Night Time Paddle

No photos this week, but Paul rounded off the 2013 season Tuesday night paddles with one in the dark.
The paddlers left LYC at 7.15pm just as the sun was going down and Paul was joined by Allan, Frances, Kirsty, Colin T, Colin M, Brian H & Ken.
Glow sticks and head torches at the ready (apart from Colin M who had brought no illumination whatsoever), the paddlers headed past the town, under the UTC pier and into the mouth of the Lochy before passing the Lochy flats and Caol beach where they seemed to spook the most incredible number of sea birds.  In mirror calm waters, they then crossed to the islands and to Camusnagaul where 'something' jumped out of the loch.  Probably just a seal, but given the reaction of the paddlers, it might as well have been a hump back.  Quite a few curious seals were spotted on the journey.
From Camusnagaul, they headed back to LYC although the return route was modified when it seemed that an Oban registered fishing boat might be departing from the moorings close to the West End car park.  No one wanted to be run down by a fishing boat, but everyone agreed that in the still waters of the dry evening, Fort William looked lovely from the water.

Upper Spean

September found paddlers Angus, Stephen & Allan signing up for club trips on the mid & upper Spean led by level 5 coach, Chris Dickinson.

On the first Sunday, the weekend of the Paddle Fest, all rivers in Lochaber suddenly went mad after an overnight downpour and the Spean became a massive powerful river in spate.  Not ideal for paddlers relatively new to white water, but the guys were in good hands and in choosing the right bits of the river to work in, their skills and confidence in vast turbulent moving water were rapidly built.

The following Sunday, the river was almost quarter of the flow.  Much less powerful and completely different, but nevertheless still mostly grade 3 rapids.  Chris therefore led the trio from Inch down to the woollen mill offering individual coaching en route as well as group work & skills talks prior to each of the technical bits.  The success of the trip was that the group felt they might manage this stretch on their own next time if done in similar river conditions, and that the group then began planning a similar trip down another river.

See more photos HERE

Chris has kindly given his coaching time this summer to Nevis Canoe Club at no cost so the guys made donations to the charity which Chris founded and Chairs, www.nepalschoolstrust.co.uk    www.chrisdickinson.com

Corran & Loch Linnhe picnic site

Dave Smith was joined by Colin M, Allan, Ken, Liz, Martin, Kirsty & Jane for a paddle from the Loch Linnhe picnic site, to Ardgour, then over to Corran, & a return in the tidal stream.  Short paddle because sundown was at 7:53pm, however with the addition of glowsticks, the paddlers stayed out until about 8.30 and managed to still see each other.  Good practice for the upcoming night time paddle!

Loch Eil to LYC

Roger organised this weeks paddle, which due to the shortening evenings was from Loch Eil to LYC.  He was joined by Allan, David D, Ken & Brian H.

Put in was at Outward Bound, where Bridget was coaching some local schoolchildren paddlers who will be the future of NCC.  Amazingly for OB, there were no midgies!

It was the early stages of an ebb tide & close to springs, so the paddlers got something around 3 knots assistance through the narrows, allowing a paddling speed of 13km/h to be attained.  It felt like a race!

Rounding the corner at Camusnagaul, a strong head wind met the outgoing tide and the paddlers got quite a surprise at the choppy elevated sea conditions which lasted for at least 500m.  The challenge was overcome, and everyone landed safely at the LYC slipway where Paul and Liz were waiting to transport the boats.

Our route.  7.7Km

Pic: Ken Stevenson

Allan & Ken

Sun down wasn't due until 8pm, but it became dusky quickly

See the rest of Rogers pics here!

Loch Eilt

Martin & Liz had to pull out at the last minute, leaving just Allan & Colin T to go on the Tuesday paddle this week.

It was decided to head straight over to Essan to have a wee look at the bothy, where they totally surprised a walker who simply hadn’t seen them approaching due to the height of the bracken.

Leaving Essan, a golden eagle was spotted just to the East, they then paddled on, passing a cormorant sitting atop one of the dead trees poking out of the loch and unexpectedly, some water lillies.  At the western end, they paddled round the islands & Caledonian pine trees before returning in the dark in mirror calm water, passing another cormorant; this one dead and lying on a little rock poking just above the surface.  Clearly the bird had arrived there alive, but possibly injured.

Nearly missed the steam train!

Essan

They didn't expect water lillies!

Loch Sheil

A select three Allan, Colin M & Paul braved the driech weather. But it wasn't too bad as the rain held off while we paddled around the head of Loch Shiel. We launched at Slattach Pier. Just as well we didn't go for launching at the old boat shed on the river Callop as we later found that the channel was blocked by fallen alder. The loch was mirror smooth and we explored first the Callop then the Finnan - managed as far as under the road bridge before the rough stuff started. Then we headed down the loch to the fish farm and the small beach behind it. Paddled back in the gathering gloom, the nights are gathering in ! And then packed up without being too bothered by the midges because of a slight breeze.

Loch Leven

Loch Leven was the programmed paddle for this week. With Allan and Ken still recovering from the Oban - Fort William trip at the weekend and 2 beginners - Lorna (Ken's daughter) and Colin M - we elected for a short relaxing paddle. Weather conditions were fine with calm waters and little wind, but overcast. We set of from the shingle beach at Lochside Cottages in Ballachulish and paddled out round Eilean Choinneich and on to Eilean Munde. We stopped here to view the burial ground - fairly extensive but unfortunately somewhat overgrown and unkempt. We also saw seals basking on one of the small islands and either 3 herons, or the same heron 3 times, but with the light already fading we then headed straight back and rapidly packed up as the midges descended.

