Lismore and the Lime Kilns

On landing, I immediately turned the boat’s bow into the waves and hauled it ashore transom first. Although the waves don’t look so big in the photographs, one or two were big enough to wash over the stern and I learned the hard way that its always worth keeping the sharp end pointing into the waves when launching or landing. I then sat and had some lunch before exploring the old kilns.



I didn’t get far in my exploration because the seagulls wheeled overhead making a terrible din. Some were still nesting and I didn’t want to disturb them too much so kept close to the ruins.



The ruins proved to be not so ruined. Someone had turned the old cottages into holiday homes and now stays in them for a couple of weeks a year. I guess they collect their fresh water in the rain butt when it runs off the cottage roof. This was common practice in the island communities as there is no plumbed water supplies or electricity.



The smaller cottage had been reroofed but also had a water butt collecting rain water.



The two lime kilns were long out of use and slowly falling into ruin. Limestone collected on the island was first crushed then mixed with layers of coal before being set alight to extract the lime.



Typically the kiln took a day to load, three days to fire, two days to cool and a day to unload before the next batch could be processed. As mentioned earlier, the lime industry around Lismore went into decline around the First World war. The lime was used for mortar and agricultural use.



Before heading back to the marina to retrieve the boat and head for home, I had a look down the east side of Lismore and promised myself that I would return and explore that part too.

Lismore in the wake of commercial boats

There are quite a few commercial boats around Lismore and because I have not encountered many on my sea loch voyages, I was a bit wary of the wake waves they may make. I have heard of small boats being swamped by large wakes and it best to head into the wake bow first rather that let them hit side on. However in the waves caused by the wind and tides around Lismore I didn’t even notice the wake of passing boats.

Leaving the shelter of Port Ramsay, I almost ran into this fishing boat while rounding a skerry. It was on the plane (skimming along on top of the water) and moving very fast, presumably in a hurry to get home for lunch. My boat couldn’t go that fast even with a huge engine as the hull is a displacement type shape and has a max speed of around 6 knots regardless how large the engine



A short while later I gave way to the Rose of Lorne which is a barge that transports cargo from Loch Creran to Glensanda Quarry on the other side of Loch Linnhe. It is large and slow moving but hardly made any wake wave.



I decided to follow it round the skerries and through the channel between Lismore and the mainland, safe in the knowledge that I would not hit any submerged reefs following its footsteps.



There was a fair flow of tide and waves as I passed through the narrows at the end of Lismore but it didn’t stop the boat. This is the landing stage on Lismore where the ferry from Port Appin on the mainland berths. Its a passengers only service. Cars wanting to visit the Island must catch the ferry from Oban to Achnacroish.



I journeyed down the east side of Lismore for around half a mile but the sea was quite choppy in the fresh wind so I decided to turn and run for home. You can see the passanger ferry berthed at Port Appin in this photo.



All the lighthouses and sea buoys are now powered by solar panels. This lighthouse is on the skerries just outside Port Appin



I noticed these deserted Lime Kilns on Eilean nan Caorach whish is just north of Lismore. As it was lunch time I decided to land and explore for a bit ...

Lismore and Port Ramsay

Port Ramsay is a small village to the north of the Island. It was built to house the workers of the limestone industry in the area. The lime was processed in lime kilns and then used for agriculture and in mortar for buildings. The village is situated on a sheltered bay guarded by an army of seals.



The bay is also protected by a series of skerries and small islands. I went very slowly with the fish finder showing depths of only 5 ft at low tide. At one point it went to 2 ft so I stopped the engine and started to row.



Eventually it started to deepen and a few boats were moored off the village



I rowed to shore for a leg stretch and nosey around. I let the boat drift off the rocks tethered by it painter to stop it grounding in the last of the out going tide.



I couldn't help notice the huge mussels clinging to the rocks



Im a great believer that when you cant get the fish.. eat the bait ..and they were delicious.



The main street of Port Ramsay is no more than a land rover track. Everything is totally unspoiled and very peaceful.



