shelter will be a real haven.  Every camp site should have something like this!

As the sun began to come up, pale golden light streamed around the skyline formed by Beinn an Eoin on the left and Baos Bheinn on the right, the two highest hills in the Flowerdale Forest.  It looked like it was going to be a golden day!

We decided to launch from the slipway at Strath and moved the boats the short distance from the campsite.  This morning was Spring tides and at about half tide the lowest part of the slipway is exposed.  Two locals warned us that it was lethally slippery, there have been two recent accidents resulting in serious broken bone injuries here.  We tried the lower part and none of us was prepared to carry a boat below a line of dark green weed.  Instead, we lifted the boats off the slipway and onto the rocky shore - still slippery but with some angles to work with.  We'd recommend launching from the shore a couple of hundred metres to the east of the slipway. 

In absolutely perfect conditions, we set out into the calm waters of Loch Gairloch (one of several tautological names for lochs - Gairloch translates as Short Loch).  Paddling seemed effortless, the boats sliding through crystal clear water over a sandy seabed.

Image: Lorna McCourt

Our pace started slow and soon slowed further - this was no day to rush.  Lorna caught this image of my boat's bow reflecting with absolute clarity on the surface of the sea.

At times the reflections were startlingly clear, the brain having to consciously process what the eyes were seeing.  Conditions like this are not at all common - when they do happen it's a marvelous experience to be out on the water.

We paddled around the back of  Eilean Horrisdale, enjoying the contrast of golden aspens and russet bracken reflecting on the water, topped with a flawless blue sky.

Continuing west towards the open sea, the beach at Port Henderson offered a first luncheon (or was it second breakfast?!) stop on the reddish-brown sand so typical of this area of Torridonian Sandstone.  What a day it was to be out and about!