Shiel Bridge to Kyle of Loch Alsh, (or not), May 2014
We had a night of relative comfort & luxury at Shiel Bridge Campsite; a quiet and peaceful spot with mountains towering above. For £6 per person, per night; we got a flat and comfortable area to pitch our tent, flushing toilets, warm showers and rubbish disposal. Pretty much what you would expect but so gratefully received between our wild camping expeditions. An alternative would have been the bunkhouse at the Kintail Lodge Hotel. Instead we ate out at the hotel and had a fantastic meal with friendly service; definitely recommend it.
The morning was calm and settled as we loaded up the canoe once again; we planned to have 3 or 4 days paddling, hoping to get up to the Skye Bridge, (and back again). As we launched, the views were lovely with perfect reflections on the mirror-like surface of Loch Duich; with only slight disturbance from our paddles and our boat. Surprisingly we were slightly disappointed with the conditions as wildlife tends not to venture out; when breaking the water’s surface could give its position away instantly. We were hoping for otters and had been told about a pod of porpoises that are often present near to the fish farm, further down the loch.
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| A calm start up Loch Duich |
As we paddled up the eastern shore of Loch Duich we were pleasantly surprised to see a number of herons in their heronry’s high up in the trees, often launching themselves gracefully into the air as we approached. I am fairly sure I also spotted three otters as we crept along the rocky shoreline but they were so far away and disappeared so quickly, I couldn’t really count them as proper sightings. I think the repelling features of Skin so Soft were working on the otters as well as any smaller creatures; particularly as we were looking downwind and a light breeze had now appeared, wafting the sickly scent towards them.
The wind was now enough for us to get our small sail up and we gently, silently slid through the water without the faint splashing of the paddles dipping in and out. Andy did his best to keep us on course, his view limited by the sail. I kept my eyes peeled for more wildlife and checked our progress against the map, (borrowed from our local library). It wasn’t long before we approached the iconic Eilean Donan Castle. Our angle on it wasn’t so good; there was no water under the old stone bridge due to the spring tide ebbing away; there were hordes of tourists all around and coaches parked in the car park. We paddled on and checked out the nearby, flat but very low, Eilean Tioram as a camping spot; we thought it would be fun to camp in sight of all the tourists. However a few things put us off: the lack of privacy when going to the toilet, the high tide expected and the possibility of feeling a little foolish if the water came lapping at our tent and disturbing the birds that were obviously nesting on the island.
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| Eilean Donan Castle across Loch Long at low tide |
We continued onwards, towards the bridge across Loch long. Our calculations had us arriving at Loch long in the last hour of the ebb tide. We expected there to be little flow against us as we paddled up into the loch. The Scottish Canoe Touring Book had told us that there would be only weak tides here. The mini overfalls where the flow from Loch long joined the outflow from Loch Duich, along with the obvious eddies downstream of the bridge supports told us otherwise. We opted to get out at the slipway downstream of the bridge, have lunch and wait for slack water. The toilets at the community centre here were an added bonus.
After lunch slack water had arrived and we paddled with ease up the first stretch of Loch Long. The breeze built, fortunately from behind us and with the tide flooding in we made good progress up the loch. The loch twists and turns a little and at fairly low water there is an interesting spit to avoid about half way up. We quickly got into the estuary of River Elchaig and with the sandy shallows we could go no further. We picked a spot that might be a good place to camp, on the south shore opposite some small islands.
It was quite a trek up to the small, flat patch of grass which we thought might be suitable, over the seaweed covered rocks. With the tides being springs, and it being only just past low water; we thought it best to wait until high water before pitching the tent; just in case it wouldn't be above the tide. We only pitched our shelter and went about amusing ourselves until high water. When the wind picked up even more, and the rain started; the wind shifted and the rain blew in under the shelter, it was quite difficult to stay amused. There was no point trying to paddle back down the loch just now, against the wind and tide and so we sat it out. Eventually it was time for dinner; we cooked and ate as the tide approached us surprisingly quickly. We moved the tent pegs on the shelter a couple of times, to get them out of the water. Thankfully we had finished eating when the water had reached our wellies. Time for a quick de-camp!
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| Time to strike camp! |
Bags were quickly moved to higher ground; unfortunately the higher ground was too uneven for sleeping on and so we prepared to move out with the tide and go to a spot we had seen earlier. We re-stowed our barrel and got everything back in the canoe. We knew it was probably as high as the water was going to get; the camping spot would have been above the high tide mark overnight, but only just. We wouldn’t have slept well that night, even knowing that we would be awake before high water the following morning. So we paddled back down the loch and within half an hour we were at a lovely sheltered spot, in the far corner of a farmers land, about 1km before Bundalloch. We spotted the farmer walking back to the farmhouse and were confident that we could camp peacefully for the night. This was definitely out of the reach of the high spring tide. We settled in, had a shot or two of whisky and got settled for bed.