The view from the front door is to die for and living there would save me a fortune in fuel driving to the sea for my adventures.



But I suspect it could be hell in the bitter cold winter storms. Perhaps Im better on the mainland ..I don’t know if I could survive without the internet.

Lismore and Castle Coeffin

As I headed towards the north of Lismore, a silly little rhyme ran round my mind.

“Its not the cough that carries you off ...
Its the coffin they carry you off in ..
Before burying you at castle Coeffin”

The first two lines of the silly rhyme were chanted to me by my grandmother when she discovered I had started smoking at a very tender age. I never forgot those words and I will never forget being addicted to cigarettes most of my life either, even though I finally quit six years ago. The only thing I will contemplating smoking nowadays is the odd mackerel or three. Well..if I could catch some..I would..

Anyway.. I think the fact that I was hoping to see Coeffin castle made me recall the nagging ditty and I added the last line myself.

As I crossed the sea to Lismore I noticed the outboard left a lovely white trail behind the boat. In the sea lochs of late, the water has been a black colour and the trail more of a coffee colour.(I thought of the colour of my lungs after 35 years on the weed) I presume its because of the high concentration of fresh water and peat running into the narrow sea lochs from the surrounding hills. Fresh water floats on top of the salt water in these lochs which is why they often freeze in the winter time. Out here it was pure salt water getting stirred up by my prop



The almost flat sea bed of loch Linnhe at a depth of 100ft started to shallow quite a distance from the headland. The fish finder shows it at 35ft in this photo. I cannot fault that part of the electronic wizardry but I was slightly disappointed it had yet to find me a fish ?



So far the weather forecast had been very accurate. Light winds becoming fresher around noon. I wanted to journey down the north west coast of Lismore before the wind started as I suspected it could get quite exposed around this side in a south westerly. The water was like a millpond as I rounded the northern headland.



Looking down the length of the island I could see the island of Bernera almost at the southern tip of Lismore. The journey south looked very appealing. The marker on the headland to the left is called a navigational marker on my 25.000 scale O.S. map but it just looked like a trig point to me ?



I nipped into Slughan bay on the way south. It is full of fish farms so I didn’t stop to explore the area and I didn’t want the fish finder to think it had found me some fish. Tame ones in a caged don’t count.



A local fishing boat was lifting its creeling pots as I passed the headlands of Creag Sgeanach. It was a glorious day to be messing about in a boat.



I then came to Coeffin Castle which is an impressive ruin around 1/3 the way from the top of Lismore to the bottom point. It was built on the site of a Viking fortress in the 13th century and probably by the McDougalls of Lorn. At least that is what Wikipedia states.

I was tempted to try for a full traverse of the island as the sea was so calm.





I started heading south but only managed another couple of hundred yards when the wind started to arrive and within seconds the waves appeared from no where.



I took this as a warning from the spirits who live on in Coeffin castle, to turn back while the going is good. I didn’t need any further warnings as I have read there is a bit of a tide race of the southern end of the island and I didn’t want to discover it in anything but flat calm conditions. I turned around and headed for the shelter of Port Ramsay.



"Any port in a storm will do" then ran round my mind in silly rhymes.

Lismore and its Northern Skerries

As I was leaving The Island of Shuna and heading towards Lismore, The wind dropped completely and the sea became flat calm. The sun started to shine and I was full of the joys of a beautiful day. I headed over to see the sea life that inhabits the skerries and little islands to the north of Lismore in Loch Linnhe. Care had to be taken as it was still low water and there are a couple of rocks around the skerries that would be hidden just below the surface.



The skerries have names like Eilean Glas, Eilean Gainimh, and Sgeir nan Tom. I don’t speak the Gaelic Language so have no idea what they mean but Im pretty certain Eilean means Island. This is Sgeir nan Tom and I wondered if someone called Tom had wrecked his boat on it to give it the name ?



