Neist Point and Beyond.

We finally escaped the alluring clutches of Canna but it didn’t let us go easily. 15km of headwind plodding on a messy sea across to Skye. Then, just as the long anticipated land ahead seemed in reach and two hungry paddlers were anticipating lunch and a cuppa we slowed to a crawl against a strong counter current. 

The Tidal Atlas notes only a 0.2kn south-easterly flow between Skye and Canna at the time but…we were pushing much more than that. It was just after slack and so close to shore too. We are smack bang in the middle of springs with a tidal range of 4 to 5m so there’s an awful lot of water swirling around.

Smoko time was declared and a few muesli bars downed while paddling slowly forward so as not to lose ground to the wind and current.

Hugging the coast we eventually turned into the shelter of Loch Eynort looking for somewhere to land along the rocky shore. The days of easy and frequent landing on white sandy beaches are largely behind us. The shoreline of this part of Skye, if not bound by spectacular cliffs dropping straight into the sea, is a rocky mess of boulders backed by steep grassy hillsides. There are the occasional pebbly beaches and we could see some in the distance down Loch Eynort. Not wanting to go that far out of our way we perched the bow up on some boulders and clambered ashore. Lunchtime! Four hours in the boat. 

Off towards Loch Bracadale along a familiar section of coast having passed this way in 2019. Talisker Bay after about 10km offered the first landing and camping spot but we continued on into Loch Brachadale. The further we paddled today meant not quite such an early start the next morning as we had a date with the tide off Neist Point.

The Pesda Press sea kayaking guide describes Neist Point “as a very active piece of water, try your best to be there when the streams are changing direction.” Also that “On springs the rip off the Point extends 3km to the NW during the north going stream.”

The Tidal Atlas told us the north going stream started at 0550 and finished at 1110.  From camp to Neist Point was about 25km, we knew we’d have the tide with us and the forecast light southerlies meant a sailing breeze too. We thought it better to be a bit early to catch the last of the northerly stream so aimed for 10:30 off the Point. An easy three hours we thought, on the water at 7:30. 

A cruisey paddle was certainly what I was seeking, both my wrists had become quite painful after our lunch stop in Loch Eynort. Strange for them to be complaining so much so suddenly but wear and tear has to catch up on the body eventually perhaps, ~380 paddle strokes a kilometre is a lot of repetitive movement.

Paddling with an unfeathered paddle and topped up with Ibuprofen I paddled gingerly away from the beach at 7:30 hoping my wrists would behave.

Sure enough a zephyr of a southerly rippled the smooth waters of Loch Bracadale, the sails went up and my wrists weren’t hurting too much. A good start to the day. 

The sea stacks of ‘Macleods Maidens’ off Idrigill Point are the prelude to a sensational section of coast with soaring cliffs, caves and arches. Numerous waterfalls streak the cliffs with lines of white as they cascade 100s of meters into the sea.

Macleods Maidens.

With time to spare we sailed at full speed with both sails up through two big arches and just simply stopped paddling at times soaking in the view while the tide and wind carried us north.

Rounding Hoe Point, Neist Point lighthouse comes into view with its cluster of white painted keepers quarters huddled around its base. Then the massive, impressive prow of Waterstein Head. What a panorama! 

Cute lighthouse too, a Stevenson of course.

Neist Point.

Off to our right in Moonen Bay there was a large area of disturbed water sprinkled with white caps. The tide was up to something but we couldn’t work out what. The southerly stream off Neist Point is so strong it forms an eddy that fills Moonen Bay, an eddy roughly 4km long and 2km wide. 

We were picking up speed now and as the northerly current squeezed past the Point all was smooth and under control. Not so a km or two ahead where we could see white caps and disturbed water. It didn’t look too bad. Suddenly, as is always the case, we’re in the middle of it. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t that good either. The sail came down damn quick as we lurched and see-sawed through metre high breaking standing waves that seemed to be coming from everywhere all at once. A boiling sea. Very disconcerting. 

Heading in close under the cliffs it was a lot calmer and normal paddling resumed. It was just after 11, in theory the northerly stream should have dropped right off. Looking out over the sea we really couldn’t work out whether the northerly stream was still going strong or the southerly stream had cranked up early.

A few hours later as I was chatting with a local fisherman at Meanish pier, I asked about the tides off the Point. He rolled his eyes and said “I haven’t worked them out, they’ve a mind of their own.” He recounted pulling a line of pots, extra heavy ones given the currents, and the whole line, pots and rope came up bundled in a big knot.

We thought we’d have a day off at Meanish to give my wrists a break but as they had hardly complained all day and the tide to round  Dunvegan Head was just right the next morning, we couldn’t resist to keep moving. 

We also have a focus to keep moving, our location, the tides and the weather forecast are aligning over the next three or four days for an unplanned challenging side trip to take on the Blue-Green Men.

On a totally mundane level the campground at Dunvegan charged us £27 for a patch of grass but a shower and clean clothes were much appreciated. 

Sailing along in a stiff breeze between Dunvegan and Stein - bang! - dismasted! The mast is well over 20 years old and broke at a weak point caused an old screw hole, the hole would have let water into the internal hard wood dowel. 

 

With landing spots hard to find the slipway at Stein in Loch Bay would enable us to launch at low tide the next morning for another date with the tide to round Waternish Point and on to Uig.

We can thoroughly recommend the Stein Inn - great atmosphere and decor including some challenging modern art. The food was to die for!