Finally

Concluding Nigel and Kathy’s Scottish Coast and Islands Tour (by Car, Ferries, Sea Kayaks, a Little Plane, a Minibus and Walking Boots):

K: When Will was very young, at the end of a camping trip he said: “We’re not going back to our house of bricks are we?” That’s how Nigel and I feel after spending so long in the fresh air and wild places, but our sea kayaking tour has run its natural course and it’s time to head home.

Our daily lives have been governed by weather and daylight for eight weeks now, beginning with the shipping forecast and ending at dark. Apart from two nights in hotels and three evenings out, to a ceilidh, a concert and a pub quiz, we have lived outdoors. We have endured a lot of rain (every day until near the end of August), which came relentlessly in the form of successive Atlantic depressions, then lots of high winds, including a force nine storm, in September. Our plans have regularly been curtailed or changed because of all this and few of our paddles or climbs have been done in settled conditions. Simple pleasures have meant a great deal: getting warm and dry when cold and wet, cooking when hungry and long, solid sleeps when tired. Breaking camp and moving on regularly to new places has been both stimulating and tiring.

Time has moved on a different scale from life at home. We’ve had to conserve our energy, our gear and our washing. But we’ve had the privilege of being able to live in the minute, free of goals and pressures apart from where to explore next. Every single day, every single island and every single paddle or climb is stuck in our minds in vivid colours. We’ve had a brilliant adventure in a beautiful and fascinating country. Most of all, we’ve learned just how much you don’t need to enjoy yourself!

N: Our friend Jon Van Wren asked in an e-mail “what do you think you've learnt from doing this?” Well I don’t think we know the full answer to that yet, but what I do know is that this expedition has provided a complete contrast to our usual way of life. It has given us the opportunity to fulfil our dream to travel Scotland and we have been too busy living to reflect on anything else. We look forward to thinking about what we’ve learned and what we do next when we get back.

FERRY JOURNEYS WERE:

Ardrossan – Arran

Lochranza – Kintyre

Kintyre – Gigha – Kintyre

Oban – Mull – Oban (with Chris, Sarah and Mike)

Scrabster – Stromness, Orkney – Stromness

Stromness – Hoy – Stromness

Ullapool – Stornaway, Lewis

Tarbert, Harris – Uig, Skye

Sconser – Raasay – Sconser

We have done 3,400+  land miles.

BASES AND NO. NIGHTS

:

Lochranza Campsite, Arran    10

By boathouse, Gigha                 3

Gallanach Campsite, Oban        5

Glen Nevis Campsite                 4

By Loch Shiel                            1

Gorten Sands, Arisaig                4

St. Clair’s Hotel, Thurso            1

Point of Ness Campsite, Mainland Orkney  8

Clach Toll Beach, Lochinver     4

The Ceilidh Place, Ullapool       1

Traigh Horgabost, Harris            4

Taransay Paibil                           1

Raasay Outdoor Centre               2

Linwater Site, East Calder nr Edinburgh     6

=  54  nights

BOOKS WE’VE BEEN READING

:

The Rough Guide to the Highlands and Islands

The Scottish Islands             Hamish Haswell-Smith

An Eye on the Hebrides       Mairi Hedderwick (sketches of the islands)

Scottish Sea Kayaking         Doug Cooper/ George Reid (strangely all the photos show sunny, calm conditions)

Into the Wild                        Jon Krakauer

Findings                    Kathleen Jamie (observations on Scotland’s wild places by a poet)

The Orkneyinga Saga

Kidnapped                           R.L. Stevenson (set in Oban/ Fort William area)

Blazing Paddles                   Brian Wilson (a continuous kayak journey round Scotland)

Hell and High Water, Climate Change, Hope and the Human Condition.    Alastair McIntosh.

LESSONS LEARNED:

:

• How little we actually need
• Don’t underestimate Scottish weather, sea or mountains.
• Which gear stays the course (1^st prize: the tent for standing up to a storm that blew back your eyelids and flattened your nostrils)
• How to live cooking only on a  Trangia stove
• Writing a blog’s great fun and getting comments back even better. (We remember the range of unusual places we’ve sat in to write it out of the rain or to get a signal. Most unusual has to be in Mr, MacDonald’s barn at Arisaig amongst rusty farm implements, hay and a smell of sheep.) We recognise that our technological bling (laptop and GPS) may seem to contradict our first point!

BIGGEST CHALLENGES:

N: The Witch’s Step in the Arran mountains.

K: That, and day 2 of the Loch Shiel paddle feeling hypothermic. Oh, and clapotis. I’ve survived a lot of those (one for you to mull over!)

FAVOURITE  TRIPS/ PLACES:

N: Arran, the wildness of  Clachtoll beach in the storms, wild camping.

K: Wild camp on Taransay/ Life in Orkney. It’s not like anywhere else and I loved the way the present day and distant past are on such familiar terms.

BEST ANSWER

When asked of the lad behind the bar in the hotel on Raasay “do you have a wi-fi internet connection?” Dave answered “I know how to set up an abseil, but I’ve no idea what you’ve just asked for”

WHAT WILL WE MISS?

N: Being outdoors

K:  The seal welcomes/ checkouts every time we paddle.

WORST ANNOYANCES?

N: People who camp too close. You can be in an empty field but you can be sure if anyone else comes they’ll put their tent two feet away. Thinking of putting lettering on the car: INFECTIOUS DISEASES UNIT or OFFENDERS REHABILITATION.

K: Getting your hair trapped in the tent zip.

GEAR WE DIDN’T NEED:

N and K: Sun lotion, summer clothes, anything that didn’t dry in 2 minutes. Not for one single day!

Solar shower/flower shower

RETURN TO SCOTLAND:

N and K: We’d like to head up to Shetland in midsummer when it doesn’t get dark.

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FORWARD TO?

N: Being able to bake flapjack.

K: 1.A bathroom of our own. 2. Canoeing.

AND……

LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING YOU SOON!

WE REALLY HAVE APPRECIATED YOU KEEPING IN TOUCH!

NIGEL AND KATHY

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