We are missing some of our regular team this year for health reasons, including at least one suffering a severe reaction to the weather forecast! So in the end it is David Grieve, Clare Eadie, Anne Rose, Tim Gibson and myself who decide to ignore the potential wash-out of a week and board the ferry from Oban to Barra determined to have some sort of holiday! – with Gerry Mulligan set to catch up with us the following day. Our kayaks, optimistically laden down with a week’s worth of food, camping gear and paddling kit, are trollied on to the car deck and ominously well-wedged by the Calmac staff against any rolling about on the voyage. Galloping white horses chase the ferry out from the Sound of Mull and we head west under bright skies leaving Rum and Eigg, Coll and Tiree in our wake.
Arriving early evening in Castlebay, we park up our kayaks on a grassy bank, unpack the essentials and put up tents along the village shore. The wind is already whipping in across the bay from the south east with spray kicking up over the marina pontoons. Soon enough the first few drops of rain turn into a persistent battering making us dive for shelter and batten down the hatches.
Sunday. Waking to rain still drumming on the tent makes us all snuggle deeper in our sleeping bags for an hour or two. No hurry to get up! Gerry will not be arriving until the evening ferry and the forecast is not conducive to our going out for a paddle. At least the wind has swung around to the East to give us a little more shelter in the village. When later the inevitable need for facilities and sustenance arises we discover there to be very little available in Castlebay on a Sunday! Both cafes, the community toilets and the Calmac waiting room are shut. One of the pubs is closed to non-residents (though Anne always seems to be an exception!), so we all finally converge on the Craigard Inn for coffee and toilets until the rain goes off and the weather lifts a bit. We discuss possible options for the week ahead. With the weather looking too dodgy for a committing paddle to Mingulay we settle on a more modest plan of following the east coast up to the Sound of Barra, across to Eriskay and perhaps South Uist if things go well.
Gerry arrives safely on the evening ferry and after agreeing to meet up early the following morning the rest of us watch a little jealously as he drives away toward Vatersay to park up his Landrover for a comfortable night there! But we do have fresh local scallops for tea!
Monday. We are repacked and ready on the slipway by 10.30am ready to head north when, at the last minute, we suddenly realise that Mingulay could work after all! – and we decide to go for it! Nothing ventured, nothing gained! It’s not perfect; it will mean paddling south against the wind and sitting out a stormy day on one of the islands, but the end of the week looks good for getting back.
So with a little trepidation we set out across the bay. It’s so good to be out on the water and off for an adventure at last!
The wind picks up as we cross the bay and pass the east tip of Vatersay. It’s a 6km crossing to Sandray, our first target, and we are glad to pull up on the beautiful beach on its north-east corner for a snack and leg-stretch after a bit of a slog against F3+ winds on a lively sea. The sun comes out! We continue via the north and west coasts of Sandray, to shelter from the SE wind, before turning south into the wind again for the open crossing to Pabbay. We aim for steep little Greanamul island at half way, then continue to Pabbay’s north coast. The wind has picked up to a tiring F4+ and the sea is quite choppy now. There is no navigable gap between Pabbay and its Roisinis peninsular, so we head around the point to find some big spiky clapotis to negotiate. But we’re soon safely into Bay Ban and are relieved to see that the surf isn’t too big on Pabbay’s only beach; in fact there’s barely a ripple in the sheltered southern corner where we land. Its 2.30pm and we’re ready for lunch. As we chat over our oatcakes we realise we’ve all had enough for today and rather than push on to Mingulay we will camp on Pabbay and sit out the storm here. David suggests a scoop of rising grassy ground south of the beach, sheltered by a higher lip, with good views of the bay. We set up camp there. The flat area directly behind the beach already has a small settlement of tents. The National Trust for Scotland ranger and volunteers have come for a week of bird surveying in somewhat challenging conditions. They are rather appropriately looking for evidence of storm petrels. Having seen us arrive in our kayaks the ranger greets us with “you have seen the forecast, have you?!”
The rest of this pleasant afternoon is spent variously swimming, exploring, resting, studying tides and finding VHF signal for a forecast. The wind is picking up but the rain holds off as we cook tea. Gerry generously offers a sociable option in his large ‘party’ tent but no one has brought a pack of cards! And then rain comes on we all retreat to appreciate the meteorological might and misery from the comfort, or otherwise, of our own tents! Winds of F8 are forecast overnight!
