For Those Who Like Maps

"Words following words in long succession, however ably selected those words may be, can never convey so distinct an idea of the visible forms of the earth as the first glance of a good map. Of all contrivances hitherto devised for the benefit of geography, this is the most effective. In the extent and variety of its resources, in rapidity of utterance, in the copiousness and completeness of the information it communicates, in precision, conciseness, perspicuity, in the hold it has upon the memory, in vividness of imagery and power of expression, in convenience of reference, in portability, in the happy combination of so many and such useful qualities, a map has no rival. Everything we say or do or think has reference to place; and wherever place is concerned a map deserves a welcome: there is scarcely one department if knowledge, physical or moral, beyond the sphere of its usefulness; to geography it is indispensable"

President of the Royal Geographical Society 1840

Landfall

The long awaited and at times seemingly unachievable landing at Cuil Bay has happened! After 49 days, lots of kms and just about every weather condition possible the bow of the kayak crunched onto the beach for the last time this afternoon. 

It is hard believe it is all over and we made it.  At times the weather seemed to conspire to make progress impossible for days and days, at other times we were just in the right place at the right time. This was especially so for crossing North Channel, mirror like seas, no wind and slap bang in the middle of neap tides. 

Although a shower was very welcome and Liz's house at Cuil Bay is lovely and comfortable the drastic change in routine will be quite hard to get used to. 

49 days of obsessing over the weather, wondering what's around the next headland, worrying about finding a landing spot, but we will miss being so totally at one with the sea and all its moods, we'll miss the strength that comes from weeks of paddling, a strength that sees us through continuous long days in the water without tiring. 

We'll miss the people too, some perhaps only a brief chat on a beach, others perhaps for an evening of conversation. Some incredulous, thinking we are mad, others offering useful advice or local knowledge from decades of experience in their local waters. Others buying us lunch and plying us with drinks, or appearing on the beach just as we were launching with four delicious cup cakes wrapped in foil. Hilary the Cakemaker you're our heroine!  Thanks Andy for making a 3 hour round trip to meet us and bring us beer and goodies!

And not forgetting Alan and Roger for three amazing days around Jura and the Garvellachs. Even though it was not quite the end if our trip, it was a very special finale. 

Roger's photos of those three days are up on Flickr. 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rogerflicks/sets/72157634746709622/

Thanks Roger, I can't wait to see them on a bigger screen than my phone!

Western Scotland and the Heatwave.

We have just had three of the most sublime paddling days possible.

Alan and Roger drove down from Fort William then paddled across the Sound of Jura to meet us at Craighouse. The next day we zoomed through the Sound of Islay with the tide to the fantastic west coast of Jura, with seals, sea otters and dolphins for company. We camped at Shian Bay, a crescent of white sand then on to an exciting crossing of the Corryvreckan right at the end of the tide. Across to the Garvellachs, then on to camp on Belnahua, which not only was the best campsite of the whole trip but one of the best campsites of all time. 

From one tent doorway we looked straight down The Sound of Luing and across to Fladda, from the other doorway across to the Garvellachs and down the Firth of Lorne. Meanwhile the moon rose, the sun set and the sea barely rippled. 

Absolutely amazing few days, thanks Alan and Roger. 

     Belnahua campsite

Wow!!

Jura

It is really hard to believe we were in NI just yesterday, it seems so far away both in distance and head space. 

Yesterday was a release, for a few hours at least we were really in holiday mode. We had lunch in the pub and were back there for dinner with a nice bottle of wine in the evening. Machrahanish is basically a golf resort, it was pricey, I didn't even look at the bill. I didn't need to know. 

The thought of cranking out another 50km day today to meet up with our friends at Craighouse on Jura was not on our agenda, we were in holiday mode. 

We usually pack the kayak with all but our overnight and breakfast stuff so we can be off in the morning a bit faster. Not last night, we couldn't be bothered. We're in holiday mode remember.  Despite this we were bashing out through the small surf at 8, half an hour earlier than we had planned. Catching the tide a mere 27km to Gigha where we planned to camp, have a cruisey day leaving the 20km crossing to Craighouse for Friday. 

Anyway, you know how it is, you get in the groove, flowing with the tide. A cruisey time on Gigha became a quick half hour stop to eat and a course was set to Craighouse before the northerly tidal flow turned south. 

