Monday 20 November 2017

Into The Wilderness ... Gruinard (Anthrax) Island

Its amazing how a little sunshine can improve a grey mood ... so after a couple of days drying out on the east coast .. the weather improved again over on the west .. so I headed back to Gruinard Bay. It looked a far different place under blue sky. Warm and inviting again.



I had wanted to visit Gruinard Island for as long as I can remember. In the 1980’s I often passed it touring Scotland on my motor bikes and always stopped to wonder what it would be like walking there. Of course ..in those days it was still prohibited to land due to the dangers of the Anthrax experiment they conducted there ... testing germ warfare for WW2 requirements.

Its now clear of anthrax and landing is allowed.. although not many folks do. Some think the anthrax spores could still survive in the ground ? That rumour was not going to stop me from visiting. All I had to do was find the best place to launch my wee boat.

I chose the campsite at Mellon Udrigle.



It has a lovely sandy beach with easy access from the tent.



It was a blustery day but I was impatient to be on my way. The waves didn’t bother me.. but I got a bit of a surprise half way across the bay.

This video illustrates perfectly what happened that day



Direct link to the video on U Tube

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great footage, really enjoyed it. As a town dweller I can only dream of an encounter with the dolphins like you had. I have found your blog now so plenty more footage and photos to admire. I will have to put some of these places on my bucket list.
Keep em comming
PaulR
F-ribs & Sibs

Donny Wilcox said...

Hi PaulR ..glad to see you found my blog ..and I hope you find it interesting. It was a great year for me seeing so many Dolphins ..I had several close encounters with them..Im not always so lucky. Hope you enjoy your new boat when it arrives..they are a lot of fun.

Unknown said...

hi donny
are you still sibbing

ive gotta 4.2mtr with a 40 hp and am keen to get i t up to the nw highlands

i wonder if i pould pick yer brains re launching and iinaries?

cheers roy

heres me number if yer wanna text me 07928232400