Days like these - a spectacular morning on Loch Hourn

I slept really well at our camp on Loch Hourn, waking early as the light grew stronger.  Stepping outside, this was my first view of the day - the majestic Ladhar Bheinn rearing into a flawless blue sky across the loch.  I've climbed Ladhar Bheinn twice, once from each side of the hill, and had remarkably good weather both times.  It's one of the Munro "superstars" in my opinion and anyone who climbed it on this day would have an unforgettable ascent.

The view in the other direction up Loch Hourn wasn't too shabby either!  The low early morning sunshine was silhouetting the tangle of ridges and spurs around Kinloch Hourn, a very different aspect of the same scene we'd watched the previous evening.

Rather than rush away we took our time to enjoy being in this utterly remote spot on such a great morning.  Everywhere we looked was stunning scenery and we found lots of interest all around, including some strange miniature fountains where the tide was pushing water and air up thorough the saltmarsh areas.

But it was Ladhar Bheinn which held our attention.  We had breakfast facing across the loch so that we could watch the light change on the cliffs at the head of Coire Dhorrcail (on the left of this image) and the gullies and faces at the head of Coire Odhair.

Eventually we decided to get underway and enjoy the view from the water.  We took down the tents and erased all evidence of our second fire; the tide had taken care of the remains of the first one!  We paddled out onto a mirror calm loch for a truly memorable morning's paddle.

It was now mid-morning and the warm sunshine had started to form clouds.  These didn't detract from the views at all, in fact the pattern of light and shade enhanced features and gave depth to the whole scene.  Douglas and I blazed away with our cameras and Donny filmed from "Guppy".  

The backdrop of Ladhar Bheinn was hard to beat, the kayaks tiny underneath the bulk of the mountain.  I took a tremendous amount of images and even now I can't decide which I prefer, so here's a few of them....Douglas' bright red P&H Volan providing a real splash of colour against deep shadows....

...a colour and light gradient as a passing cloud accentuated the warm sunshine against the shadow...

.......Lorna and Allan in a perfect reflection of the dramatic skyline of the summit ridges.....

....Donny motoring Guppy along below Druim a' Choire Odhair (ridge of the dun coloured Corrie)....

Already this was an outstanding day, and it was only mid-morning!  Days like these, they stay with you forever.

 

A celebration on "Mica Beach"

By the time we'd paddled about half way down Loch Shiel and the mountains had begun to recede on either side, the wind had dropped to a very light breeze.  It was still an assistance though and we would eventually cover the length of the loch at an average 7km/h despite taking plenty of time to dawdle and enjoy the situation.

Second luncheon was on the horizon and we pulled over to the west side of the loch to land at a beach we've passed previously but not landed on.  Stark when we saw it in winter conditions, it seemed a lot more welcoming with fresh green spring leaves opening and birdsong echoing across the hillside.

The glacial nature of the landscape is obvious in the ice-polished rock on the shore.  The geology in this area is quite complex, this looks to be a metamorphic rock type.  Among the pebbles on the beach we found some pieces of mica which were incredibly bright - almost mirror-like in their shine.  We'll know this place as Mica Beach on future trips.

The view back up Loch Shiel was very fine, bright blue water framed by steep hillsides clothed in green and backed by a mountain skyline.

Closer to hand, the spring flowers were in evidence on a grassy bank above the beach, the beautiful flowers of Wood Anenome (Anenome nemorsa) studded the undergrowth; a welcome sight.

Another welcome sight was a small libation of Caol Ila malt whisky, dispensed from Douglas' flask - for we had something to celebrate.....

.....the first day on the water for Douglas' new P & H Cetus MV kayak.  As we were marking h=the vent on fresh water, we would of course have to hold another launch ceremony when "Sula" first felt salt water!

Midge avoidance at Inninmore

South of Glensanda superquarry the scenery returned to "normal" as we paddled steadily towards Rubha an Ridire (Knight's point), the southernmost tip of the Morvern peninusla and the turn from the Lynn of Morvern into the Sound of Mull.

The water here was thick with Moon Jellies (Aurelia aurita) to the point where it was difficult to paddle without striking them.