Tuesday. Well, the rain stops sometime in the morning and even with this wind blowing the brewing of coffee is possible! And wow! There’s a scourge of white water ripping in to our bay this morning in huge arcs and pounding waves! Don’t think we’ll be practicing our surfing in the ‘dynamic zone’ after all! In fact its suddenly hard to imagine ever getting out of here again! But its strangely mesmerising and exhilarating at the same time! The sea has some awesome power today! We head up the rough hillside in the middle of the day to explore and get a forecast. It’s blustery and grey at the summit of An Tobha. The forecast brings news that the winds will die down tomorrow morning and then things look quite good for the following few days. There’s hope for Mingulay and maybe more! Back in camp we take shelter in our tents again from a properly heavy shower! After, we emerge to a dramatic scene of sunshine illuminating the wild turquoise bay with a backdrop of black clouds receding to the north. Stunning!
Wednesday. We pack in the morning under sunny skies and with the wind much reduced. The bay looks much calmer; what a difference a day makes! We launch soon after 11am, using a rip current on our south side of the bay to take us out through the least surf. It works well and we all get out safely and head southwest for the 5km crossing to Mingulay. The wind has swung more to the south/SW today. The sea is still pretty lively after yesterday’s storm! We’ve timed our crossing for slack water but we’ve still got a bit of wind and some good swell to enjoy on the way! Everyone paddles strongly in the conditions and we make it across and follow the east coast of Mingulay down until we start to see more and more puffins on the water and in the air and round a corner into the big ‘village bay’ with it’s long strand of pale golden sand. Many seals are watching us from the water. It is early afternoon and once we have set up camp above the beach we have the rest of an increasingly sunny and glorious day to explore this magical island. We climb up grassy slopes to reach the west edge of Mingulay, where the cliffs drop away for hundreds of feet beneath us in dizzying awesomeness to the sea. The air below is full of seabirds coming and going and as we walk over the high ground the bonxies swoop and dive at us. Some have healthy chicks nearby, but bird flu has already claimed some of the young birds here. We see eagles too; both white-tailed and golden. As we wander and explore we are rewarded with ever more extraordinary views of high overhanging cliffs, sea stacks, deep ravines. To the south Berneray and Barra Head lighthouse shine in the afternoon sun: the very southern tip of the Outer Hebrides and the last of this little island group. Following the grassy paths back through the old village we come across Mingulay’s only human summer resident, Cameron, from the NTS, in the one remaining cottage on the island. He is here to monitor the wildlife. He’s seen no-one for over a week because the winds have kept the tour boats (and kayakers!) away.
Thursday. We have ambitious plans to circumnavigate Berneray today and then explore the amazing west coast of Mingulay from the sea before heading north towards Barra again. However, the wind from the SW is a good bit stronger than we are expecting and as we head out into the Sound of Berneray mid-morning we find the conditions increasingly interesting! We soon decide that we’d be pushing our luck round Barra Head today. We keep paddling on with hopes for the Mingulay west coast. But as wind and swell push against the last of the tide through the narrows we’re soon paddling head-on into waves of 3 metres and more. We quickly make the disappointing but wise decision to turn back rather than push on to maybe find more of the same up a very committing coastline. Thankfully we all prove able and willing to turn our boats around in very dynamic conditions! And we retreat with relief and a little sadness to explore some caves back along the shore where conditions are a bit quieter, reminding ourselves that we have already more than exceeded our expectations this week and that the west coast will still be there for another day. When we return to our Mingulay beach we find tour boats have made it out from south Uist today and are dropping folk off on the shore to explore. It doesn’t feel quite the same now that we have to share! So we push on north, more easily now with the wind to help us! We’re soon across to Pabbay and get to enjoy the same choppy conditions around its eastern point again before heading on up to Sandray. Lunch on the beach in drizzle! We’re in more sheltered waters now and cross to Vatersay with a bit of rock hopping play where the tide is flowing through the skerries. Then it’s an easy paddle along Vatersay Bay to the beach and a pretty camping spot on the machair and just in time for well-deserved coffee and cake at the Vatersay Community Cafe! And hot showers to follow! A sunny, breezy evening for hanging all our damp kit on the fence like bunting.
Friday. Sara, a young German cyclist, dared to join our little camp last night. This morning she helps carry our kayaks down the beach and Gerry gives her the chance to try a bit of paddling in his boat. She takes to it well and we begin to think he’ll need to cycle to Castlebay! But soon she’s waving us all off from the beach and setting off on the next part of her Europe-wide adventure. We have a whole day to get back the short distance to Castlebay, and so take the chance of an easy-going paddle to distinctive, conical Maol Domhnaich island via the skerries. It rewards us with a pair of sea eagles, a peregrine and some long narrow caves to explore. Then its a short paddle back to Castlebay, where a celebratory curry at the Kisimul Cafe awaits us. Then the ferry home to Oban tomorrrow morning.
Thanks to David for leading a grand expedition -and a whole week of camping with nae midges!!
by Chris Gordon