A miller's tale on the west coast of Gigha

We continued northwards along Gigha's wild west coast, paddling along low cliffs for several kilometres - and seeing yet more Otters on the way.  Our stomachs were reminding us that it was some time since breakfast, so we were pleased to reach the tiny bay of Port an Duin (Port of the Fort) which is sheltered behind an equally tiny island.

We landed on the slippery, weed covered rocks and walked carefully up to the dry flat boulder on the left of this image to take first luncheon of wraps, houmous, cheese and grapes with a welcome mug of coffee.

The bay contains a former mill and millers house close to the shore. There are few burns (streams) on Gigha and even where they occur they're insubstantial things which probably dry up in dry spells.  This mill appears to have been supplied by a lade which must have been dug from the nearby Mill Loch as there loch has no natural outlet to the west.

When the mill was operating Port an Duin and nearby Ardailly must have been one of the centres of Gigha society - much of the barley and oats produced on this fertile island would have been milled here.

The mill itself was a two storey building with an attic and had a smaller building joined to it at right angles, the miller's house was separate.

The final run of the lade, made of cast iron, is still in place and feeds the top of a 16 foot (4.9 metre) diameter wheel, also made of cast iron.  The wheel was originally black in colour and is of an overshot design.  "Overshot" means that the water enters the wheel at the top, rather than "undershot" where the base of the wheel is placed in the mill-race or lade to provide the power.

Overshot wheels were a later innovation in milling technology and were more than twice as efficient as undershot wheels.  There was a problem however if a miller wished to convert from one to the other - the overshot design reverses the rotation of the wheel compared to the undershot version, so all the machinery would also need to be reversed.  Careful siting of the mill was required too, with an overshot design the mill couldn't simply be placed next to the mill-race with the wheel dipping in; the water had to be led to the top of the wheel.  Given all this, it seems that Ardailly Mill was designed from the outset as an overshot mill.

Having "mulled all this over" we set out again to paddle to the north west corner of Gigha, where the map promised a treat in store - a tombolo beach connecting Eilean Garbh (Rough Island) with the north of Gigha.

Landing at the southern beach in Bagh Rubha Ruaidh (Red Point Bay) on white sand, we set out for a short exploration.  The southern beach is beautiful......

....but if anything the beach facing north is even more so - a sweep of white sand backed by marram grass.

Looking eastwards towards the very north tip of Gigha, there's another couple of small white sand beaches.  The only thing our trip had lacked was bright sunshine (under which most of Scotland was basking!) which would have transformed the scene to a dazzling array of colour, but we weren't complaining.....

These beaches are justifiably popular and get plenty of visitors through the summer, so we weren't surprised at the lack of driftwood on the tideline.  We felt that there might be some where the south beach meets Eilean Garbh though, as it was open to the prevailing wind and quite rough and rocky.

So it proved, we filled two Indispensable Kayak Expedition Accessory bags with driftwood to supplement the logs we'd left at our camp on Cara, easily fitting these in the hatches of our boats.

The north coast of Eilean Garbh a wild place with granite outcrops falling straight into the sea.  Given its exposure to Atlantic swell it must be a most impressive place in heavy weather.  We'd taken advantage of the unusually calm conditions created by several days of light winds both locally and farther out in the Atlantic to enjoy Gigha's west coast in calm conditions.  Douglas has paddled here in less settled weather and rates it as one of the roughest places he's enjoyed.

We passed by the northern tombolo beach......

...and paused before heading down the east coast to look at the Paps of Jura which were just becoming visible through the cloud.  A rumble of diesel engines in the calm air announced the appearance of MV Finlaggan on her route from Islay to Kennacraig in Kintyre.

Our stomachs were also rumbling (again) - but we had a plan.....

Experiences you just can't buy, and one which you can...

We woke to a cool and overcast morning, the grass and our tents soaked by overnight dew.  Packing away a wet tent is never much fun but we were spared this task as we planned to circumnavigate Gigha during the day and return to Cara to camp for a second night.

In contrast to the previous afternoon when we'd paddled in short sleeve shirts, the chill in the morning air required rather warmer clothing, added to which our route would take us up the exposed west coast of Gigha which has limited landing opportunities for much of the way.

