Gigha Thursday.

On the journey from Arran to Gigha we crossed Kintyre. At first it seemed as if there wasn’t anyone actually in Kintyre, but then we called in at Carradale Caravan Site and found there were people there enjoying the well-kept secret of a large, pretty and peaceful site right next to a long, sandy, sheltered beach. The site was owned until recently by ex-HDCC members Ruth and Tom Watson. On the other side of Kintyre, there is another well-kept secret. Again, this is a long, sandy beach (Westport beach) onto which Atlantic breakers roll which have made it through the gap between Ireland and Islay all the way across from America. There were plenty of surfers waiting for the right wave.

Gigha is owned by the islanders. They’re very proud of it and the way they’re making island life work in the 21st century (with wind turbines for example). We’re camping close to the Boathouse Café, not far from the CalMac jetty. We get woken by the first ferry of the day talking: “Will passengers please…..” and the island seems to empty when the last ferry leaves at half past six in the evening, especially so tonight as there are gales forecast.

Today has been one of those beautiful Scottish grey days: silver grey sky and sea; dark grey islands. The sea has been calm and the air mild. We paddled round the island (15 miles) and were lucky enough to have a sea otter swim close to us. We could see the coast of Northern Ireland not looking far away at all.
Kathy,

Last night we planned our circumnavigation of Gigha to make the most of the tidal streams, although they are not really significant it is best to go with the flow rather than against it, so I armed myself with tidal stream atlas and Dover tide tables, pen and paper and spent an hour or so working out which way round the Island to paddle. Anti-clockwise would give us the best advantage, so this morning – just to be sure – I asked a local which way the tide would be going as it ebbed (high tide 07:28) and was reassured as the sailor looking type agreed with his conclusion of north to start with. Although the flow was generally north to start with it soon switched to southerly, which was against us until the northern end, then it helped us down the western side of the Island. As we rounded the southern tip of the Island the tidal stream was approaching slack so the last leg back to Ardminish Bay was easy. 15 miles in 4 hours 40 min moving time with an hour stopped on two lovely beaches. A good days paddling.
Nigel