A silver silence

We set out from Lower Breakish at a little after 5pm, heading for the Applecross peninsula across the Inner Sound.  Our destination was the coast just to the west of the Crowlin Islands (just on the map in the link).

The forecast remained for complex areas of low pressure crossing rapidly from the west, they would bring rain and strong winds.  Due to the forecast track of these depressions we expected the strongest winds from the east, hence our modified plan to head for Applecross.  For now we paddled into a still evening as the wind died and a skyscape of towering grey built over a pewter sea.

The colours were monotone with occasional bursts of diffuse evening sunlight.  The air stilled completely until the only sounds were our paddle strokes.  We stopped frequently to appreciate the evening; when we drifted we could distinctly hear the gentle conversation of a raft of Guillemots over a mile away.

The world was reduced to a silver silence - it really was an extrordinarily beautiful evening.

Our destination for the evening was a bothy on the Applecross shore.  We smelled woodsmoke from some distance away so we knew that we'd have company for the evening.  It turned out to be a party of five kayakers led by a friend of Gordon's and a family who had walked from Applecross. 

The still evening did of course mean that the midges were truly awful.  We hurriedly unpacked the boats and headed indoors.  The evening was very sociable, but the heat from the fire made the bothy very warm; I decided to sleep outside in my tent, as did one of the other party of kayakers.  During the night we regretted this a bit as a gale of wind and torrential rain sprang up very quickly.  I was confident of my tent but got little sleep as it was battered by weather that was a complete opposite of the previous evening