We didn't have to move the boats far to launch; high water coincided neatly with the times we expected to both land and launch at Cara, and there's the added factor of the area being at the edge of the influence of an amphidromic point which lies between Islay and the Mull of Kintyre, so although tides here run quite strongly across the shallow water, the tidal range at Springs is only about 1 metre.  The physics of amphidromes is complex, but the physics of only having to move our boats a couple of metres up and down the beach was a concept we could both understand and appreciate!

We crossed back to Gigha, hopeful that the cloud would break a little and provide us with some of the tremendous lighting of aquamarine water over white sand which so characterises Hebridean sea kayaking.  It wasn't to be unfortunately, but at least we could see Gigha, which hadn't been the case the previous day!

Even in the cloudy conditions there were some lovely colours in the water.  We set out on our clockwise circumnavigation of Gigha at Grob Bagh at the south westerly tip of the island. There are many ways to circumnavigate an island; we're of the opinion that paddling headland to headland to get around quickly misses out on most of the best paddling on offer - we intended to go close in and investigate every bay and feature possible.

There was plenty of wildlife interest on the west coast of Gigha - waders including Curlew, Redshank, Turnstone and the noisy and conspicuous Oystercatcher (Haematopus ostralegus) were numerous and quite approachable. The white collar on the left hand of these two birds is found on adults outside the breeding season, a completely black head and neck is a bird in breeding plumage.  At this time of year the birds are changing plumage so there's a mix.

Oystercatchers are fascinating and characterful birds - their displays and social interaction enliven the coastline and also farther inland as they are increasingly breeding on farmland well away from the coast.  The bright orange bill is a distinctive feature, is the heaviest bill of any wader, and occurs in different shapes according to the bird's diet.  The three main types are a blunt "hammering" bill which is found in birds eating mussels and other shellfish by smashing them open, a sharper "stabbing" bill found in birds eating shellfish by stabbing the bill between the valves of the shell, and the sharpest "tweezer" type bill which is found in birds eating worms and other invertebrates.  Although a blurred image, it looks that the two birds pictured above have the "stabbing" type bill.

These differences are known as resource polymorphism and occurs in other species, but the Oystercatcher takes it to a different level by being able to change its bill type to take advantage of a locational/seasonal resource or as a response to an enforced change of diet; for example when a bird which might normally eat shellfish moves inland; there's also some evidence that individual birds may change from one behaviour to another over a period of years.  They are able to do this because their bill grows at an incredibly fast rate of 0.4mm per day - to put that into context, it's three times faster than the growth rate of your fingernails.  This growth rate means that an individual bird can completely change its bill shape in about 10 days!  Superimposed onto the resource polymorphism is a type of sexual dimorphism; females have longer and heavier bills than males which gives them a feeding advantage and enables males and females to take  different prey items within a small area.

Oystercatchers breeding inland (and therefore likely to be eating worms and invertebrates during the breeding season) abandon their chicks at fledging, leaving them to make their own way to the coast and learn feeding strategies from other Oystercatchers; those birds specialising as "hammerers" may be in association with their youngsters for several months as the chicks learn the specialised techniques required for this sort of feeding.  They have plenty of time to learn as the oldest recorded Oystercatcher lived 40 years!  Truly remarkable birds and all the better for being so easily observed around the coast.

As we watched the birds, we were ourselves observed curiously......

...by Common Seals which were occupying all the small bays of the west coast of Gigha.  Tellingly, we saw not a single seal on the east coast of the island where there are fish farms.

We were surprised to see a number of Otters in close proximity to the seals - Douglas managed a photograph which shows both species in the same image.  We'd previously thought that Otters avoid areas with numbers of seals, but certainly on Gigha this isn't the case.  We saw a total of nine Otters along the west coast of the island; a really high density.  It's always a special experience to be close to a wild Otter behaving perfectly naturally, and one that just can't be bought "off the shelf"!

The west coast of Gigha is sparsely populated and is a rugged mix of rocky shore, cliffs and occasional inlets.  Wherever these inlets are usable there's activity and a long tradition of use.  The tiny bay of Port na Cathrach (Port of the chair-place) has bait holes for fishing carved into the rocks; perhaps a hint to the origin of the Gaelic name?

