The circumnavigation of Islay and Jura, with it's contrasting coastline, good camping opportunities and a real sense of adventure is must for any paddler . In spring 2011 myself and a friend Andy decided to give it a go.
It appeared to be a trip which is rarely done, with very little information the internet and only one small section of this trip written up in guidebook it felt like quite an adventure. At the time when I did the trip I'd been paddling for about a year and other than weekends it was my first multi day route. In retrospect it was quite an advanced trip for my skills, however Andy was a solid 4 star paddler and we had luck with the weather and conditions.
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| The Mull of Oa |
In planning the route there's three obvious challenges, the Mull of Oa, Rinns of Islay and the Gulf of Corryveckan . Everybody's hear of the Gulf of Corryveckane, however in my opinion all of them deserve equal respect and a cautious approach. We had neap tides, manageable swell and seven days of superb weather and despite having done considerably more kayaking since the trip I would be wary of attempting any of these without a similar conditions. The other main challenge with this trip is landing on the west coasts of both islands. Both are exposed to Atlantic swell and coupled with few sheltered beaches/harbours, rugged cliff lined coastlines, long days with surf landings are almost guaranteed.
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| Swell on the west side of Islay |
The gear and kit
We took all the usual paddling kit, camping gear and food for three days. Although resupply is possible in the several small towns on the route we decided it would be prudent to have enough supplies for a couple of bad weather days. I was paddling my P&H Quest LV and Andy his regular Quest. The Quest swallowed the gear and Andy even had enough room for the luxury of a camp seat! The LV was definitely more of a squeeze and took more careful packing. We used my Terra Nova Quasar tent, although it's not the most compact it has two porches for storing all the kit and the four pole geodesic design is reassuringly stable if the weather comes in. After lots of deliberation, I decided to not take a drysuits and went for the split system with a long john wetsuit for an emergency (check out my final post with my thoughts on this decision). |
| Drying out all the kit at Port Charlotte campsite on day four |
We did the trip in seven days, which felt rushed, so had the weather forecast not been to dramatically deteriorate an extra couple of days would have made the trip more enjoyable and given more time for exploring and even a rest day to do the Paps of Jura.
I've decided to break the trip down into one post per day , here's an overview of the legs.
Day 1 Crinan to Jura - Inverlussa Crossing the Sound of Jura
Day 2 Inverlussa to Am Fraocj Eilean Pier . to the Sound of Islay Detail to follow soon
Day 3 Sound of Islay to Port Ellen Detail to follow soon
Day 4 Port Ellen to Port Charlotte and the Mull of Oa Detail to follow soon
Day 5 Rinns of Islay (Port Charlotte to Kilchiaran Bay) Detail to follow soon
Day 6 Kilchiaran Bay to An Sailean on Jura Detail to follow soon
Day 7 Gulf of Corryveckan (Kilchiaran Bay to Crinan) Detail to follow soon
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