Loch Craignish in a little more detail

Once I realised that although the surface of the sea was constantly swirling and moving in the tide race, there were no downward currents to pull the inflatable under the water, it just wanted to carry me along with its flow. I went with the flow until I got bored and used the outboard engine to get me back to Island Macaskin. I wanted to stretch my legs, and look at the island in more detail. I landed again at the little rocky bay beside the crofts. This time the tide was almost full out.



I explored the little nooks and crannies in the bay looking for nature’s abstract patterns and this is what I found.









Heading for home, I was passing the isle of Eilean Righ, which is the largest island in Loch Craignish and is inhabited. I heard the roar of a powerful engine coming down the loch and then witnessed a very graceful take off when the owner of the island reached flying speed in his seaplane and headed off for the weekend shopping. I guess I did envy him a little, for all I had for my weekends shopping was the mackerel in my boat.



Before heading for home I stopped at the little churchyard on the Craignish peninsula, beside my launch point and had a look at the sculptured stones in the graveyard.



Looking at the stones, I thought back to my first visit when I lost my camera to the sea. I now left quit happy that I had thoroughly experienced the area and captured the atmosphere of my thoughts and the scenery in my blog.

Loch Craignish, Loch Crinan and the Doris Mor

I was glad to get back out in the little inflatable after wading through the head high bracken on Island Macaskin. I think the local midges and mosquitoes had not seen many people either and were making a big meal of me.

As I headed out to sea I caught my second mackerel of the day under a beautiful mackerel sky, with the paps of Jura as a backdrop.



I was now heading south for Loch Crinan. The salmon in the fish farm off Scodaig point were very lively, leaping into the air and landing with huge splashes. Then I saw why. A guilty looking seal appeared from under the nets. It was lucky I wasn’t the fish farmer or it could have been legally shot for trying to get its free lunch. I tossed it a mackerel but it showed little interest, it was more interested in the salmon. I guess I was too.



Once round the point, I headed east into Loch Crinan. I couldn’t help but envy this farm house setting. It had a lovely sea view across the loch and was sheltered on the other three sides by hills.



A little farther on I came across a cormorant with wings fully outstretched, presumably to dry them or perhaps to soak in some warmth from the sun ? Perhaps its not a cormorant and it’s really a shag ? But then again I not sure if a shag is just a slang term for a cormorant, so I will let the twitchers decide what kind of bird it is.



As I rounded its perch, it threw me a dirty look, uttered a squawk curse before hurling itself into the air. It had not quite reached flying speed, stalled in mid air fell back towards water, but with a skip and a hop of its huge flippers, it soon bounced up enough speed for an undignified take off.




My next port of call was to see Duntrune castle from the sea. Parked outside was what I can only describe as a real inflatable boat and outboard motor. I was pretty certain I could easily reach flying speed in that outfit.



I was starting to warm myself in the morning sun. It was turning into a beautiful day as I crossed the loch to Crinan village



The lighthouse marks the start of the Crinan canal



The converted fishing boat looked beautiful in its varnished wood. I doubt if its owners would know which end of a net to put in the water but I guessed they net a fair profit in their own business to afford such a tidy boat.



I had a quick tour round the other boats moored at Crinan before heading back to Loch Craignish. I didn’t envy any of them as I doubt if they had any more fun than I was having in my little inflatable.



It took a while to get back to Loch Craignish as I was doing trawling speed which is an average speed of catching four mackerel per hour, knot that I was in a hurry you understand. I headed for Island Macaskin again and discovered there was an inhabited house situated right on the southern most point of the island. I stopped here and would have anchored if I had one, so dropped my fishing line with five feather lures instead.



That’s when I discovered I was at the start of the Doris Mor tidal race. I was just drifting off to sleep when I noticed I had drifted quite far from shore. The water was still flat calm but strange shapes started to appear on the surface.



Soon the water was flowing like a river and my little inflatable started to bob about like a cork. Time to wind in the fishing line, start the engine and get out of here.



I played in the currents for a while just to get used to seeing and feeling the boat move and spin in the tide race. Although some very small whirlpools appeared, I knew I was a long way from the fast flows which could take an unwary inflatable boat out into the Corryvreckan.

Loch Craignish revisited and Island Macaskin

The following weekend saw me heading back at Loch Craignish. I wanted to take the photographs that I couldn’t on my first visit because I dropped the camera in the sea. The forecast was for light winds and bright weather so I set of on the Friday evening and spent another night sleeping in the car. It’s getting darker at night now and much colder. Before setting up my bed, I walked along to Craignish point to have another look at the Doris Mor tide race. I watched the currents flow in the sound of Jura and Im pretty certain I heard the distant roar of the Corryvreckan whirlpool which is situated between the headlands of Jura and Scarba in this photo.



I awoke early to a lovely calm day. The cool air was enough to keep the midges at bay. As I motored across the mirrored surface I caught the first mackerel of the day.



Passing through the narrow gap between the islands Eilean Righ and Eilean nan Gabhar, I saw an otter close in shore but it was to quick to photograph so I took a photo of the boat moored off the end of Island Macaskin instead. It hung around a bit longer than the otter did.



It was Island Macaskin that I was keen to explore again. There are a couple of ruined crofts marked on the OS map on the east side of the island and I wanted to check them out. I landed in a lovely little rocky bay and pulled the boat up. I didn’t know it until later..but I suspect the rocks were sharp with barnacles as I found a couple of deep scores in the bottom of the inflatable when cleaned it down at home. Just as well it is a PVC inflatable and easy to maintain .. a couple of patches over the scores and its now stronger than before.



Because very few people visit the island and there are no paths, I had to fight my way through head high bracken to get to the crofts.



What I found fascinating about these particular crofts was the remains of the old furniture, even though they were abandoned around 1880. It’s the first time I have seen that kind of thing still in situ in old crofts, presumably because there has been no one here to pillage the remains for firewood or scrap metal.

Perhaps these shelves were part of the kitchen larder ?



An old iron stove rusting quietly in the corner. Can you imagine the inhabitants huddled around it in a cold dark winters night? The red glow from the burning wood casting long eerie shadows into the dark corners.



The ceramic bath, it even had lead pipes that connected onto an old iron water tank on the outside of the croft. I confess I pillaged six inches of the lead pipe to melt into a couple of fishing weights. There was a hot and a cold tap too?



I can only imagine these were the tools used for tilling the ground and perhaps collecting the hay? I guess life was hard then. I cant imagine life without instant E mail and internet blogs. I wonder what they did all day ?