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!