This weekend trip around Jura was the first real trip in my new P & H Quest . The initial plan was to cross from Carsaig on the Argyll coast and head for Tarbert on Jura, portage to West Loch Tarbert and head up the west coast before heading back to the start but a bout of gluttony and perfect tides made for a change of plan. I met up with Gavin late on the Thursday evening, just making last orders at the Tayvallich Inn before kipping in the cars at Carsiag bay
.
GPS
track of route.
Wind S F2 veering NW F2.
Tide times: HW Oban - 0800hrs / 2020hrs BST (Springs) LW Oban - 1430hrs.
08:30 Left from Carsaig bay in perfect spring weather and took the ebb tide down the Sound of Jura.
09:42
Stopped off at Dubh Sgeir before taking the full ebb flow of the sound of Jura.
11:00
Rocks off Skervuile lighthouse.
11:04
The magnificent Skervuile
lighthouse.
Then onwards down down the South end of Jura and into the sound of Islay for a quick lunch break on Brosdale Island as the tide began to turn.
15:49
We then caught the flood tide up through the Sound of Islay to the remote West
coast of Jura and this view of the Paps of Jura.
16:00
West coast waterfall.
16:36
Stunning west coast of Jura beach looking towards the Isle of Colonsay.
Same
beach looking north. Closer inspection of the jumble of sandstone rocks in the
foreground, revealed it to be an open, body-sized crypt. This is the second such
grave I have found on this absolutely deserted coast. There are no roads, or
houses within miles of this location.
Getting tired now we headed further north, across the mouth of West Loch Tarbert and set up camp on the North shore at Ruantallain and set off to explore the raised beaches.
17:53
Jura is an adder's paradise, and we found one sunbathing in the moss beside our
tent.
18:05
View south across West Loch Tarbert to Glen Battrick Lodge and the Paps.
20:19
Raised beaches at Ruantallain. The West Coast of Jura has some of the finest
examples of raised beaches in the world. Large quartzite boulder beaches lie
stranded up to 50M above the current sea level. On Jura, they are so perfect
that you can imagine that the tide is about to come in. Here's what I can
remember from second year geology; Raised beaches don't actually represent
previous sea levels but are formed as a consequence of past glaciation. Over
100,000 years Scotland was covered in a vast ice sheet, which depressed the land
due to its enormous weight (Isostatic load). At the same time the sea level
dropped due to the water being locked up in ice. After the last ice age (13,000
years ago- give or take a couple of days), the ice began to melt the land
rebounded and the beaches were left high and dry. Jura also has spectacular
raised sea caves and natural arches.
20:26
Ruantallain.
20:28
Ruantallain.
Wind N F3-F4-F3-F2
HW Oban - 08:45hrs / 21:10hrs BST LW Oban - 15:15hrs.
On Saturday we woke to an overcast and windy morning with a force 4-5 wind in the forecast. We were on the water by 08:30 and paddled up the stunning North coast and make stops in Shain, Corpach and Glengarrisdale bays. Few pictures were taken due to the sea-state and overcast sky.
09:34
Shian bay is one of the few sheltered sandy bays on the north west coast of
Jura.
At Glengarridale we had a late lunch and decided to head to the Corryvreckan with the aim of camping in the bay Bagh Glean nam Muc and catching slack water to pass through the gulf in the morning.
16:10
When we approached the gulf the tide was in full flood and we fought our way
against it to the smaller of the islands, Eilean Beag, we landed and watched the
tide shoot past.
We decided to try and sneak through against the flow, just to see how far we could get- but ended up surprising ourselves by making it all the way through the Gulf using small eddies and short burst of hard paddling. We then paddled round to Kinuachdrachd and set up camp in a small woodland.
19.20
In the evening we hiked up to An Cruachan, the hill that overlooks the
Corryvreckan. It was now approaching slack water and the gulf was fairly
calm.
Wind N F3-F4
HW Oban - 0930hrs / 2200hrs BST LW Oban - 1610hrs
Next day was an easy paddle with the ebb tide across the sound of Jura via Ruadh Sgeir to Carsaig bay.
12:58
I did a spot of sunbathing on the islands in Carsaig bay.
12:59
Then I paddled around them then headed back to the car and home. Total trip 115km
All photos © and courtesy of Tony Page a.page@vet.gla.ac.uk
Tidal constants with respect to Oban:
Forecast and tide tables:
BBC Radio Scotland (94 to 95 FM, 810 MW) Outdoors conditions forecasts are broadcast 18.58 Monday-Friday, 06.58 and 18.58 Saturday and 06.58 and 19.58 Sunday.
BBC Radio 4 Shipping forecast (LW: 198, FM: 92.4 to 95.8) 05:35 LW/FM (includes inshore forecast), 12:00 LW, 17:54 LW/FM, 00:48 LW/FM
Hazards:
References:
Common sense:
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Site editor: Douglas Wilcox (D.E.Wilcox@clinmed.gla.ac.uk
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Created 22/09/04
Last edited 22/09/04