Fishing activity continues to the present; the creel boat "Jewel" was lying at the stone built pier.  A newcomer to this coast, her identification number BF 42 indicates a registry at Banff on the Moray Firth, she seems to have operated from Gardenstown until at least 2010.  These small creelers are well adapted to fishing for crabs, lobsters and Langoustines on rocky coasts; at 5.9 metres long she's barely longer than our kayaks and can operate in close inshore.

We took a detour out from Gigha to circumnavigate the small island of Craro (two circumnavigations in a day!).  The island, currently owned by Mr Don Dennis who runs a successful floral essence business and owns Achamore House on Gigha is, or was, for sale.  Ownership of Craro Island comes complete with the title "Baron of Gigha" (Mr Dennis described this a "a bit of a hoot") but there are some challenges for potential purchasers....

The island is barely 8 acres, comprises mostly rock and has almost no flat ground.  There's no obvious source of fresh water, it has noisy inhabitants in the form of gulls and has no easy landing place.

Apart from these minor points, it's perfect and after all does come with the opportunity to use a title - an experience you can buy off the shelf!

Arrival on Cara - diligence, deference and the Brownie's blessing

We were pleased to see first the skerries of Sgeir Gigalum, then the rocky shape of Gigalum Island appear through the mist.  Such is the distorting effect of mist on the eye that what I originally took to be a large island with trees on it turned out to be a small skerry; the "trees" actually Cormorants standing on the rock!  Although we'd been diligent in our navigation, it's always good to gain a positive confirmation of position in the form of solid objects when paddling in thick fog.  We again spoke to MV Loch Ranza on VHF to advise him that we were safely on the Gigha side of the Sound, and wouldn't be crossing back that day.

There was a clearance in the visibility as we crossed from Gigalum Island to the southern tip of Gigha and we were hopeful that the sun would burn away the mist, but it soon closed back in and we were plunged back into a ghostly world.

We had one more short crossing to make in order to reach our planned campsite, less than 1.5 kilometres but there was just a grey wall to be seen.  A line of skerries provided a useful handrail as we approached...

...a sandy beach with a ruined croft on the island of Cara.  It was clear that the late afternoon sun wouldn't be burning off the mist as we picked our way carefully through skerries and rocks towards the beach.......

...which was occupied by some of Cara's resident goats.  They seemed somewhat startled to see us emerge from the mist!

Goats aren't the only residents of Cara though.  Cara House is occasionally occupied by the island's human owners and permanently occupied by a mischievous spirit - The Brownie of Cara.  Said to be the ghost of a murdered MacDonald (naturally, the story claims that the perpetrator was a Campbell!), the Brownie is well established in folklore and occupies an attic room in Cara House from where strange goings-on are often reported.  By turns helpful and destructive, the Brownie deals fairly with those who show him proper respect.

Tradition has it that the Laird and the Minister have always doffed their hats to the Brownie when stepping ashore, and so should everyone else.  We're both traditionalists and observed this deference not once but twice; as our keels touched the sand and as we stepped ashore.  We both said in clear voices "Good evening Mr Brownie" and asked for his hospitality - you can't be too careful, tales are legion of disappearing boats, equipment and even the odd bottle of whisky on Cara if the greeting is deemed inappropriate!

We camped on short turf above the shore and then moved down to the beach itself to light our camp fire, for which we'd brought some seasoned logs - in late summer and autumn most of the driftwood has already been collected.  It was disappointing to see a fire ring burned into the sandy turf nearby; unnecessary damage when a fire can be lit just as easily below the high water mark - we feel sure that the Brownie would have taken a view on this damage to his island!

During the evening colder air dissipated the mist and a stunning sky full of stars emerged, a swathe of the Milky Way arching over Cara. We had our Sweet Potatoes just about ready from the embers and were enjoying a container of frothing sports recovery drink.  We felt that life was pretty good.....

...when the moon rose over the Kintyre peninsula in one of the most beautiful moonrises either of us have witnessed.  Huge due to atmospheric refraction and a striking, vivid orange colour - this was no ordinary moonrise and we turned our chairs from the fire to watch as it progressed higher.  A path of orange, then golden light spread across the glassy water of the Sound of Gigha as the moon gained altitude, dimming the stars as its light intensified - what a sight!

