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| The Sound of Ulva |
We paddled out from the small ferry port and headed south east again the flooding tide. The tides didn’t appear to be particularly strong in Sound of Ulva so we made fast progress
Heading north up the coast of Ulva we passed numerous volcanic basalt outcrops and small islands until we reached the shallow area adjacent Little Colonsay. This is interesting area to explore, full of small islands and skerries with plenty of seal colonies and other wildlife to see.
From here we made the 800m crossing out to Little Colonsay. Heading around the east side of Little Colonsay the swell was quite big, so Andrea decided to explore the island on foot whilst I continued out to Staffa.
Once I'd cleared the clopotis on the north side of Little Colonsay, the chop calmed down and I settled into a nice rhythm. Despite only being 5km it does feel like quite an exposed crossing and with the weather due to change I set a relatively fast pace.
Heading north up the coast of Ulva we passed numerous volcanic basalt outcrops and small islands until we reached the shallow area adjacent Little Colonsay. This is interesting area to explore, full of small islands and skerries with plenty of seal colonies and other wildlife to see.
From here we made the 800m crossing out to Little Colonsay. Heading around the east side of Little Colonsay the swell was quite big, so Andrea decided to explore the island on foot whilst I continued out to Staffa.
Once I'd cleared the clopotis on the north side of Little Colonsay, the chop calmed down and I settled into a nice rhythm. Despite only being 5km it does feel like quite an exposed crossing and with the weather due to change I set a relatively fast pace.
I reached Staffa after about 50 minutes and headed straight around the east side to explore Finkles Cave. The swell and clopotis made getting in the cave tricky, so took some pics and moved on (as usual the pics look flat calm!).
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| Finkles Cave |
I met up with Andrea and we a crossed back to the west coast of Ulva and explored the skerries and shallow water. After an hour of exploring and some lunch we sensed the wind picking up so we set off back.
We were both really surprised at how choppy the south side of Ulva had become, I was quite hard going with the strong wind behind us and clopotis against the volcanic cliffs. After an hour of paddle we made it a around into the calm of the Sound of Ulva and back to the ferry port.
This is a fantastic trip which I really recommend, but it's defiantly one to do in good weather or in a group. It's got an exposed feel and quite committing a crossing so it's got a real sense of adventure.
Additional information
Distance
32.52km
Tides
The tides are generally quite week in this area.
Swell
Apart from the Sound of Ulva most of this route is exposed by Atlantic swell.
We were both really surprised at how choppy the south side of Ulva had become, I was quite hard going with the strong wind behind us and clopotis against the volcanic cliffs. After an hour of paddle we made it a around into the calm of the Sound of Ulva and back to the ferry port.
This is a fantastic trip which I really recommend, but it's defiantly one to do in good weather or in a group. It's got an exposed feel and quite committing a crossing so it's got a real sense of adventure.
Additional information
Distance
32.52km
Tides
The tides are generally quite week in this area.
Swell
Apart from the Sound of Ulva most of this route is exposed by Atlantic swell.
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