Equipment Woes - Resolved. Mostly.

In what seems another lifetime ago way back in July, I had a good whinge about the gear problems we were having in Equipment Woes.

I don't mind giving the people who make gear a hard time if the equipment does not live up to expectations but am also very happy to praise them when they resolve the problems.

So good on Typhoon International for excellent customer service in sending me a replacement drysuit to wear for more than half of our trip so I could return mine for testing. As it turned out I don't think there was anything wrong with it but they were concerned enough to want it back to check it was ok. They also responded very quickly when due to various courier and address mix ups my drysuit got lost and then when found it followed a very circuitous route back to me, arriving the day before we left to return to Australia.

Credit due to Thermarest in Ireland who once I made contact immediately arranged to post me a replacement, by that time though the major surgery I had inflicted on the existing mattress had worked so I only had two nights sleeping on the ground. It was nice to have a new one but as it so light and feels as though it is made of tissue paper it will be interesting to see how long it lasts.

Solarfilm too offered to replace the faulty solar panel but due to the difficulties of having a replacement sent from the US to us in Ireland I asked them to send the replacement to Tasmania. It was a bit of a gamble as the faulty one could have stopped working at any time leaving us unable to charge our phones and VHF radio - our most reliable sources of weather information. Luckily it kept working and the new one has just arrived here at home. 

We had more major problems with our Exped tent, the poles started corroding badly which made them virtually impossible to put together and/or pull apart and right at the end of the trip the flysheet ripped again. These problems coupled with others from earlier in the trip and before has made the tent pretty much worn out and unreliable in just over two years. We have two Macpac tents, one 24yrs old the other over 15yrs old that are still very much in working order and have caused less problems in all that time than the Exped tent in just two years.  I have been in contact with Exped and they seemed concerned about all the issues we've had but nothing resolved yet. 

Scotland Seventh Week Oban to Cuil Bay, Duror.

Heading south west down the coastline of the Ross of Mull, we came across only the second group of kayakers we met on the whole trip. Most of them were from Holland. 

The Sound of Iona. 

The Nunnery, Iona.

The Abbey, Iona.

Ancient carved headstones, Iona. 

Sail repair. 

Inch Kenneth, Loch Na Keal. 

Loch Na Keal.

Heading out to the Treshnish Isles. 

Lunga, Treshnish Isles

Campsite at Port Langamull on the north coast of Mull. Great views of Ardnamurchan, Rhum, Eigg and Skye in the background.

Tobermory, Mull on a grey and drizzly day. 

Floating pontoons are very handy for a short stop in places with big tides. 

Having breakfast in the Tobermory Bakery, in our drysuits! Well it was wet and cold outside, we were only ashore for a short time and couldn't be bothered to change.

Torrential rain leaving Craignure on the last day of the trip. 

Cal Mac ferry heading for Oban. 

Duart Castle, Mull.

Cuil Bay, Duror. Last landing, day 49. 

Liz and her Arabs at Cuil Bay. 

Ireland - Scotland Sixth Week - Malin Head to Oban.

Our lunch spot after Malin Head, a perfect day with a perfect view and a lovely level patch of grass, we were very tempted to stop and stay the night.

We were closing in on the border with N.I. and were gently quizzed by the Garda as to where we had come from and where we were going.

Sharon and Lynn are relatives of a friend of ours in Tasmania, and we met up with them in Portrush. They very kindly treated us to lunch. Thanks! We still had perfect weather and perfect tides for our planned crossing of North Channel to the Mull of Kintyre so were sad we couldn't take them up on their invitation to tour the Bushmills distillery and other local attractions.

Yet another fantastic tiny little sheltered harbour at Dunseverick. 

Great camping, absolutely nobody taking any notice of the sign.

Approaching the distinctive shape of Fair Head with the Mull of Kintyre visible to the left.

In the eddy formed by the tide race off Torr Head looking back towards Fair Head.

