I’m leaving these islands on Sunday morning… feeling a little sad, I feel very at home here. However all being well I’ll be back next summer for another season of kayaking and in the meantime I have a whole winter of ‘stuff’ to look forward to back in Cornwall. I have no travel plans as such for a change – just riding and paddling at home.. & I could do with earning some proper wedge for a bit… well, trying to at least.
Anyway, a final few island images…(most with the Holga lens..)
the weather continues in a stormy vein up here.. Before heading back to Cornwall next week I’d hoped to get down to Mingulay in a kayak for a couple of days exploring & wild camping but with Hurricane Katia on the way it ain’t going to happen. The wind did drop off a little last night for a cracking evening surf… offshore winds on a perfectly formed head-high wave with wonderfully stormy evening light. Magic.
idle hands on a storm-washed beach...not sure what this is.. a Vatersay Beach Bristle Monster perhaps... whatever, he's coming back to Cornwall...
wonderful storm light in Castlebay...
the coast of Vatersay
painterly hues of the airport beach near high water
Because the airport is the sheltered beach behind the dunes backing the west-facing surf beach of Traigh Eais the free parking, in contrast to Cornwall’s hideous beach parking charges, is very handy and the baggage reclaim shed makes a cracking foul-weather changing spot… but not in this photo taken one fine evening earlier in the summer. Bearded guitar minstrel optional.
Just a few more images of Barra & Vatersay as seen through a plastic Holga lens. It has a focal length equivalent of 50mm & aperture is fixed at f8. Ideal snapshot lens if you can work with the low contrast, vignetted, unsharp look… especially at the moment as the weather remains very unsettled with terrific lighting :-)
just before I brought myself up here to the Outer Hebrides I picked up, for a very few £ indeed – £10 or so, a Holga lens in a micro 4/3 fit. I used to have the original medium format film Holga camera, before I broke it, and rather enjoyed the somewhat distorted & heavily vignetted images in produced. The plastic lenses are now available in various mounts for digital cameras which is rather a fun thing. Mine came from the far east via fleabay. Postie delivered it as I was packing my gear for the trip north so without unpacking it I tossed it in my bag and forgot all about it. Until yesterday that is while digging around for a clean(er) pair of socks… With 90km/hr winds and driving rain the weather was fundamentally unsuited to anything much except for a walk out onto the exposed west coast with my GF1 & Holga lens in my pocket. The weather suited the lens.. or rather the lens suited the weather. Whichever way you look it the images seem appropriate to the bleak nature of this island when a storm blows in…
through the rainy window of my luxury sleeping quarters....
Anyway, enough of that. Last weekend was the Barra & Vatersay Produce Show… an important event on the local cultural calendar… really it’s just a heap of fun and while some folk take it deadly seriously most seem content to have a good laugh.. and unintentionally come away some prizes…
inevitable really....
Chris won a prize with this creation...
.. and with this decorated wellington boot entered, appropriately, in the fishing & crofting section...
it's serious stuff this...
deadly serious.. quality not quantity, 4 carrots would not have done
for some reason I found it all rather amusing...
Finally, before I crack on with more kayak repairs, and completely unrelated to any of the above.. an evening scene on Vatersay snapped while on the way to the beach for a surf.
“You anything to do with the sea kayaking?” the grumpy looking chap said… it clearly had not escaped his notice that I was faffing about with sea kayaks on a trailer here in Castlebay. “Yup” was my one word reply… failing to warm to him and his equally grumpy looking wife. Gruff words followed… “Well, what about it then?“. “Are you interested in just getting out for a half day paddling or one of our longer adventures?” I asked. “We just want to go paddling” he says.. It was late Saturday afternoon so I said “Ok then, well Monday is the next likely half day trip, the forecast for tomorrow is for high winds so I can’t take anyone out“. “What use is that to us, we’re going home on Monday and need to go paddling tomorrow” he complained. I apologised and blamed the weather forecast. “This place is rubbish, there’s nothing to do” he grumbled. I pointed out that there were plenty of empty beaches to explore and some terrific walking to be enjoyed amongst other things. “We don’t do walking” was the retort… I said no more.. well, not out loud anyway. I have no idea what they expected to find in the Outer Hebrides.. a theme park perhaps? I cannot imagine how meaningless life must seem for a pair cursed with such a profound lack of imagination… not that they would notice.
looking west across the Atlantic.. towards Canada in fact.. on a beautifully still afternoon
I love the place.