The day was warm humid with low cloud and very poor visibility, at best 7 or 8km and dropped to about 4km before we reached Gigha. We set off into the murk with nothing to see but the compass and nothing to gauge progress but the odd bit of seaweed. A hour and half later vague shapes very slowly became the firmer shapes of land, but still no perspective. The shapes could have been low lying rocks or islands close to or a mountain range a lot further away. Suddenly the silhouettes of trees could be discerned on the skyline, then some vague white blogs became houses, then other white blobs became moored yachts. We were nearly there, bored upper body muscles suddenly stirred and our pace picked up only to meet the now southerly current. We could feel the boat slow, just what you need at the end of a long crossing, a contrary wind or tide for the last few kms. 

There was no mistaking the big black letters on the front of the large and imposing building just back from the shoreline - Jura Hotel. There was also no mistaking the smell from the equally imposing but more industrial buildings just behind the hotel - in big black letters Jura Distillery. 

Now early evening and there is hardly a cloud in the sky the sea is still like a millpond, the wee beasties ate making themselves known and it's time for dinner. 

Are We On Holiday Now?

This was Lynne's comment once the tent was set up on a comfy patch of grass in the dunes behind the beach at Machrahanish. 

Yes, we've reached Scotland! 

Her comment reflects the tension not only of the crossing from Northern Ireland but the general pressure to keep moving. 

A trip like this becomes a bit like a job. The alarm goes off and the routine of breakfast, packing, shovelling water behind you all day, landing, setting up camp, dinner and bed.

Now it's virtually all over, the pressures off, we're in holiday, we have about two weeks to reach Fort William. At the rate we have been traveling recently it would only be about four days away. 

We have some friends from Fort William paddling south from Easdale tomorrow to meet up with us and another paddler to catch up with in Easdale so the next few days will be cruisey and social

Oh look the bar is open, gotta go!

So Nice To Have Settled Weather!

In 36 days we've paddled 1,156km, 418 of those in just the last 8 days. 

You can tell we've had some settled weather in the last week or so. 

Malin Head!

This what our guide says about the tides around Malin Head. Tricky stuff but we've settled weather, got our ETA off the Head worked out.

Inishmurray - More Info and Photos.

I just had to copy this info from 'Oileain (Oileáin) - A Guide To The Irish Islands'

http://www.oileain.org/

My brief description of Inishmurray in the last post just does not do the place justice. 

Oileain has been an incredible source of information for us, places to land and camp, the wildlife, tides and of course the history and stories. 

"Of special interest on the island is the monastic ruined settlement, founded by Columba in 550 AD. It is inside a Bronze Age fortification, the walls of which were once about 4.5m high. They are now half that, having been restored in 1880. The enclosure of cells, beehives, churches, altars, and carved stones, which in themselves make the island a must for a visit, are in better condition after 1400 years than the village houses after 100. The men-folk of the island were buried inside the enclosure and the women outside, at Teampalnamban about 150m distant.There are cursing stones here, five Clocha Breacha, capable of cursing ones enemies. The cursing stones have recently been removed by the OPW and are kept in the old school house. You may be lucky and be on the island when the OPW are working there and get to see the stones.

The island was pagan until Columba built a new monastery inside the fort and installed St. Molaise as Abbot. The monastery obtained fame almost immediately. Columba, back on a visit, borrowed a book from the library. Without telling Molaise, he copied it. A furious Molaise demanded the return of the copy. Denied, he appealed all the way to the High King, Diarmuid, who was then like the Supreme Court is today. His judgement was ‘to every cow its calf, to every book its copy’, probably the first ever recorded copyright decision in Western Europe.

Worse was to come. Columba still wouldn’t return the copy. Diarmuid, feeling he was being challenged, set out westwards with an army of 3,000 to punish Columba and his followers. Columba resoundingly beat the army of the high king near Culdrennan outside Sligo, with the loss of all his men.

Columba was upset by all these unanticipated downstream consequences of his thievery. He relented, and presented himself on Inishmurray to Molaise in confession. As penance, Molaise banished Columba to Scotland, never to return until he had converted to Christianity as many pagans as the 3,000 killed in the battle. Columba sailed, and didn’t settle until he could no longer see Ireland. He landed at Iona, and there founded his greatest ever monastery. He never returned to Ireland.

The Vikings raided Inishmurray in 795 and 802, and the Black and Tans in 1921. In 1915, a British warship, mistaking the island for a submarine, torpedoed it. It is thought the fort was mistaken for a conning tower. The islanders were shaken but not stirred.

