Kevin Whitworth / Jacurutu

A couple of weeks ago myself, Mark, Christine and Dolina set of from Lemreway to try and paddle to The Shiants. Alas, the weather didn't quite match the forecast so we turned back at the mouth of Loch Shell. We're still keeping an eye on the forecast, and then Mike said he was planning a camping trip there this weekend just past. Neither myself nor Mark could do an overnight trip, so we were working out how to make it into a day trip for us. In the end, the forecast changed, and so we decided to meet up at Traigh Mhor on Sunday morning and go for a paddle there - possibly surfing, possibly a trip along the coast.

In the end there were 6 of us - me, Mark, Mike, Robert, Alice and Allan. After a cuppa and some discussion, we decided to set off for Traigh Ghioradail, just south of Tolsta Head, and paddle back round the headland along Traigh Mhor, which is part of route 7 in the Outer Hebrides sea kayak guide book. With a northerly wind, Traigh Ghioradail and the sea on the southern side of Tolsta Head were nice and calm, giving plenty of opportunities to explore the caves, channels, rock gardens and arches. However, on reaching the end of the headland, everything changed. The wind, a large swell and clapotis made conditions rather more interesting, and for the most part, that meant too interesting to explore anything too closely - not unless you were absolutely certain of timing anyway.

On reaching the southern end of Traigh Mhor, there was a brief suggestion of stopping for a cuppa and lunch, but with the surf it was going to make landing (and departing again) challening, so we pushed on to the north end. With some great coaching from Mike, everyone landed safely, and most of us were probably as surprised as me how much smaller the surf was once you were in it than when you were looking over it from behind.

After the long awaited lunch stop, we headed back out to play in the surf. Alas my playboat was in Mark's van at the start of the trip, so I had to put up with surfing in the sea kayak. Definitely an interesting experience - once it's decided to turn, there's not much you can do about it. Despite a few swims, everyone came away with a big grin on their face!

A busy week's kayaking last week, as I managed to squeeze a trip from Lemreway to Gravir in with Mark as well as the Taransay trip with the Skye club. The original plan was to meet up with the Skye crowd again, but I had time constraints (helping out with the Hebridean Celtic Festival in the evening) and a lack of mobile coverage at Horgabost meant I met up with Mark in Ballalan to try and work out a plan. Once again the forecast (wet and windy) and the actual weather (warm, sunny and still) didn't seem to match, so we decided to head out to Gravir, drop off my car, and then take the boats to Lemreway and have a gentle paddle north, exploring some of the east coast of South Lochs that neither of us had seen before.

The weather decided to try and catch up with the forecast as we got the boats ready and set off from the slip at Lemreway, with increasing wind and swell greeting us as we headed past Eilean Luibhaird and out to the mouth of Loch Shell (Sealg). Taking stock of the situation, we decided we were both happy to carry on and headed off round the headland onto the exposed coast. The weather was now looking much more like the forecast, blowing about F5 from the south west. One the one hand, this meant we had the wind behind us, but equally, we also had the swell behind us, with the odd breaking wave to keep us on our toes. Aside from looking out for somewhere to stop for lunch (there wasn't anywhere), there wasn't a lot of exploring to do, but I did spot a puffin bobbing around just out of paddle reach keeping a wary eye on my, and another flew past, presumably heading to the Shiants. I also spotted a seal sleeping in a little cove past one of the headlands.

On rounding the last headland and moving into Loch Odhairn, the sea calmed down significantly, although we did have to put up with a strong westerly headwind until we pulled in to a rocky beach on the south side of the loch for a well earned coffee and caramel shortbread. Moving on, the wind calmed down and the sun even came out, and we had fun exploring the southern shore of the loch, including finding a sea kayak sized rock pool which you could just squeeze into on wave surges (Rockpool Hopping video on YouTube).

Overall, an interesting afternoon's paddle. No photos from me this time; the above is one of Mark's - he was desperate to try out his new waterproof camera despite the conditions! The long stretch from Loch Shell to Loch Odhairn was quite easy paddling (we were blown most of the way) whilst being nicely exposed, but otherwise rather dull to explore in those conditions. I think Mark's Facebook status summed it up nicely: "Mark Stokes is becoming a down-wind junkie... another excellent paddle today."

Last week saw the South Skye & Lochalsh Kayak Club staying at Horgabost in Harris for a week of kayaking. A few of us in the Stornoway Canoe Club decided we should be sociable and popped down to join them for a day's paddling. This ended up being a trip round Taransay, which I haven't done before (and is handily trip number 18 in the Outer Hebrides Sea Kayak Guide Book).

A lovely day greeted us at Horgabost, and (apparently, I wasn't counting) 19 kayaks set out from the beach across the Sound of Taransay. On arrival at Taransay, the grou split up, and one or two of us decided we were overdressed and had to make a quick stop to adjust layers (thermal top + heavy drysuit + hot sunny day = bad idea). Heading round clockwise, the group was rather strung out at times, but that gave everyone a chance to explore, try and squeeze kayaks through every smaller gaps and even play on the odd breaking wave we came. Eventually we came to Traigh a Siar, the beach round the back of Taransay, where we stopped for lunch and were rejoined by some of those who split from us earlier (some lucky people got to drag their boats across from the beach on the opposite side of the island).

A leisurely post lunch paddle saw a chance to explore an arch, and then we found an rock and reef with an interesting break on it. Much fun ensued, until unfortunately a small coming together between two boats saw a rapid tow and retreat to the nearest beach to raid everyone's emergency supplies of duct tape. A passable looking repair followed, although at this point, somewhat late already (large groups never travel quickly), I decided to bail out and sprint for Horgabost as I was due back in Stornoway for the evening.

Despite an earlier look at the map, I needed a quick stop on the sand spit (SE corner of Taransay) just to check bearings and make sure I was headed back for the right beach. Back at Horgabost, someone had let the tide out since we left, and it seemed like a long carry up to the car park until one of the SSLKC group offered me a hand (thank you!).

My photos are here as well as having a couple on Flickr here and here. I certainly had a great trip, spoilt only slightly by my need to rush off home at the end. I also learned one lesson - I need some summer paddling gear: Mike's old drysuit is great for cold, wet and windy weather, but it's like a sauna when the sun's out!

Tonight saw Mike Sullivan, Robert Emmott and Tim Pickering launch their new guide book "The Outer Hebrides - Sea Kayaking around the Isles & St Kilda" at An Lanntair in Stornoway. Amusing tales and some fantastic photos made for a great evening - plus of course the chance to get your hand on a freshly printed (and signed) copy of the book itself - made for a great evening. I'm afraid I haven't had a detailed look through the book yet, but at first glance it looks great, and even if you don't kayak, it's worth it for the photos alone!

The book is available from the publishers (Pesda Press), all good online retailers (that's Amazon then), and I'm pretty sure there will be a few copies for sale in retailers in the Outer Hebrides too. And I'm sure everyone was joking about putting their signed copies up on eBay...

I suppose I've got no real excuse for getting out and doing some paddling now then. Oh, apart from not having a sea kayak... Anyone know when the Outer Hebrides river guide is going to be written?