Around the point, a little way into the Sound of Mull we headed inshore towards the welcome sight of Inninmore.  A privately owned property, Inninmore is left open by Ardtornish Estate.  One of the more enlightened rural landowners, Ardtornish has an arrangement with the Mountain Bothies Association who maintain bothies on the estate - but Inninmore isn't one of them.  A notice inside the bothy asks visitors to abide by a few simple principles - essentially the Bothy Code.  We met our friend Ronnie on the beach (along with about a million midges) and since we were a party of seven, most of us camped outside to allow any other potential visitors space, though in the event nobody else turned up.

Inninmore is a fine building in a super position on a wide bay with views up the Sound of Mull.  The bothy is in the main building, the smaller building to the right is an estate store.

Propped against the outside wall was an interesting agricultural artefact, a Coulter (plough) which would have been pulled by horse with the ploughman following behind.  Items such as this really do give a view of what life was like here - this isn't just a random building in a remote location; it was home to generations of folk.

The main room of Inninmore is small but perfectly formed.  We cooked outside, protected by midge hoods and jackets, and ate inside - later we lit a most effective fire and sat chatting long into the summer night.  A simple shelter, good food and the company of like-minded friends - it really was a pleasant evening and a huge relief to be able to retreat inside and avoid the midge swarms.

One of the pieces of furniture at Inninmore is this chest of drawers made from old fish boxes.  It must have some age because all modern fishboxes are made from plastic. As a piece of "statement furniture", it's a gem.

I slept very well in my tent outside Inninmore, waking to a quiet morning.  The midges were just as bad as the the forecast wind had failed to materialise by the time we completed packing our boats.  It was about this time that we noticed......

...that all six kayaks were by a single manufacturer - P&H should have had their publicity department on hand!  We tried hard (unsuccessfully) not to admire Ronnie's new boat too much - a Quest with a black deck and carbon hull set off with red trim.  There were several "ooohhh!" noises heard......

We left Inninmore just as the slightest of breezes began to stir, heading up the Sound of Mull towards a second breakfast.....

A pleasure shared on the Sound of Arisaig

This is the first of a few "catch-up" posts from earlier in the summer when I was assessing a team undertaking a Duke of Edinburgh's Award sea kayak expedition from Ardtoe on the north side of Ardnamurchan to Glenelg opposite Skye.

On the evening before the venture I travelled across from home and stayed at the Glenuig Inn.  Whilst enjoying a pint after dinner I got talking to Andy, who was travelling in a classic VW camper van and kayaking at various locations.  We agreed to paddle together the following day after I'd seen the team away from their starting point at Ardtoe.

We planned to paddle from Glenuig across the Sound of Arisaig - Andy was tempted by descriptions of stunning beaches on a wild coast, and I was very glad when the morning turned out sunny and clear; perfect to see this coast at its best!  Once out into the Sound of Arisaig, the familiar outline of Eigg with Rum beyond provide a scenic backdrop to the crossing.

We reached the north side of the Sound and paddled along the coast, soon arriving at one of the best of the small beaches.  I planned to camp here that evening in order to meet the team as they headed in towards their own camp and so put up the tent......

....while we dawdled on the beach in baking heat.

After lunch we continued west along the rugged coastline towards what I assured Andy would be a superb beach.

It's not all sandy beaches here though; one particular pebble strand which appears uniformly grey from a distance has a variety of richly coloured pebbles at closer inspection.  It's a place I can (and have) spent hours photographing pebbles as the tide ebbs back leaving them wet and shining.

But, white sand beaches and aquamarine water had been promised, so after a brief stop, on we went....

...to arrive at a beach which will be quite familiar to readers of this blog.  It's so attractive and relatively easy of access that it gets plenty of visitors and is heavily used for camping by walkers and paddlers, including some large commercial guided sea kayaking groups.  To do a small bit in reducing impact, neither Douglas or I choose to camp here any more.

It has to be said though, it's a stunning location with a view to match.  The coloured object above the high water mark proved to be a substantial piece of trawl net.  I tried to cut some bits away to remove them but it was way too big to make any kind of difference.

On a sunny day, the water close to the shore at this beach is remarkable, deep indigo blue through shades of aquamarine and turqoise to a quality very well described by my friend Duncan as "so clear, it's hardly there"

I think the colour of Andy's North Shore Atlantic kayak matches the location rather well!