It rained again during the night but we had shelter under trees; when we awoke it was bright and sunny and we got the tent down dry. As we were eating our porridge the farmer and his loyal collie appeared, trying to reach a sheep that had gone beyond the field, onto the rocky shore beyond. I think it was this sheep that we had heard baa-ing in the night. The young farmer got to her just in time; helping her lamb within sight of our tent. He was friendly and was obviously quite happy for us to be camping in this quiet corner of his land. The Scottish access land allows us to camp in these remote areas but we are always a little anxious if we camp on farmer’s fields; however whenever we have met the farmers they have always been really welcoming and not mentioned us camping at all.
Yet again we packed up in the morning and were ready to head off again. The wind had strengthened and was blowing straight in our faces. We had to paddle hard and stick to any shelter that we could gain from the shore, as we paddled back to the bridge. Being mid-flood, on a spring tide I was expecting an exciting ride under the bridge. The flow was nowhere near as fast as it had been the day before and we calmly floated down, easily avoiding the bridge supports and tied up alongside the slipway again. We had our lunch, made use of the Community Centre toilets again and looked at the next part of our trip, out towards the Kyle of Loch Alsh and the Skye Bridge. The wind was blowing hard inland, creating quite large waves as it battled against the outgoing tide, in the middle of the channel. We would have to stick close to the shore to get calmer water and to try to find shelter from the wind. We set off and battled for an hour. I hated it; hard paddling, losing the bow to the wind and being blown sideways, back the way we had come. Having only covered about 1.5km in an hour and having another 5 – 6km to go to the campsite at Balmacara; we decided to turn and go with the weather and find a campsite wherever we could.
We sheltered for a while to confirm our plan and decide where to head for. There was a lovely sheltered bay, just below the broch at Casteal Grugaig, near Totaig. We would head there and look for flat land to camp on. In 20 minutes we had crossed the main channel of Loch Alsh. The tide was less strong now and the water was not as lumpy but we still had a few waves breaking onto me at the bow. Having dragged the boat out of the water it didn’t take us long to find a perfect camping spot, on what would soon be an island. The views were good, out west towards the Skye Bridge, and from the top of the hill we could see over to Eilean Donan Castle. There was also a fresh water supply not far away. We set up camp and were pleased that the long grass, which meant a comfortable mattress, was not crawling with ticks. We fetched some fresh water, had a walk to the top of the little knoll beside us and set about enjoying this beautiful spot.
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| Our beautiful campsite with views towards Kyle of Loch Alsh |
Dinner cooked and eaten, gear dried and aired, wood collected; we built a small fire and enjoyed the views. A couple of otters swam by, oblivious to us and woodland birds sang noisily as they also settled down for the night. Andy subconsciously decided to celebrate what would be the end of our trip and quickly worked his way through the box of red wine and his hip flask, with only a little help from me. Soon I had to hold him up as he stumbled around on the rocky shore, trying to catch a glimpse of another otter and the sun setting beyond Skye. After a fantastic evening, much better than we could have hoped for when battling the wind and waves, we went off to bed and had a great night’s sleep.
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| Our island camp at high tide |
The morning dawned bright but windy. In the main channel the waves were up; the wind was stronger than yesterday and the tide was flowing against it. We were happy knowing that we should be sheltered by the shore and the wind would be behind us as paddled back up to Shiel Bridge at the head of Loch Duich. We packed up and set off, keeping out of the ebb flow of the tide by staying right in to the shore. The wind however was not in our favour; it blew strongly straight towards us, then it blew us offshore; it would tease us briefly as it blew from behind us; at times it seemed to blow from two directions at once! The confusing mix even created a small water spout; thankfully we were on the shore at the time. We struggled to head up the loch but made way slowly and steadily. We stopped by a small chapel for lunch and spotted the porpoises briefly. As we set off again, the wind was blowing with us and we looked forward to setting the sail again as we headed inland. Back in the boat, sail up, wind from the side blowing us straight across the loch! (The wrong direction). Sail down, paddling hard again to get us back to the car.
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| A bright morning at our camp but rough seas on Loch Alsh behind |
Eventually we arrived and got the boat on the shore before the winds picked up even further. We were all packed up and in the car just before the rain came. We realised that we should have taken more notice of the weather forecast; at the start of the trip: winds of up to 21 miles per hour were forecast, blowing in our faces. The Mountain Weather forecast had predicted only light winds and so with a calm start we had set off hoping the Mountain Forecast was the correct one. Realising throughout the trip that we couldn’t paddle happily against these winds, we decided that more careful thought needs to go into our plans about where to paddle when such winds are forecast.
In the car we decided with a worsening forecast we would head home, all the way back to the Peak District to enjoy the mini heat-wave that the rest of the country seemed to be enjoying. As we drove home we relived the happy memories of the perfect wild camping spot that we had enjoyed that night. Happy memories of a carefree, simple, day to day existence; wonderful.
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