I was delighted to find a large colony of seal on the skerries. I love watching them but I don’t go close enough to scare them into the water. I use a 200mm telephoto lens to try and get their mug shots but Im still a bit far to get close ups. Not sure if I would love seeing them so much if I managed to see all the warts on their noses though ? Here are just a few of the shots I took.









Eilean Gainimh had a nice looking beach to land on but as the sea birds were perhaps still nesting I decided not to land there.



The fish finder made sure I wasn’t going to hit submerged rocks and I kept around 10 feet of water under my keel.



There were a few gray lag geese around too.





I didn’t bother fishing as I knew I couldn’t match this family of fishers, beside I don’t think I would like to catch one. I suspect it would be quite annoyed and the thought of trying to remove my treble hooks from its mouth worries me. Landing a seal in my little boat is not my idea of fun. I bid them my farewell and headed towards Lismore.

Lismore Skerries and Loch Linnhie Marina

I had wanted to explore the skerries around the island of Lismore for quite a while, but couldn’t decide where the best place to launch the boat would be. I “toured” round Loch Creran several times in Google map, looking for a possible place but found nothing. The two best options that I found were the public slipway at Ganavan bay just north of Oban or Loch Linnhie Marina opposite the Island of Shuna. I didn’t consider the slip at Port Appin because I know its a very popular place for visitors and parking is impossible for a car, never mind a car and trailer.

I was put off launching at Ganavan bay as its a fair stretch of open water over to Lismore and will be exposed if the wind started to whip the water up. I decided to try Loch Linnhie Marina as it was the closest one to the skerries around Port Ramsay on Lismore.

There are quiet strong tides in the area so I had to wait until both the weather was calm and the tides going in the right direction to assist the boat rather than try and fight with them.

I arrived at the Marina at 8am on the Thursday morning. The tide was full in and just on the turn. I knew the outgoing tide would carry me down the Sound of Shuna towards Lismore. My plan was to explore the skerries to the north of Lismore then head down the west side to Castle Coeffin, head back to Port Ramsay and have lunch before heading down the east side of Lismore at low water when little or no tide would be flowing through the narrows opposite Port Appin. The incoming tide would then carry me back to the launch point.

Loch Linnhie Marina at eight in the morning. It was mid week so not many people around. It was £10 to launch and recover and that included parking for the car and trailer. I didn’t complain at that price.



The excellent slipway meant that I could reverse down to the water’s edge and launch using the car. I was afloat and ready to go exploring in no time at all.



I headed north for a bit to give all the mooring buoys a wide berth. I suspected the ropes anchoring the buoys could snag my propeller if I went too close.



Then I turned down the channel towards Lismore. I had the fish finder switched on as the channel meandered a little and the water was quite shallow if I wandered off track. It would have been easy to follow the channel markers instead but I was more interested in watching the fish finder. It worked a treat although it didn’t show a single fish.



I headed towards castle Stalker to get some photos of it from the seaward side, however the fish finder put me off that idea quite quickly, when it started registering only five feet of water and I was still a long way off.



There were a few local boats around so I gave them a wide berth. It looks like they were keeping an eye on me too, just to make sure I gave them a wide berth. This one followed the channel markers and obviously knew which side the green ones were to be passed on and which side was red ones.



The wind was dropping away to nothing and the sea turning like a mirror so I headed straight offshore from Castle Stalker until the fish finder read 150ft deep.



I stopped the engine and let the boat drift in the tide. I then dropped a set of mackerel feathers over the side. There was no fish showing on the fish finder but I was certain they would appear shortly ? Next moment the finder showed bottom to be 24ft below the boat ? I knew this was impossible as I had hardly moved six feet so wound in the mackerel flies thinking it was a shoal of mackerel at 24ft. I jigged them up and down around that depth but nothing was biting. Next moment the fish finder showed bottom at 150ft again ? This happened several times and I was beginning to wonder if the fish finder was broken :(



Then all became clear. A seal surfaced its cheeky head about twenty feet from me. I presume it was playing under the boat at 24ft and that is what the finder was showing. I reeled in my line and moved off. I didn’t want to catch a seal for dinner.