We spent some time on the beach chatting with other folk enjoying the warm sunshine and gorgeous views before getting back into the boats to paddle back along the shore.  Andy would head back across the Sound of Arisag to Glenuig while I would meet the team of paddlers near their camp before heading to my own camp for the evening. 

It was really good to meet Andy and to share some time on the water with him; and it's always a special pleasure to visit familiar places with someone visiting for the first time, to see the place afresh.  I watched until Andy was a speck in the distance heading over towards Glenuig, then landed and climbed to a vantage point where I could watch for four young adventurers who were also exploring this area for the first time.

Tough stuff and rough stuff in the Arisaig skerries

We continued south down the Morar coast and entered the maze of the Arisaig skerries.  One could paddle here a hundred times and not take the same route twice, it's a great place to sea kayak!

Another beach, another brief rest stop, though rather than sand this beach on Luinga Beag was composed of......

....shells and coral.  The coral is actually the calcareous skeletons of a red algae and it's quite tough stuff. We left this beach and paddled out around the outside of Luinga Mor, a short piece of coastline which, despite having paddled the Arisaig skerries many times, I'd not paddled.  It proved to be fun.....

.....in a bouncy way!  This is the best image I could get in the choppy, clapotic conditions.  Reassuringly, the P & H Cetus MV handles this rough stuff with absolutely no drama.

As soon as we turned the corner at the south west of Luinga Mor we entered much more sheltered water,  protection from the prevailing southwesterly weather is one of the great advantages of paddling at Arisaig.  Since leaving the River Morar some four hours earlier we had been paddling steadily into a southerly wind but now we had the wind at our backs......time to hoist the sails......

Cold start

I slept well, and despite a marked drop in temperature when the skies cleared in the early hours (the thermometer on my watch registering minus 5 Celsius) I woke warm and well rested.  One of the nice things about paddling with Mike and Douglas is that all three of us have similar routines and are naturally early starters; we were up and about at 6am in the pre-dawn making breakfast and packing away our camping kit.

The frigid air wasn't conducive to a leisurely breakfast; breakfast and hot drinks done we erased all signs of the previous evening's fire and completed packing our boats.  This was the first time I'd camped out of the Cetus MV and the space available came as a very pleasant surprise.

Unexpectedly, we found our boats a little higher from the water than we had left them the previous evening.  We'd jokingly remarked that there was no tide to worry about, but here was indisputable evidence that the water level  in a 28 kilometre  loch had receded by at least 15 cm overnight.  That's an awful lot of water and we knew that our route would follow that outflow later in the day.

Just as we were getting on the water the sun was rising above the hills to the east.  While it brought the first welcome hint of warmth, the sunrise changed the relative humidity very quickly, misting camera lenses and sensors.  It was some time before things equalised and the DSLR cameras were fully functional.

We paddled out onto the still water of Loch Shiel in anticipation of a great morning's paddling.......

                             ......but we had no idea just how good it would turn out to be..........

Sea Trials

Having seen at first hand what a versatile day and (particularly) multi-day capable boat the P & H Cetus MV is, I was very happy when the opportunity came up to purchase a very well cared for example.

Regular readers of the blog may previously have noticed this particular boat in Orange with Golden Yellow graphic in quite a few posts; whilst readers of this blog will certainly be familiar with it!  It has seen some outstanding adventures already and I hope it will continue to see many more :o)

The boat feels comfortable, alive and capable right from the start and sea trials have been underway with the aim of getting the personalised fit "just so"......

Image courtesy of Chris Sugden


......whilst paddling along the Moray Firth coast......

....during some interesting luncheon stops.....

......in the swirling tidal waters around Buchan Ness.......

....and along the stunningly colourful Angus coast. 

The boat has a custom bulkhead, a real bonus in my opinion, and the final few adjustments have been made to a minicell foam block (thanks Douglas!) which now forms a footrest at just the same angle as the footplate which I've found so comfortable in the Tiderace Xcite.  There may be a couple of adjustments still to make around the seat, but the Cetus MV really does feel superb on the water.

The Xcite will continue to be the boat of choice for tight rockhopping and rough stuff, while the Cetus seems the logical "go to" boat for longer paddles.....  I'm very fortunate to be able to be able to choose between two such boats, but of course there's another important aspect to the choice of boat for a particular paddle.....

......a yellow view from the cockpit.....

......or an orange one ?!