An enriching encounter at Huisinis

I left Loch Crabhadail with some regret, it's a special place.  The fresh breeze was behind me as I headed back down the Caolas an Scarp toward Huisinis.  The wind combined with an  ebbing tide had me fairly racing along and I decided to continue around to the south facing beach rather than land on the slipway and trolley my boat back over the machair.

As I left the comparative shelter of the channel the ebb and wind began to oppose a big swell.  Rubha Huisinis (Huisinish Point) is a pretty "out there" place, fully exposed to the open ocean; in fact apart from a few skerries the next landfall to the west would be in Canada....

It's been a while since I've paddled in an Atlantic swell; this was the last image I took for quite a while.  While there was no breaking waves, the swell was typically long period and very powerful.  The noise of the swell bursting on the cliffs of the headland was really something and once I settled a bit the situation was really engaging.  I was acutely conscious of how thin the margins are here; a remote headland in a big sea in an area with little realistic prospect of rescue if things went wrong - it focuses the mind wonderfully!

Almost abreast of the point I entered a strange area of calm water where the foam from the bursting swells was forming a broad line arcing out from the headland.  There was no change in either breeze or swell but this just felt more relaxed and I followed the line of foam until I got close to the source at the south end of the headland.  It would have been interesting to get close in to the point, but prudence kept me at least a kilometre offshore.

Turning into the south facing bay brought an immediate change, sheltered from both wind and swell.  It was a different world and a relaxing end to a few hours on this great stretch of the Hebridean coast.  A gentle landing and a short carry up the beach were a bonus too.

There's a new building at Huisinis together with an enlarged parking area;the Huisinis Gateway is a great initiative by the community-owned North Harris Trust.  There are toilets and showers within the building along with indoor picnic benches and information boards.  A site for camper vans is a little way along the road too, constructed to keep vehicles off the sensitive machair.

As we packed up and had a flask of tea before heading back along the road, our day was made even better when we spent some time chatting with another visitor.  A very sprightly 97 year old gentleman stopped to look at the kayak and to talk about how kayak design has evolved.  He'd served in the Royal Navy throughout World War 2 and had then been one of the instructors at the Outward Bound school in Ullswater in the Lake District.  He mentioned a fifteen year stint in East Africa too....it was one of those conversations where one feels enriched by having met such a wonderful person; I really regret not asking his name and learning more about a life well-lived.  That he was holidaying with his daughter from his home in Devon (just about as far away as you can get in UK) and was full of excitement at the trip was just remarkable.