We left Glasgow at 7:20am on Sunday 10/10/04 and drove north on the A82 to Fort William where we turned west on the A830 and finally arrived at Loch Moidart Arisaig at 11:00am after several stops on the way. There is a small car park in the woods behind the road end. On this trip there were five of us, Douglas, Alison, Jennifer, Mike and Rachel.
GPS track of
route. total 14.6 km, paddling time 4 hrs 2 minutes, average speed 3.6 km/hr, max speed
9.3 km/hr.
Weather forecast:
Issued by the Met Office at 1700 UTC on Saturday 09 October 2004. Ardnamurchan Point to Cape Wrath including Outer Hebrides 24 hour forecast: Wind: northeast to east 2 or 3 gradually veering southeast to south 3 or 4. Weather: cloudy, outbreaks rain early, becoming dry, fair. Visibility: good falling moderate at time sin early rain. Sea State: slight.
Issued by Onlineweather at 1700 9/10/04. Valid for 6 hours from 0600 GMT Sunday Wind: ENE, Force 1 ( 1 - 2 mph) Weather Bright or sunny spells Sea State Calm Visibility 8 miles Valid for 6 hours from 1200 GMT Sunday Wind: E, Force 1 ( 2 - 2 mph) Weather Bright or sunny spells Sea State Calm Visibility 10 miles
Tide times Loch Moidart (BST) LW 10:53 1.4 m HW 17:01 4.2 m
11:52
Low tide so a 250 metre carry to the River Shiel.
12:00
Tioram Castle, a ruin since 1715 when the owners, the Clan Ranald, torched it to
prevent it falling into Hanoverian hands.
12:02
Alison
12:08
Rachel in a borrowed Rockhopper.
12:13
Tioram Castle seems to grow out of the countryside.
12:24
12:28
Port Ban.
12:29
Faodhail Dhubh: the dark extensive sands.
12:30
12:31
South Channel
12:31
12:31
Eigg and Rum from South Channel, Loch Moidart.
12:32
12:34
12:41
Mike tests the Lendal Kinetik Wing.
12:41
12:42
12:43
Jennifer disappears with the Kinetik Wing.
12:43
12:50
A lonley house on the south of Eilean Shona.
12:51
12:52
12:54
Someone has had a late night!
12:54
12:57
Grey seal pup in its white birth coat, less than three weeks old.
12:57
13:08
We saw an eagle wheeling over the skerries here. I had mistaken it for a Golden
Eagle but was surprised to see one over the water. Later we met another kayaking
party in North Channel. They were very friendly and told us they paddled
in Moidart frequently. One of them, a keen ornithologist, solved the mystery of
our "golden" eagle flying "over the water". He told us that
it was an immature sea eagle.
13:09
13:11
13:23
We passed through a dog leg in the rocks to emerge into a tranquil turquoise
lagoon.
13:29
Getting ready for an extended lunch, bacon and egg butties..
14:29
14:31
14:41
14:55
The west of Eilean Shona
14:57
Eigg and Rum
14:57
14:57
NNW to the Cuilin of Skye
15:13
SW to the Ardnamurchan peninsula.
15:16
A lonley beach.
15:17
Entering Loch Moidart North Channel.
15:18
15:31
The wooded bay of Baramore, Eilean Shona.
15:45
Again we found ourselves on a hidden white sand beach. There is a dazzling white
sand beach on Skye called the Coral Beach.
It is made of the bleached skeletons of red algae and is supposed to be unique
in Scotland but there are others, including this one in Moidart and another on
an islet near Arisaig.
15:45
15:53
15:53
14:09
North Channel.
16:18
16:30
Getting tired, although high tide was still 30 minutes away, there was a strong
current flowing NW in the narrows between Shona Beag and the mainland.
17:00
Eilean an Fheidh but there were no deer to be seen.
17:04
Always the gentleman, Mike waits for the stragglers.
We were back at the launch site by 17:20 but this time did not have a long carry.
Forecast and tide tables:
References:
Common sense:
Local information:
Scottish Mountain Photo Gallery Main MenuSite editor: Douglas Wilcox (D.E.Wilcox@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
)
Last edited 30/08/04
Created 29/08/04