The island was infamous for poitín making. There being no natural embarkation point for access to the island, and no easy landing, visits by the authorities were few. This enabled the undisturbed islanders to distil the best illicit whiskey in the country, marketed as ‘Old Inishmurray’. When the Revenue officials did come, they had to hire boats locally and word would escape. Then, in the absence of any one truly sheltered landing spot, it seems it was always necessary for the local boatmen to circle the island looking for the easiest landing place. The illicit brew was normally well hidden by the time anyone got ashore.

The school was built in 1889 when there were 102 people living here in 15 houses. There were only 46 in 1948 when the last people left.

The islanders were renowned for a combined rowing/sailing technique unique in Ireland which made them the safest, fastest and bravest sailors around.

The cursing stones. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=BlxOad7tlagC&pg=PA77&lpg=PA72&ots=X97J79KqKD&dq=cursing+stones+inishmurray&output=html_text

The walls of the partially restored Bronze Age fort, the 1400 year old monastic bee hive huts. 

The houses were rendered and some had clay bricks, a sign of wealth. The source of the wealth was the Islanders selling the best potcheen in Ireland. 

Innishmurray

With a high pressure system anchored over Ireland since the weekend we have made great progress, over 250km in the last five days. It has not been easy paddling though, in the mirror like conditions the sea seems to have the consistency of treacle as we plod on sweating through what has officially been classified as a heat wave.  Met Eireann has issued a National top level 'orange' alert high temperatures, (30deg.+) the first time ever such an alert has been made. 

We are now on Innishmurray which has a fascinating history stretching from a Bronze Age fort and 1400 yr old monastic ruins to a more recent history of being the source of the best potcheen in the country - Old Inishmurray. It's inaccessibility made access by Revenue officials difficult and time consuming. The island had been uninhabited since 1948. The difficulty of access made our landing tricky or impossible so we had leisurely four hours on the mainland leaving about 6pm so we would arrive at about high tide, then if there was any chance of landing we wouldn't have to move the kayak very far over the rocks to be well above the high tide level. 

As it turned out landing was easy and once we'd emptied it of all our gear we soon had the kayak up the rocks and well above the water. 

As we'd arrived late in the day we decided on the luxury of a day off, time for a rest but also time to explore the island instead of rushing off towards the Donegal coast a 21km crossing to the North. 

We awoke this morning to thick sea mist with visibility of less than a kilometre, the thought of a 2 1/2hr crossing on flat calm oily seas with absolutely nothing to gauge progress made us very happy that we had decided to stay here today. 

It's now about midday and the mist has thinned somewhat but visibility is still only a couple of kms. Despite the mist the filtered sun is hot, strong enough for the solar panel to be cranking and there is just the occasional glimpse of blue sky. 

Kilcummin Head, Killala Bay

The first really settled weather for over four weeks, we've covered more ground on the last two days than the previous week. 

That's The Situation We Like!

Thou Shalt Call Your Daughters Grace

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_O'Malley

The Pirate Queen, Granuaile.

We went to her castle.

Sorry, no photos they are all on the proper cameras and we've yet to come across a computer with a USB socket. 

Innishturk

By golly gosh did I need that!

Just might have another while we do our homework on the tides tomorrow. 

Equipment Woes

This trip has been beset by gear problems. 

Lynne and I treated ourselves to dry suits in the UK, they are so much cheaper than in Aus and then we get 20% VAT back when we leave the country. I thought they would be overkill for Ireland but have we been so glad to be warm and comfy on the wettest and wildest of days, both in the kayak and ashore.

The first day I wore mine I got really wet inside so emailed the manufacturers Typhoon to ask whether that was normal. It is supposed to be breathable fabric.  They replied very promptly asking me return it so they could check it out. I explained what we doing and that is wasn't possible to return it as it would leave me without any paddling clothes. They then offered to send me another to use so I could return mine, putting new seals on the replacement before sending it too!

Not only that but as it is such a hassle for us to pick up mail, they happily said I could use the replacement for the rest of the trip before returning it. My suit now tested or replaced, I'm not sure, is on its way to my Mum's in Devon. 

Then our Exped tent, only two years old and a wonderful tent but seems very much more prone to wear and tear than any tent I have ever used. One day having literally been blown off the water, blowing a gale and pouring with rain the flysheet just tore while pitching the tent, only about 3" but enough to totally wreck any chance of a dry night. Luckily I had bought what we have knicknamed the "magic silicone". An Irish product that I have never seen before, sort of a cross between ordinary silicone and Sykaflex with the magic of being able to used UNDERWATER! As it was raining so hard that we might as well have been underwater we thought we'd test out that claim and stuck a square of lightweight nylon over the rip. Not only did we have dry night but now three or four weeks later the patch is as stuck on as ever. 