"Red moons" are occasionally seen as the effect of lunar eclipse or smoke in the atmosphere to our neolithic and later forbears could be seen as good or bad omens.  We felt that this was indeed a good omen, and maybe just the blessing of the Brownie....

"Oh mist rolling in from the sea"

With a spell of settled weather in the forecast, Douglas and I exchanged text messages and a brief phone call - it was time for another trip!  As the swell was forecast to be unusually low on Scotland's west coast for several days we decided to visit the islands of Gigha and Cara which are fully exposed to the Atlantic; paddling here is very dependent upon swell conditions and although Douglas has visited both islands it would be my first time.

You will be able to follow this trip in "Sea Kayaking Stereovision" by reading Douglas' account of the trip starting here :o)

Thoughts of paddling under blue skies over white sand and turquoise water were more than compensation for the long six hour drive from home....I left home on a sparkling autumnal morning.

Some hours later after a tortuous drive across country I stopped for a break at Inverary where a hint of sea fog had reached right up Loch Fyne.  In the sun it was warm, in the fog patches it was several degrees cooler.

The sailing vessel "Arctic Penguin" is a familiar sight in Inverary harbour.  Built in Dublin in 1910 she served as a lighthouse tender under the name "LV Penguin" until 1966.  Sold out of the lighthouse service she was converted from square rig to fore-and-aft schooner rig and utilised as a sail training vessel until 1982, she was sold again in 1988 and under her new owners hit a rock, sank, was salvaged and laid up in Refrew on the River Clyde.  She is now a museum and is up for sale, but looks to need considerable work if she's ever to sail again.

Outboard of Arctic Penguin is a Clyde Puffer which bears a famous name- "Vital Spark".  Well, almost, she's actually named "Vital Spark of Glasgow".  Built in 1944 by Brown's shipyard in Hull for naval dockyard service, she was originally named "VIC 72" (VIC stands for Victualling Inshore Craft).  After being decommisssioned from naval service she was bought and employed working from Troon as the "Elseda", being converted from steam to diesel engine at this time.

In 1984, she was sold to the owner of Easdale Island, near Oban, and was renamed "Eilean Easdeal" to run a inter-island cargo service around the Western Isles until 1994 (when the Scottish Office withdrew its subsidy for Scottish Shipping). In 2001, she was brought to the Inveraray Maritime Museum, where she still is, and in 2006, she was re-registered as "Vital Spark of Glasgow".

Douglas and I met at Tayinloan, and as it was already early afternoon we treated ourselves to coffee and cake at  Big Jessie's Tearoom - we can report that both were excellent!

As we were setting off we were hailed by the master of the Calmac ferry MV Loch Ranza, the ferry from Tayinloan to Gigha.  We had a conversation on VHF about the visibilty which was reported to be considerably less than half a cable (100 yards) in the Sound of Gigha.  He was (rightly) concerned that we knew what conditions were like, and also our likely route as he wouldn't be able to see us on his next crossing.

We explained that we were prepared for low visibility, that we had VHF, GPS, compasses and signalling devices and that we already planned to cross the Sound well to the south of the ferry track.  We would also keep Loch Ranza informed of our arrival at our destination so that he'd know we were safely on the Gigha side of the channel.  The "heads up" for visibility and the ferry master's understandable concern were actually welcome - and he was reassured by the fact that we appeared to be well prepared and had planned for the conditions.

The lightest of breezes encouraged us to hoist sails on the crossing, and we left them up even when it died away so as to increase our likelihood of being seen.  We set out on a transit which took into account the considerable tidal movement in the Sound of Gigha.....

....and we of course kept in close formation as we crossed.  At first the sun seemed to be winning the contest with the mist, but gradually visibility closed in.  We weren't surprised to find sea fog here, after all this is Kintyre and the nearby Mull of Kintyre is best known to many people through Paul McCartney's song of the same name!

At roughly the middle of the Sound of Gigha the sun shining through the mist began to create a most magical effect.....

