6 of us set off from Sconser on Friday lunchtime with a slightly inauspicious weather forecast which was better than expected so we paddled as far as the lovely flat campsite near the bothy on the north end of Raasay after a break at Inver. We did have to do short portages at the ford between Eilean Fladday and Raasay and at the gap between Eilean Tigh and Raasay near the campsite. ( Both short & easily manageable at low tide neaps.) Early evening rain didn’t dampen the between tent conversation.
Saturday we went around Rona clockwise and the expected north winds were no more than F3 ( having been expecting up to F5). We explored the church cave at Rona and coped with the difficult terrain and boat tethering in the cleft there. We headed south to Brochel for the night and camped on the small terrace just south of the castle there. We explored the history and geology of the castle thanks to our resident geologist Richard. We avoided sharing the upper camping ground with some teenagers doing Duke of Edinburgh from Perth. Text auto suggestions nearly caused a problem sending a message home that read ” having a great time at Brothel”.
Sundays forecast was for F5-6 from the North so we left early and hugged the East Coast coping with the F4 winds and a degree of swell. As we moved around the point near Hallaig we had more exposure to wind and swell which everyone coped with for the next 1.5km. As we paddled more into the lee of Raasay this lessened and was completely calm by Eyre Point. We transited across to Skye expecting to encounter similar wind from the west coast of Raasay. This was much less in terms of both wind and swell. We enjoyed a short lunch break before returning to the ferry slipway just as the one o’clock ferry departed.
Having loaded up we spent a pleasant hour in Cafe Sia at Broadford.
Thanks to everyone that came and enjoyed the mix of conditions and sights including sea and golden eagles but mostly the fantastic scenery of these islands.