My kayak guiding is just about done for the season but I am in no rush to head south back to Cornwall just yet. I love the simplicity of life up here. I love the fact that the vulgar displays of materialistic greed and arrogance that blight much of the mainland are completely absent. I love the friendly, down to earth folk. I love that I can go and surf and share the waves with no-one but a couple of friends. I love that I can always find a beach on which the only footprints are mine. I love that when I want to go for a hike there are no marked trails littered with people and the odd discarded crisp packet… I can just pick a mountain and go, any which way I like, knee deep in heather and wildflowers or scrambling over weathered rock patchworked with lichens, and chances are I won’t meet a soul.
looking to the north end of Barra and beyond to Eriskay & the Uists. The beach on the left is Traigh Eais.. a good surf spot. The beach to the right is Traigh Mor - used as the airstrip.
For the next week or two.. or however long it takes I have got a bunch of kayak repairs to take care of. The glass boats are in need of some repairs before being put away for the winter. It is something I am good at and glad to do in return for a place to sleep while I enjoy this small but perfectly formed mountainous little island called Barra :-)
for some folk this is rubbish.. nothing to do, nothing at all...
Oh dear, as I write I seem to have chomped my way through an entire fruitcake… I’ve been out in the wind on top of some mountains again today, by way of a break from paddling.
spongy...
a few other random recent photos follow..
meet the Clearwater dog...she's lovely and is called Kipper... with her boundless energy I cannot help thinking of her as the Kippertron.. ;-)
yours truly having a rest... (photo by Ben)
.. having a rest.
there's a pattern emerging here... in my defence I worked hard and what else to do while waiting for a ferry ride on Eriskay ;-)
a glassy morning in the Sound of Harris (photo by Ben)
….tired from 2 weeks of back to back wild camping kayak adventures north of here off Harris and the Uists I am somewhat lacking in inspiration to write.. luckily however I have some photos I can simply throw at you while I go off for another coffee. I have a day off today, hurrah.. and I’m not likely to get sidetracked into taking any day trips out from here in Castlebay either thanks to the gale-force winds that are howling across the bay as I write :-)
The first week was characterised by high winds and heavy rain which did limit options for exploring to the many sheltered sea lochs on the east coast and made cooking for 11 an awkward affair huddled under a flapping tarp each day not to mention sorting out the food for the following week in driving rain one night in Leverburgh… Week 2 on the west coast of Harris with a small group of just 5 was magic… very high winds at the start meant hiking in fabulous mountain scenery rather than kayaking but things improved wonderfully as the week went on.. with lighter winds and just one very wet day.
I didn’t bring my own sea kayak up here, preferring instead to bring my surf boat. No bad thing, working boats take a hammering on these trips so I am paddling an Island Kayaks Expedition model belonging to Chris, my employer. It is the largest volume boat I have ever paddled which means empty with just my light frame on board it is quite amusing to paddle as it floats so high. Loaded however it is superb. The volume is handy as it swallows up everything needed with ease which makes squeezing food and gear into the other boats a less stressful affair. At the beginning of a trip it is something of a floating larder.. and by the end it is a floating garbage truck. I find it quite amusing how other paddlers are so resistant to carrying garbage once space has been freed in their boats by meals eaten…
Anyway, enough.. on with some photos. I never did replace my waterproof camera so not so many on-water pics but I hope they give a sense of this wonderful part of the world nevertheless. Captions where I could be bothered….
