Mull and beyond, Treshnish islands

We woke to another beautiful day and after my usual early morning exercise routine (fighting my way back into damp wetsuit shorts), I was ready to head off again. I was worried after a couple of days paddling whether my old joints would seize up in the morning, but it was always good to be back in the boat.

Lovely, clear waters

Ken heading for Inch Kenneth

We started off round some of the little islands in the bay before heading over to Inch Kenneth where we got out to have a clamber over to the old chapel.

In the chapel

More food calling

 Back in our boats, we carried on round the island watching the seals watching us, before crossing back over to Ulva and round to the Boathouse, a lovely little restaurant which has extremely tasty food, large cakes and refreshing beer. By the time we returned to our boats, the weather had changed and was damp. A long paddle the length of Loch Tuath worked off a tiny amount of the calories from our cakes which Iain had suggested we should have because we didn't know when our next cake would be!

Lunch No2

 By now the dampness had turned into steady rain. We carried on to nearly the end of the Treshnish point where we had another break and some shelter from the now teaming it down rain. This was lunch spot No2. We decided that rather than setting up camp early and sitting around in all this rain, we would have another wee detour across to the Treshnish Islands. Although it was raining heavily, the sea was still fairly calm.

Treshnish Isles

More puffins

 It wasn't too long before we reached Cairn na Burgh Beg, the nothern island in the chain, before arriving at Cairn na Burgh More. Both islands have ruined castles on them, so far out to sea, but close enough to each other to almost chuck stones at each other. We then carried on to Fladda, where we stopped for lunch No3. The rain was still pouring down and it was getting chillier, so much so that the storm cag got christened.

Ken getting stuck into the sweets

 We started to head back up past the first two islands before crossing back over to Mull. There was a section of confused water that wasn't there on the way across which made you realise it's not the place you'd want to be with strong tides and wind. We were lucky to have slow tides and almost no wind and it was still a bit bumpy. We carried on round the coast where Iain checked out a cave for sleeping in that night, however he decided against it. There was running water, but underfoot was a bit soft with Doo poo!.There was a beach round the corner with a river beside it. Once we reached this point and unloaded the boats, we had a clamber up onto a little plateau to set up our tents. I'd love to say this was another stunning camp spot, but I'd be lying. The beach was very rocky with lots of smelly seaweed, the little river and camp ground had more than its fair share of coo poo!, on a positive note, the views would be wonderful if it wasn't still raining so hard and the toilets (open field) must have been the prettiest, with lots of wild orchids and primulas around. By the time we had our tea it was quite late, so it was off to bed fairly soon after.

Mull and beyond - Staffa

After our rather long 50k paddle the day before, we had the luxury of a long lie, still managing to break camp and be on the water by 9.30.

Kevin raring to go

Ken and Iain

Sarah

Nicely refreshed, we headed off round the next section with lots more white sandy beaches until we came to Erraid Sound. When it's high tide this floods to form Erraid Island, however the tide was out, so we had to go the long way round. What's a few more kilometres in the scheme of things. There's a small harbour on Erriad where we landed to have a clamber up the hill to the observatory on the top. The views are wonderful from up here and the break in paddling gave me time to retape my hands which were now looking like a bad Blue Peter project, covered in sticky back plastic. OK so I'm showing my age there!

Looking across to Iona

The observatory

Back in the boats we made our way round to Fionnphort, where Iain seemed to hear bacon butties calling his name, (lunch No1).

Iain passing Iona

Feeling fillingly refreshed again, the plan was to carry on via Staffa. This was a bit of a bonus as we weren't sure if we would make it out there, but the T-shirt sleeve weather was perfect for it. We crossed over and up the side of Iona. Judging by the number of tourist buses at the harbour, the population of Iona must have increased 10 fold.

Heading out to Staffa

Iain approaching Staffa

Sarah in Fingall's cave

Ken in Fingall's cave

Iain in Boat cave

Kevin and Sarah in McKinnon's cave

 As we headed out to Staffa, we saw our first Puffin of the trip. It wasn't long before we arrived and had a wee play in Fingall's cave. Ken decided to try out the accoustics and had a wee sing song, not a good thing for Ken to do, however the cave survived it. Iain checked out the next cave, Boat cave, whilst  Kevin and I had a look at McKinnon's cave. The seaweed stuck to the rocks in here was wonderful. They glowed like they were lit up with mini blue LED lights.

Kevin and his Puffins

 Carrying on round the island , we got the chance to see masses more Puffins and were dazzled by the flashing of the Black Guillemots. We stopped for more lunch, before heading across past Little Colonsay and onto yet another perfect campsite on Ulva. I don't mind admitting the last stretch that day was my tired time. I was glad to see the beach.

Camp site No3

Looking out to Staffa and the Treshnish Islands

After more food, Ken and I had a little wander over to the next bay where we watched an otter having a great time playing about. I headed off to bed soon after, I couln't keep up with the guys who managed to keep going until 1am. I think the whisky helped them do that.

Orchid