Rum, Eigg & Canna

Trip to Eigg Rum & Canna

Met up with “Dangerous” Dave and Graeme Arisaig, both who had been paddling around the area for the past two days, with the intention of having a “whale” of a time.

We loaded the boats and set off from the marina, through the skerries at Loch Nan Ceall on a calm sea and no tide and paddled straight across to the Harbour on Eigg - a journey of 8miles open water. On our arrival the first thing we saw was the local postman in a brand new post office van for the 7 kilometres of road (or track) they have there. On the way over we saw hundreds of Manx Shearwaters skimming effortless over the waves.

After a cup of tea in the café we paddled from the pier all the way round the east coast to the Bay of Laig, a beautiful sandy beach with an excellent grassy platform for our tents. There can only be about 20 or so houses on Eigg and the first house we came across from our campsite was the postman with his brand new van outside. The view from the campsite on Eigg over to Rum (or Rhum) was truly inviting so it didn’t take much to get us up early for the trip.

The only problem we had was that the forecast was for a freshening wind, rising to force 7, and with 5 miles of open water we had to get over pretty quickly. We managed it but with half a dozen words passing between us for the whole crossing.

The forecast was for plenty of rain so after landing in Dibidil we quickly emptied the boats and walked 400 yards to an old shooting lodge convenient bothy, crossing a small burn on the way. It did rain and rain and rain so we did what all-good sea kayakers do in the circumstances, we cooked eat drank and slept in the lodge. At about nine o’clock I realised I had left my sleeping bag in the boat so was about to set off (still in the pouring rain) but after looking at the small burn realised we were not going to move that night – the burn had changed into the Zambezi.
Anyway Graeme had a bivvy so I ended up in that.

Next day saw much better weather so we set of along the east coast of Rum amongst some fantastic rock faces with several waterfalls carrying away the previous days rain - Graeme even had a shower under one. It was just before we turned into Loch Scresort and Kinloch that we saw an eagle and what a fantastic sight it was soaring high above the sea.

Kinloch is the main hive of activity on Rum with at least 5 houses there but it is dominated by a castle that was built for £15million, a hundred years ago as a holiday home for George Bullough who inherited all of his dad’s money- some holiday home. Good write up in Scottish sea Kayak trips
Anyway with the sun shining we set off again after lunch with a much lower coastline this time and through some quite thick seaweed. We thought that this was ideal for otters and sure enough there was an otter lying on its back in front of Graeme’s boat just gorging itself on a huge fish.
Around about four in the afternoon we came across a fantastic beach at Samhnan Insir with an old derelict croft right on the shore line and after a quick rolling session we landed, pitched tents and cooked our meal surrounded with a herd of red deer. Its hard to explain what you can actually see in a place like that but if Robinson Crusoe would have been stranded there he would have felt like a pig in s**t, it was that good.

The plan at the beginning of the week was to paddle across to Canna, camp and then circumnavigate the island the following day before catching the ferry back to Mallaig from Canna, so off we shot around to A’Mharagach and headed due west to Canna, a 5 miles crossing in mill pond conditions. Anyway we landed in the only settlement there (eight houses, a school and three churches - one might have been a cemetery) but as “Lord” Brookes had decided that he wanted spend the last night of the trip Kinloch Castle we had a tea and the most glorious sticky cakes you could ask for in the only shop/café on the island that opened to two hours a day and then headed back to Rum. The view from Canna over to Rum is out of this world and with a calm sea made for a brilliant crossing. We ended up in Guirdil Bay, which is a remote inlet with another old hunting lodge, where we intended to spend the night before getting back to Kinloch.

With a hot sun and no wind we were all set to stay but Dave produced his radio (no VHF reception) and got a nasty shock with the weather report – force eight and rain, rain, rain, so we upped sticks and paddled back to Kinloch making a long days paddling in all but opting for safety.
It was just out of Guirdil that we had a magic moment. Every crest of a wave is a porpoise or a dolphin or even something bigger only to flatten to an empty sea but Graeme and I swore blind that one of the crests belonged to a shark and it was. Not only did it stop and turn round and pass between us but went right under my boat a sight I won’t forget in a hurry.

Anyway, we finally got back to Kinloch at about nine o’clock, somewhat worn out and booked in for our decadent night in a castle. Actually it’s a hostel with-in the castle but whose splitting hairs. We slept in a castle.

Forecast was right, the next day it rained and blew a serious winds so being brave hardy seamen we had a full English (Scottish) breakfast in the castle (cooked for us of course) and took in the guided tour of the rest of the castle before catching the ferry back to Malaig.

We didn’t see our whale but we had some great paddles, we saw some stunning scenery, we saw otters, eagles, kittiwakes, manx shearwaters, loads of red deer, porpoises, dolphins, seals AND a shark so all in all a truly fabulous trip and now looking forward to a late summer bash up there somewhere. Thanks to Dave and Graeme, great company, great paddlers and I’m still at a loss to work out how Graeme managed to pack a years supply of food into such a small vessel – another miracle. It was good!


The last pic is of the shark passing under the kayak - didn't have time to set up for the shot!!


Falling Toad - Maurice