Sea Kayaking Scotland: Jura 2018 Day 1

Day 1 Carsaig to Loch Tarbert

After a night at the campsite at Tayvallich we had a fairly damp start to the day with wet tents packed ready for a 3 day journey round the northern half of Jura. South bound flow in the sound started about 10 am so we had a fairly leisurely start to the day, loading the boats and getting afloat on Carsaig Bay.

We left Carsaig into thick fog but a flat calm on the Sound of Jura, paddling a compass bearing on silent,flat and featureless sea. It is very disorientating paddling with no visible reference points and no real horizon and every time we stopped concentrating on the bearing we would swing off course almost instantly.

About 1 k out from Jura the mist lifted, the rain started and the wind picked up. But at least we could see where we were going.

After a quick comfort stop and a stretch we were back on the water, paddling down the coast of Jura.

We had been aiming high on Jura so all we had to do was turn left and follow the coast down into Tarbert Bay

Ready to trolley the boats across the island to Loch Tarbert.

It was still a bit grey and damp but we had enough wind to keep the midges at bay and to keep us reasonably cool as we hauled the boats across to Loch Tarbert.
Graham had opted to unload his boat and carry bags to let him trolley a lighter load but Ali and I just lugged and stopped, lugged and stopped.... The portage is only about 1.5 k with a rise of about 72 feet - but it felt a lot longer and steeper with heavy laden boats in tow.

The portage done, we had one intact trolley, one bent trolley and one puncture!

(Update - NO intact trolleys, one bent and two with punctures! I've now bought foam filled wheels)

Paddling through the narrows from the upper pool on Loch Tarbert, we still had a bit of help from the dropping tide to take us through against the wind.

Soon the welcome site of Cruib bothy with no sign of life was just ahead of us, which meant we could have a night out of the rain without having to put up tents. We had the place to ourselves all night, which is fairly unusual as the visitors book shows it to be a popular and busy bothy. We had been prepared to camp if necessary but it was a pleasant treat to be able to stretch out in comparative comfort after the toils of the earlier portage..