A pleasant gentle evening kayak.

Getting ready for the off

 Colin and Allan on the water

Towards the Pap

Lorna

 Eilean Munde burial ground

 The route - short and sweet!

Oban to Fort William

Liz, Ken, Dave & Allan joined this multi day trip, organised & led by Chris Dickinson.

The group left Oban bay late afternoon for the 10km open crossing to Lady’s Rock, however from a relatively calm start, the weather changed considerably from forecast, and the paddlers found themselves making slow progress in headwind in sea conditions fluctuating between force 4 & upper force 5.

Just over 1km from Lismore, a change of route was therefore made, & the group elected to travel the Southern coast of the island instead.  Once in the lee, it suddenly became a lovely evening paddle & it wasn’t long before a suitable camping spot was found.

An audience formed at the railings as the boats were packed

Leaving Oban bay

Still smiling after the arduous crossing

1st night camping on Lismore

Day 2 saw them paddle along the southern coast of Lismore in a brisk following wind, passing between the skerries just North of Port Appin, before travelling through the Sound of Shuna & stopping for lunch at the North end of the Shuna Island.  It was gloriously warm & sunscreen was applied however virtually as soon as they got back on the water, the cloud darkened & descended, bringing a very confused & lumpy following sea.  Taking a break at Balnagowan, it could be seen that conditions were deteriorating, and having identified a suitable camping spot on the uninhabited island, 3pm saw an early end to the days paddling.

The skerries at Port Appin

Lunch spot on Shuna, looking North.

No sign that conditions were about to change

Lumpy sea between  Shuna & Balnagowan island

Evening campfire on Balnagowan Island

Day 3, and everyone was on the water by 6.45am, allowing easy passage through the Corran Narrows on the latter part of the flood tide.  From an extremely wet start, the morning really opened up after Corran, giving a very pleasant paddle back to LYC for just after 11am, where there were hot drinks & a debrief in the clubhouse.

Homeward leg North of Corran

 

Arrival back at LYC

Total distance travelled was 60km (11.5/24.2/24.1), & donations raised by the paddlers went to the charity which Chris founded, www.Nepalschoolstrust.org.uk

Loch Leven

Just Allan, Cathy & Mal hit the water tonight as lots of the regular sea paddlers are away at the moment, although not away together as far as we understand!

Cathy was in FW, but her boat was in Kinlochleven, so a last minute change of plan was agreed to move the paddle location from Arisaig to Ballachulish in order to get more time on the water.  Loch Leven is also Mal’s home ground when it comes to paddling, even though he doesn’t stay there anymore.

Put in was at the slate built net stores at S. Ballachulish where there is a very short pebble beach.  It was an ebb tide, so the group skirted the burial isle then headed East, hugging the Southern coast of the Loch up to & through the Coalasnacon narrows.  They then turned & cut into the stream & roughly hugged the Northern coastline before crossing back over to the put in, moments before the sun went down & the rain started.  There was a dearth of wildlife spots, just like last week.

There was little wind, and the loch was flat calm for a lot of the time, albeit in an ebbing tide.  It was one of those evenings when it could really be appreciated how lucky we are to have all of this on our doorstep!

Lovely calm evening

Just back in time!

Shuna Island, Appin

Tuesday night’s sea paddle was organised by Roger at Appin, where he was joined by Fiona, Paul, Áine, Allan, Dave and Stuart.

The Sound of Shuna was sheltered and calm and it was decided to circumnavigate Shuna Island in an anti-clockwise direction, however rounding to the NW side of the island found the paddlers moving against both the tide and wind in quite a swell- this was expected as they had agreed to do the harder bit on the outward leg.  At the Southern tip, it was decided to visit Castle Stalker, however the paddlers had unfortunately missed all the helicopter and lifeboat drama of the day. See here!  A paddle back up the Sound assisted by the wind & tide then got everyone back to the cars well before sun down.

Roger failed miserably in that he had arranged no wildlife spots whatsoever, unless you count a rock which looked a bit like a bird of prey from the distance.  As a paddle however, it was one way, had hugely varying sea conditions and was an interesting coastline not seen from the road.

The route

Sheltered Sound.  Pic: Paul Biggin

Setting off.  Pic Roger Wild

Pic: Paul Biggin

A bit of swell.  Pic: Roger Wild

No one thought to bring any entrance money.

Pic: Roger Wild

See the rest of Rogers images here!

LYC Paddle

The sea paddle this week was planned by Dave as a rescue sesh, but summer holidays are still upon us and just Angus, Stephen, Allan and Kenny were able to join him so given the exceptionally high tide and calm loch, it was decided just to go for a paddle instead.  Anything to avoid getting deliberately wet!

The group headed straight over to Camusnagaul where a young otter was spotted catching & devouring a fish, however the trail of bubbles was then lost as both the otter and paddlers crossed an eddy line close to the shore & other things took over.  The group continued over to Corpach past islands teeming with screeching sea birds before helping one of the basin anglers get his lure further out than he could ever have imagined casting! The Souters Lass, and a speed boat, caused alterations to the course on the way back as the paddlers were met with wash from opposing sides, however the skipper (who was obviously using binoculars), did announce to his passenger visitors who they were motoring past.  The evening darkened very quickly reminding everyone that summer is on the wane, but hot drinks and a debrief in the LYC clubhouse provided a very civilised end to the evening paddle.

 Whilst at Corpach, the paddlers felt obliged to do a

paddle past Paul's house and private slipway!

 Lots of dangerous driftwood due to the recent spring tides.

Angus wanted to tow this one back for his wood burning stove!

High tides = short exit slips!