Scotland, May 2003

Midges? No problem with midges in Scotland. May 2003.

Our annual Scottish expedition this year took us to Lismore and then down to the islands of Luing and Seil.

During the whole week we had no problem with the infamous Scottish midge. Maybe, I should point out that any midge around this week would have had to have the flying skills of Superman on speed and have been fitted with its' own aqualung!! In true north of the border style - it rained, the wind blew and the sun shone (sometimes) every day. I saw a quote from Billy Connolly recently that said " never mind talking 'bout the weather, 20 minutes later its' changed".

We arrived at Loch Creran on a rather wet and windy Friday night as the invited guests of some friends in the Scottish Canoe Assoc. (If we keep bringing bad weather with us, I'm worried our invitation won't be granted next year!) Already resolved to a night in the car, so as to keep the tent and gear dry for Saturday night, it was marvellous when Christine came running over and ushered us into the caravan she had secured for us. Again, our thanks to Tim and Linda for the use of the 'van.

With the enthusiasm that can only come from teaching hordes of ungrateful kids, Lynne quite happily pronounced that "it will probably get better, and we'll camp offshore on Lismore tomorrow night!"

Saturday morning dawned. Not quite dry and bright but better than I'd expected. The forecasters were obviously looking elsewhere as they predicted F5 and rising winds and rain. Promptly we were away and paddling down Creran to the relative open waters of the Firth of Lorne. Once clear of the sheltered waters we were straight out into the face of..
Dead calm!! The sea had that oily surreal calmness that you know is going to end in tears one day. I don't now if it is the pressure that causes it to look that way but the surface looked compressed; if you've ever seen the sea like this then you'll know what I mean. First lunch, (a quaint Scottish term that means " this going to be a long day") was taken on the isle of Eilean na Cloiche, just off the Lismore coast. To show who was Boss, the 10 minutes before lunch were spent in an absolute deluge of rain that almost obscured the island from view.

The southern tip of Lismore is home to quite a fierce race, running from Lady's Rock back to the lighthouse at Sgeir nan Gael. Fortunately there is a little stream running through the islands, which avoid this. Away to the left was Mull and Duart Castle that, weather allowing had been the destination for the four of us later that week. We now paddled northwards but the weather was still being kind. Not as calm as earlier but still nothing to worry about or anything like the forecast.

"Second lunch" is another Scottish saying that means, " I've changed my mind and this is now going to be an even longer day!" Second lunch was taken under in Achadun Bay, with the ruined castle in the background. We had now put about 26k under our belts since leaving the caravan. This coast of Lismore would be very exposed if the weather broke, so Lynne decided we should make camp at the northern end of the island and leave ourselves a much shorter paddle on the Sunday.

Refreshed from lunch, again, and we were off. A quick "boat break" at Castle Coeffin in the rain and we were away again to a sheltered bay at the north end of Lismore for our over night stop. By now we had paddled about 35km since the morning. There are 2 bays here, both suitable for camping and we chose the north facing one to give us some protection from the wind. From the site there are superb views up Loch Linnhe to the mountains in the distance. Pete seemed to have a different idea and camped on the ridge between the 2 bays! The theory being that up there, he was safe from the midges (what midges?).

True to forecast, we woke up and the weather had broken. Still dry and reasonably bright but the wind had picked up quite considerably. Lynne's decision to pack the distance in on Saturday was undoubtedly correct. We threaded our way through the small islands at the northern tip of Lismore with views of Castle Stalker over towards the mainland.

Once clear of Lismore, it was time to cross back over to mainland. The crossing was rough - not extreme but rough!! I was quite glad we only had a short distance to go. The entrance back into Loch Creran is fun with a lot of water moving in and out and you're ferry gliding skills need to be fairly good if you don't want to end up back down towards Lismore.

By the time we got back to the caravan I was quite tired but we'd had a great weekend again and the weather had been relatively kind to us.

Lismore is a fairly flat island in comparison to others but is rich in history and legends. The surrounding views to Mull and the numerous other mountains make this a very pleasant place to paddle whatever the weather.

As the rest of the party drifted away to work or home, Paul, Pete, Julie and I stayed on at Creran to ponder over the maps and plan the rest of the week ahead...

Again, our thanks to Lynne for allowing us on the trip, Ron for his help in crossing back over, to Tim for the caravan, Christine for her help and to the others on the trip for making it very enjoyable again.

Nigel Williams