I'll start with a beach... the fine sand-bar on Taransay... a fabulous spot to spend a night
'my' Island Expedition resting on a rocky landing spot
not very 'beachy' but sheltered from high winds at the foot of Eaval on north Uist
fabulous late afternoon light
stormy weather
Loch Ainort
weatherbeaten retreat to the van at the end of the Uist week...
waiting for the ferry from Berneray to Harris... typically Hebridean weather..
a fine if somewhat damp evening hike...
patterns of foam in a peaty stream...
fine weather but gale force winds... a hiking day on Harris
wicked views down to the Sound of Harris
I had a double along on the Harris trip.. they were poetry in motion...
plenty of nooks and crannies to explore...
.. and caves
some tighter than others...
paddling upstream.....
when the heavens open.. which they frequently do.. the bothy bag is a warm place for lunch..
after a filthy wet day.. wonderful evening light
dry again - a group of happy kayak-campers..
heading down the west coast of Harris in a lovely rolling swell
a pretty, sheltered lunch stop
proper summer weather at last :-)
a fine Taransay camping spot...
essential protection... for when the wind does disappear legions of midges materialise... devils they are, devils...
an early morning of pleasant solitude on the ocean as I paddled back north early at the end of the trip to retrieve the van.. just the shearwaters and gannets soaring the swells for company :-)
stormy evening light over Harris
a final wild camp on Harris before a 5am start to get folk to the early ferry from Tarbert
evening from Harris
As a footnote.. these trips are hard work physically and logistically… non-stop 15 hour days and it takes me a week to earn what I could in a day in my past life as an aeronautical engineer… but up here I feel complete contentment and the satisfaction at the end of a trip when everyone goes home with a big smile on their face is beyond putting a value on. My season ends in a couple of weeks.. I plan to stick around a while to carry out essential kayak repairs and so do some surfing… as for the winter, don’t know yet… not worried about it :-)
Apologies for my recent absence… I mentioned in my last post that I’d be spending the summer working as a sea kayak guide up here in the wonderful Outer Hebrides. I have a busy schedule, the meat of which is a series of 6 day wild camping trips around the various islands that make up the archipelago. I do have some days off but often as not they can be filled with day trips from our base here in Castlebay on Barra.. I did bring my surf kayak up here with me however, with some wild and empty west coast breaks to take advantage of it would have been rude not to do so :-)
Anyway.. I’m working for Clearwater Paddling <link>. If you would like to do some paddling up here point your browser at the website, www.clearwaterpaddling.com, and have a look at what is on offer. We work hard to make sure you’ll have a good time… camping on remote white beaches and rugged headlands, spotting seals, basking sharks, dolphins, otters.. not to mention the wonderful birdlife… and despite the fact that the camping is wild the food will be fantastic ;-)
It is hard work once all the cooking, gear sorting and behind the scenes stuff is taken into account but it feels a real privilege to be able to work up here, I’ve been made wonderfully welcome and feel very much a member of an extended island family.
Here are a few pics from a trip up around North Uist and the Sound of Harris and another camped among the islands around the north-east end of Barra. More to follow as and when..
setting up camp somewhere on North Uist
super high springs brought the novelty of paddling straight up onto grass on one of the many small islands off NE Barra
a fine if somewhat drizzly view from the summit of the same island
foraging mussels for dinner
spent a stormbound 36 hours.. I do enjoy a good storm in my tent
cool caves and clefts on North Uist
wonderful early morning stormy light on North Uist
more of the same
tarp kitchen for when it rains
the empty coast of North Uist
more of.. :-)
a terrific campsite.. sea on the right, fresh water loch on the left :-)
partner in crime, Ben.
another "empty beach on uninhabited island" campsite
appropriate refreshments
despite midsummer being more than a month ago it is still light well past 10pm
glassy calm in the Sound of Harris
Sound of Harris
another terrific beach in the Sound of Harris
west coast beaches on Barra are rammed in August.....
a mellow evening with a fun little wave, on sets bigger than it looks in the photo
for the few nights when I'm not on the water this is home, shared with new friends and behind the beach.. so nice waking up to nothing but the sound of surf and sheep... :-)