...which gradually developed as we watched.  A fogbow is a relatively rare phenomenon and we were treated to a really beautiful example.  As with Brocken Spectres, we each saw the fogbow in a different way - a truly wonderful experience.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Autumn has arrived in Aberdeenshire and we've enjoyed some lovely days which have epitomised the opening line of John Keats "Ode to Autumn".

In the woods there are still some summer plants in flower - this is Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum), a common member of the geranium family which seems to thrive on the partly shaded banks along woodland tracks.

The Brambles (Rubus fruticosus) have ripening berries; a sharp and juicy treat during a walk!

This seems to have been "a good year for the roses"; all the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) bushes have plenty of  hips which will be an important food source for the flocks of winter thrushes when they arrive from Scandinavia.

Fungi are sprouting everywhere, this is Birch Polypore (Piptoporus betulinus) which, as its name suggests, is host-specific on Birches.  It's a fascinating fungus whic is weakly parasitic on the host tree. Healthy trees will support it but weak or aged trees will be killed by the fibrous spread of the fungus within the wood.  The fruiting body is an annual growth, the top two in this image are this year's fruit, the lower one from a previous year.

Birch Polypore has a number of useful properties - it can be used as tinder, particularly to carry a spark from one fire to the next as it  and also to sharpen blades with when cut into strips (a common name for it is "razor strop fungus").  The list of medicinal properties claimed for the fungus is impressive too: Immune tonic, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, anti-parasitic, anti-septic, anti-viral, anti-bacterial and styptic.


The medicinal properties have been known for a long time too.  "Ötzi" was the name given to the 5300 year old body of a hunter found preserved in the ice in the Italian Alps. Amongst his kit Ötzi’ carried two strips of hide onto which had been threaded pieces of birch polypore. As he was later found at autopsy to be infected with intestinal parasites against which the birch polypore is active, it has been suggested that he was carrying them as treatment and also as a possible anti-septic in case of minor injuries.

Smaller and more delicate fungi are emerging from the leaf litter and grassy areas, this is, I think, a Mycena species, but my fungus identification isn't good enough to tell which one.....

It's always a thrill when the leaves begin to turn and autumn really gets going; I really think it's my favourite season of the year.

It's a gradual change but some trees are colouring up to brilliant, flaming autumnal shades

On the farmland surrounding the house the barley is all harvested after a wet and windy summer, the yield later and less than the average, but at least it's down safely.  The stubble fields are still golden and dotted with "tractor eggs" which will be stored for winter feed and bedding for beef cattle.

It's a great time of the year to be out and about!

The beach with the built-in kitchen

Between Portsoy and Whitehills there's a small bay with a sandy beach - one of several on this stretch; and best found by exploring each one!

 Like all the bays here it's prone to surf but this one isn't too steep so landing is OK in fairly benign conditions.

 The ebbing tide had left a delicate pattern on the sand at the high water mark.....

 ....small depressions were filled with colourful boulders of varying rock types, a feature of the Moray Firth coast is the variety of boulder types which occur.

In the centre of the beach and above the storm-line there's an overhanging rock outcrop with deep fissures.  At the base somebody has gone to some lengths to create a tiny fire-pit entirely from stone, floored with a small flat rock so that no damage will be caused to the ground.  Stowed against the rock itself is a barbeque grill on legs, and in one of the dry fissures there's a bag of charcoal and a box of matches carefully wrapped to keep them dry.

A baulk of timber provides a bench to seat a few folks - the whole thing adds up to a built-in kitchen :o)

None of this would be at all obvious from the land side and is very discreet from the shore too.  Next time I visit here I'll bring some charcoal and food to grill!

 I could only agree with the sign......

 I lingered a bit on the beach and didn't paddle the last stretch to Whitehills, turning to slowly paddle back to Sandend instead.  The falling tide had changed the channel at the West Head completely - without water pouring in from the side it was much easier.

On the way across Sandend Bay back to the harbour the view out to the north was quite striking, a vanishing-point effect of glassy water and grey cloud sheet made it difficult to tell where the horizon actually was.

I'd set out intending to test a bit of sailing rig, and ended up finding a beach with a kitchen - there's never a dull paddle!