Then the solar panel, a neat 21w rollable panel made by Powerfilm which is essential for keeping phones, AA batteries and VHF radio charged. It started delaminating after only three weeks so I emailed Powerfilm and again they immediately agreed to replace it but with a 5 to 10 day delivery period it could be a real hassle being in the right time at the right place to pick it up. 

Then last night, off all things my Thermarest grew a big bubble as it too delaminated making it unusable so I slept last night on the ground. Having a bit time in camp last night, I inflicted major surgery on the Thermarest using the "magic silicone" of course. It needed follow up surgery today, hopefully I may have fixed it. Even more hopefully I will receive the same customer service from the Thermarest distributors in Ireland as I have from Typhoon and Solarfilm and I'll be able sleep well for the remaining four or five weeks. 

The Aran Islands

Despite the forecasts, there was a break in the strong winds on Monday and we made our escape from the mainland. There was still quite a strong Westerly blowing and big seas from three or four days of 25-40knts SW to W winds. The wind was just the right direction and just dropped enough to get a sail up once out of Liscannor and around Hags Head so we made straight for Innisheer. It's a committing stretch of coast with Cliffs of Moher stretching from Liscannor to Doolin. If it became a bit too much though we knew we could bail out and land at Doolin, one of the very few landing spots along this rocky and cliff lined coast.

It was great to be on the move again, even though it was only three nights ashore it seemed a lot longer. We stopped on Innisheer for lunch before a long plod into the wind past Innishmaan to Kilronan on Innismore. 

Coming into the harbour we spotted a break in the offshore rocks that led to a smooth clean sandy beach; a beach suitable for the trolley to wheel the kayak above the high tide mark. A quick check at the nearest house that it was ok to camp in the field across from the beach and we were cosy in our tent again. 

Lynne called into the house to get some water and returned, some time later, not only with water but a thermos of hot soup and news of her chat with Paddy and Catherine Mullen. 

Paddy, an Innismore local, turned out to have been a fisherman all his life and not only in local waters but around the UK and further afield. His grandfather wrote the book "Man of Aran", which has been made into a film now. Not only fishing boats, but he had skippered the Aran Islands ferry and been Coxswain of the Innishmore lifeboat, resulting in being awarded a number of bravery awards. He had also raced curraghs and had toured the world playing whistle and flute in a Celtic band.

Gale force winds were forecast the following day, Tuesday, so we settled in, exploring the town and reading. 

That night in Paddy and Catherine's living room we were plied with potcheen, hot whiskey and lemon and talked boats -from the similarities between the original skin covered eskimo kayaks and curraghs to fishing boats, sinkings and rescues. Paddy had a beautifully made model of a fishing curragh. And of course, we talked the weather. The ever changing, wild and unpredictable weather of the West Coast of Ireland. Then Paddy got his whistle and flute out for a few tunes. 

It was a late night. 

Wednesday's forecast was for increasing SWesterlies to Force 6-7 but we knew that we had  the chance at least to follow the coast of Innismore to Kilmurvy, the best spot to cross to the Connemara coast 12km to the North. With no sign of the wind building we turned N, both sails went up and we shot across to Golam Hd. A quick stop there for snacks and then onwards again still with both sails up moving along very nicely. Another quick stop on St Macdara Is, where there is a very old small church. St Mac Dara is the patron Saint of the local working sailing boats, Galway Hookers whose skippers even today always dip their sails in respect when passing.

It was one if those days when with a good sailing wind we didn't want to stop for very long especially with the SWesterly steadily increasing so it was 3pm by the time we pulled into the shelter of Dogs Bay for lunch. By the time we'd eaten the wind had picked up even more and the thought of bashing into the wind for a couple of hours to the next possible landing spot wasn't particularly attractive so we searched for a sheltered spot for the tent and settled in again. 

We are in sight of Slyne Hd, the long awaited high pressure system seems to be building with clear skies and gentle Southerlies forecast for at least the weekend so the conditions are looking promising for the Innishbofin, Innishturk, Clare Is, Achill Is island hop. 

The radio weather forecaster stated in an obviously incredulous voice that temperatures would reach low/mid 20s and MAY even go higher over the weekend! 

Catherine Mullen who used to make all the stock for her craft shop in Kilronan.

Our own "Man of Aran", Paddy Mullen

Setting up the oars on the model curragh