Wild West Birthday Weekend.
When Dave Towsie asked me to come up with a weekend paddle in mid September to coincide with his “BIG” Birthday, I came up with a few suggestions BUT Dave decided that going out to the most Tidal area in Scotland on a Spring Tides weekend sounded like fun….Great I said – anything for you auld chap….!
So on Friday evening I met up with the paddlers at our initial campsite near Oban. Dave informed me that he had received several last minute cancellations so unfortunately only three of us. However, looking after 3 is easier than 6 plus.
Following several looks at weather forecasts and comparing tidal data, we agreed to launch at 09.30am from Ellenabeich on Seil Island and head south with the tides to Belnahua then out to The Garvellachs. We paddled the near 6km to Belnahua in 40 mins and had a quick snack break before heading across to the North end of Dun Chonnuill and headed down the west then east then west of the main islands. We paddled around the far south and back up east to find our campsite at the Monastery on Eileach an Naoimh. History here is known going back at least 1600 years. Weather was stunning with great light, distant views and glorious sunshine until sunset. Paddle kit was dry within 15mins.
More discussions on weather and tides and we decided to head back east and conquer the Great Corryvrecken in the morning. Slack tide was 12.26 so a 10.00am start for the 9km crossing.
We awoke the following morning to a rather damp and drizzly day, overcast and with a building east wind. We packed quickly to get on the water and assess our provisional plans. Paddling out into the now easterly F5 with a mass of noise and white water we reviewed our intentions and agreed to head up the west side of the Garvellachs to gain some shelter and also to reduce our open crossing from 9km to 2km. The shorter ferry glide angled crossing to Eilean Dubh Beag was on calmer water but still head on into a F5. We agreed on a 5min rest here and then headed due south down the west coast of Rubha Fiola then Lunga planning a right angle turn east into Grey Dogs at Slack. We arrived here and met two tourist RIBs and a fishing boat coming towards us on the slack water…. or so we had hoped!
As we paddled in, the waters were calm with just a few ripples and boils starting and paddled on easily until we saw the eddy line starting to develop near the east side. Within minutes the water and our paddlers went from calm to panic and rush. I broke out into the flow to see just how strong the early flood tide was (30mins early) It took me by surprise as I was flat out and going nowhere…..in fact I started going backwards and was probably paddling at about 6km/hr. I looked around and gave instructions to pull in to the south side and give all we had to paddle up the close edge avoiding the deep seaweed……Phew…we made it, but had to keep paddling hard to avoid being sucked back into the Dogs again. Staying in close still as the tide was now heading North against us, we paddled down to the tiny natural harbour at Ban Rubha where we had lunch and a well earned breather.
Plan next was to head across to the south end of Luing and into Shuna Sound. Our plans to paddle across to the mainland to a booked campsite had been abandoned the night before on seeing the weather forecast. However, with the wind backing south and the tide building from the south the paddlers looked at me with puppy dog eyes and said whats Plan D! or was it F or M…..??
I said, lets just jump on the conveyor belt and get a lift North back to Belnahua for a nights camping. We needed to be close to home Monday morning with another terrible weather forecast. So off we headed into the central channel and sped north – about 7km in 40mins – wind and tide behind us. We arrived on Belnahua after finding the split point in the tide where half goes west and the other goes North. This again was now moving at about 3kts in at least two directions. We unloaded boats and pitched the tents just as the light rain started so we took a walk around the island before taking tent shelter at about 16.30. All our kit was wet and bar a 5 min dry period at 19.00 we were in our tents until 08.00 the following morning. And wow what a night it was!! Heavy, Very Heavy rain all night long, our Alpkit tents took a serious testing and No Leaks!
Today , Monday 18th, was Dave T,s 65th Birthday so we were awakened to the Clare Eadie vocals beating out Happy Birthday and with a cake and candles. I made Dave a Bacon sandwich and we agreed to head out at about 11.00am with a slackening southerly flow – we are going North!
We packed in more light rain this time and took the tents down before they were completely drenched as they had dried again in the wind. This meant we were early ready so we watched the tide and wind affect for a while until we were happy the conditions had improved a little. We bounced off the amazing slate beach at 10.45 as the sky cleared and agreed to ferry glide east with the F5 assisting, across to north Fladda then north Dubh Sgeir then Cullipool. The coastal edge sea conditions were too ferocious for us to head in and land so we got heads down and battled north in a big confused sea with 2mt + breaking swell hitting us constantly. We kept close as we could and dug in to take us around the coast, avoiding the pull of Cuan Sound, into Easdale Bay and at last the shelter of Easdale Island gave us some respite after about 2hrs paddling hard. It was pleasant to drift back into our starting point 52hrs and 50km later.
What a Brilliant and Exhausting weekend of fun ,ferry gliding, transits, froth and good company. Well done to my companions.
David Grieve