In May 2007 a hearty band of intrepid paddlers from Anglesey and thereabouts made great plans to canoe previously un-canoeable crossings between distant lands with faintly threatening names like ‘lunga’ and ‘gometra’ that might have come from a medical dictionary or maybe a monty python sketch.
However as D-day approached a plague of excuses laid low the team and five became two and a legend was born…..
Well eno
ugh of the hype.
Our original plan was to base ourselves at Fidden on the Ross of Mull just south of Fionphort where the ferry sails to Iona, and to do as much multi-day paddling as we could to take in the islands on the west coast of Mull – Iona, the Treshnish, Ulva, and Gometra included.
As the group had been cut to two we thought it unlikely that we would achieve our initial goals but decided to go and make the best of it. In many ways the fact that there were only the two of us and that we were pretty well matched as paddlers enabled us to do much more than might otherwise of been the case. We were also massively assisted by the weather, the winds remained manageable and the sea state slight throughout the trip.
Day One we thought would be a warm up day, a day for acclimatisation. Unfortunately the day dawned with a perfect blue sky and light breeze with a good forecast for the following day. A hasty change of plan saw us packing one of the tents into my boat, and as much food and water as we thought we would need for 2-3 days and by 11ish we were heading out into the blue yonder. Of course doing it this way meant we were paddling against the tide up the straits of Iona but hey, it was the start of the holiday – we were keen.
The day’s paddle took us to lunch on an island off the north coast of Iona (pitta bread and tinned fish – lovely!), and then on to Staffa and the amazing Fingal’s cave and rock formations.
From there we had a decision to make: continue north to Ulva, and out to the Treshnish the following day, or go North West to the Treshnish to camp and spend the following day paddling round the islands and back to Ulva. We chose the second as we had a better chance of topping up our water supplies, and the forecast was for winds moving to the East over 48 hours. We didn’t fancy getting stuck out on the Treshnish with water in short supply.
So we paddled out to Lunga (against the North Westerly wind of course) and camped on the beach of a small island to the North. This island was the home to about a zillion puffins, two zillion midges and a handful of bemused cave dwelling cormorants. A 25km day.
Day Two dawned like day one and we paddled round Lunga and landed on a likely looking boulder strewn beach – where yours truly excelled himself by taking a swim (well bath) whilst attempting the perilous manoeuvre of climbing out of his kayak – when my trusty companion had finished laughing and picked himself up off the floor he took a photo – note to self: find new companion or flatter b
eaches.
After drying out my fleece trousers by swinging them round my head on the summit of Mount Lunga (and apologising to the 17 yachts that subsequently sailed to our rescue) continued our trip North up the Treshnish Isles – against the tide! (are you spotting a pattern here?). We spotted another group of paddlers in the distance heading south at a great pace without ever seeming to use their paddles – strange.
We lunched (pitta bread and tinned fish – tasty) on Cairn na Burgh Mor and took in the old Norse fortifications before undertaking the crossing to Gometra where we eventually found a sandy beach I could land on without getting my trousers wet. After Alistair had sweet-talked the local farmer she allowed us to camp with her sheep on the beach. A 16 km day.
Day three dawned grey – wot no sun?? and windy (easterly). We looked at our food supply: pitta bread 3 1/2; tinned fish 1; water bags – very squishy. And decided we should head back to our campsite that day. A 25 km journey mostly open to a force 4 quartering easterly wind coming down the lochs of Mull. A route was planned to use the wind in a form of ferry gliding to take us back to the sound of Iona without leaving us too exposed to the offshore wind, or too far from land.
It meant a morning spent paddling mostly into wind to lunch (you guessed it) on a small rocky outcrop called Erisgeir where we were lucky to be able to land safely and eat. As Alistair had a skeg, he spent an enjoyable afternoon ‘ferry gliding’ cross the wind in a generally southerly direction. Without a skeg, I on the other hand spent the afternoon paddling only left handed to counter the weather vane effects of the wind on my boat. If I’d wanted to go open boating ….. A good time to practice paddling on a bearing and checking our transits.
Finally with a following sea and a spot of surfing we rounded the headland into the straits of Iona and made a b-line for Fionphort to check what time the pub stopped serving food that evening. Having sorted out the priorities we headed back to our campsite and duly collapsed only to be revived by the thought that if we didn’t it would have to be tinned fish for tea.
Day Four was wet and windy to start – a good excuse for a lazy morning and a ferry trip to Iona. Alistair suggested a picnic lunch and waved a tin of fish in my direction, I headed for the pub.
Day Five – another glorious sunny day! A short trip was planned to circumnavigate Iona clockwise, taking in the spouting cave and some fantastic gullies we had reckied the previous day. Lots of fun was had being spat at by the spouting cave and playing hide and seek in the labyrinth of caves and gullies. We continued north and included an entirely unnecessary and knackering excursion to a couple of outer islets, only to find that we couldn’t really land and had to paddle back to Iona to find a suitable spot for lunch (pitta and fish again). Still, good transit practice.
The day was completed by another trip down the straits, this time with the tide – hooray! The only highlight being a race with the ferry, although the bow wave proved uns
urfable. A 21 km day.
Day Six – our warm up day – an easy paddle round the South coast of the Ross of Mull hoping to see Otters and Eagles. Being crafty we timed our departure with high tide to cut the rather large corner by taking a neat channel that took us where we wanted to go. We had even checked it a couple of days previously to make sure it would run. Arrived at channel at high tide to be met by sand, sand and more sand. Couldn’t remember anything from 4* training that talked about ferry gliding across 1/4 mile of sand dune so had to resort to lugging the boats – pah some short cut.
Seals having been hugely entertained by humans carrying two 15’ tonne weights across their sand dune rewarded us with a bit of a display before going off to have fish (tinned?) for lunch.
Pleasant paddle ensued whilst we looked for a good lunch spot – interesting coastline with plenty of channels to try and hidden sandy beaches. Picked one and lunched (Pitta and wait for it … no, beans – I’d run out of fish). Also went for a dip in the sea - very stupid mistake without an adequate blubber coat.
Enjoyable trip back enlivened by an encounter with a nudist sea kayaker complaining of being under-equipped. An 18 km day.
The trip was fantastic! Mull is a great place to paddle if you have reasonable weather. The islands are magical, very interesting to paddle round and have fantastic bird life. There is also the possibility of seeing whales, dolphins, otter and eagles – although we saw none of these unfortunately. The tides are generally small compared to Anglesey with few real tide races to contend with. The crossings between islands are reasonably short – 8-10km on average which are easily achievable and give a great sense of adventure.
You can’t go without starting a plan for the next trip … I would definitely paddle there again, and maybe take in Col and Tiree and the north end of Mull. Anyone fancy a trip next year??? (better start saving the tins of fish)
y and meander down the coast to Rhosneigr. A spot of lunch on the beach and a leisurely paddle back with the sun on your face, and the only sound you can hear is the light splash of the blade as it moves through the still water beneath you, and the occasional cry of a gull, or a guillemot just before he dives beneath the surface of the sea in search of his own lunch.
