On Tuesday 3rd November, for some reason I happened to look at Drumchapel and Clydebank Kayak Club's calendar on their website, where I spotted a club trip to Skye planned for the coming weekend. I immediately contacted Ewen to see if there were any spaces still available on the trip. Luckily for me, there were, and after a brief call with Ewen, I was signed up.
The trip was being hosted by Ewen at his family's cottage in Colbost. As the trip involved paddling on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I drove to Skye on Thursday afternoon, having received a message from Ewen to say he was setting off.
At Fort William, having popped into Morrisons, I saw an Audi with a sea kayak on the roof pass me. We exchanged friendly waves. It did occur to me that it could be someone from our party, but as I didn't really know anyone going on this trip, I couldn't be sure.
I arrived at the cottage before everyone else, but it wasn't long before Richard arrived, closely followed by the rest of the group: Ewen, Paul, Rob and Alistair. Sure enough, the Audi with the sea kayak on the roof turned out to belong to Ewen. The views from the cottage were superb, with the Cuillin Hills in one direction and the tops of the Outer Hebrides in the other.
The initial paddling plans were to explore the Ascrib Islands on Friday, followed by Rubha Hunish on Saturday, with a quick paddle near the Skye Bridge on the way home on Sunday. However, to paddle the Ascrib Islands, we would need a fairly long shuttle and, as a consequence, the time available on the water before sunset would be much reduced.
As it was estimated to be around a 30km paddle, we simply didn't have enough time to organise the necessary shuttles and complete the paddle before it got dark. The group decided that staying local would be the better option, with much less driving involved.
Besides, the guidebook Skye & North West Highlands Sea Kayaking by Doug Cooper has plenty of good options close to the cottage in Colbost. After much discussion on Thursday evening, we settled on a paddle around Loch Bracadale, taking in the islands of Wiay and Oronsay.
After a good breakfast and a twenty-minute-or-so drive to Harlosh, we were on the water by 09:50. I have to say that, despite the high-pressure weather system, with next to no wind and very little swell, there was plenty of cloud cover, making it a very dull day. But it was so good to be out on the water.
We paddled out past Harlosh Island and made the crossing to Wiay, where we explored its coastline, caves and cliffs. As we approached the southern end of the island, two Golden Eagles (?) took off and flew over us. I tried to get a photo, but looking at my pictures later, all I had was a great shot of a dull cloud!
We stopped for lunch on the beach at Camas na Cille before completing the circumnavigation of the island. I was quite happy to circumnavigate Wiay, as I am taking part in the Performance Sea Kayak 2026 1000 Islands Challenge. Wiay would give me some valuable points.
We were just about to set off and make the crossing to Oronsay when Ewen realised he had left his fancy camping chair on the beach. We paddled back the way we had just come to see if we could find it. The only problem was that the tide was coming in, so the chair could well be underwater by now.
As we approached the beach, we couldn't see the chair, but as we moved closer to the shore, the chair, still in its storage bag, suddenly came floating out from behind some rocks towards us, as if it was desperate to be rescued! It was very weird!
As we made the crossing to Oronsay, we could see a person with their dog standing high on the cliffs at Oronsay's highest point (74m), watching us. From our position, they looked very small, but their view over Loch Bracadale must have been quite amazing.
There is a causeway connecting Oronsay with mainland Skye. It did occur to us that the person stood on the top of Oronsay would either need to stay on Oronsay until the tide receded or make the crossing back very soon, as the tide was flooding in. As we approached the causeway, we couldn't see anyone and could only assume they had already made their way back down from the cliff and successfully crossed the causeway.
As it was, there was only just enough water for us to make the crossing. So, perhaps Ewen forgetting his fancy chair on Wiay had done us a favour; we would otherwise have arrived at the causeway far too early.
From Oronsay, we paddled back past Tarner Island before heading back to the cars at Harlosh. The time was now 16:20. By the time we had changed, packed up and loaded the boats, it was dark.
Fab!
15.3 nm (or those of you who work in Napolean 28.3 km) 6 hours 30 minutes
GPS track