Tiny little harbour and slipway on the eastern side of Torr Head. Our departure point for crossing North Channel.

On the water at 4.30am. We couldn't have asked for more perfect conditions for the crossing, no wind, flat calm sea and smack in the middle of the neap tides. The early start was necessary so as to be off the Mull at slack water to then catch the north flowing tide to our landing at Machrihanish. 

A few kms off the Mull of Kintyre at about 7am, unbelievably calm.

First landing in Scotland (wee break!) and the gravestone of an unknown sailer from 1917.

Ashore and camp set up at Machrihanish just in time for the pub to open. 

The Haggis Nachos were delicious so too was the beer. 

Up at 3am, 36km paddled, delicious food and beer for lunch - time for a nap.

Alan and Roger appear out of the mist at Craighouse, Isle of Jura. 

Alan and Roger had had a long day, virtually all of it navigating in very poor visibility. 

Andy meeting up with us the next morning with our Special Delivery

Tough paddling conditions.

We saw quite a few otters along the west coast of Jura, including two that seemed to be having a vicious fight. Eventually the loser was driven off, escaping inland. 

Lunch spot on the west coast of Jura.

Alan with the Paps of Jura in the background.

Campsite at Shian Bay.

Otters are very timid creatures, we were very lucky to get this close. 

Leaving Oban at 9.30pm having restocked with food for our trip around the Isle of Mull.

Ireland Fifth Week - Achill - Malin Head

By the time we left Achill the big high pressure system that was going to give Ireland as well as the rest of Europe a heatwave over the next couple of weeks was anchored in place. We stopped for lunch at a nice beach halfway to Belmullet and were about to leave when a woman appeared, introduced herself as Hillary and invited us up for lunch in The Sod House we had seen from the water. Unfortunately not only had we just eaten but the tide was coming in quickly on the very flat beach so we would have had to unload some gear from the kayak and put the trolley together to get the boat above the high water mark. 

No problem says Hilary I brought you down these cakes! Later that day near Ballyglass we stopped for afternoon tea and ate Hilary's wonderful iced carrot cake.

Hillary the Cakemaker's Sod House and her website. 

'Severn Class' Lifeboat at Ballyglass. We seemed to see one of these lifeboats every few days tucked away in sheltered harbours. Amazing vessels, self righting, max speed 25knots and the ability to carry 124 survivors.

Heading out from our campsite at Rinroe Point towards a group of offshore rocks called The Stags of Broad Haven.

In amongst The Stags of Broad Haven.

Puffins, so cute.

Yet another slipway and one of the best times of day - lunch.

Speccy sea stacks off Downpatrick Head.

Natural rock 'slipway' and easy landing on Kilcummin Point. 

  

The glorious settled weather was wonderful but with flat calm seas and no wind it sometimes felt as though our paddles were made of lead and the sea of treacle as there was so little sense of progress. 

We waited on this beach at Cloonagh for about 4 hours until about an hour before high tide as we wanted to land on Inishmurray which is about 7km offshore at high tide

The landing at Inishmurray was much easier than we anticipated but we were very happy to get there at high tide.

Looking SE across to the mainland from Inishmurray.

Swallows nesting in the beehive huts on Inishmurray.

Filling our water bottles from a stream trickling down the cliffs at Port, Co. Donegal.

The Donegal coastline was one of the most spectacular of the whole trip.

Grey seal, these and the Common seals we saw almost on a daily basis. 

Sea stacks, Donegal coast.

Sunset from Roan Inish. The location of some of the filming of 'The Secret of Roan Inish'.

The next morning we navigated in 200-300m visibility for 2 or more hours to Burtonport. 

Gola Island lunch on granite slabs almost too hot to lie on.

These two local fellas on Inishbofin were intrigued by our kayak as well as giving us a lot of local tidal information. They came down to see us off early in the morning. 

Malin Head, it was a lot more jobbly than it looks.