Day 1 - Crinan to Jura - Inverlussa Crossing the Sound of Jura - 26km
We choose Crinan to start from because it's fairly non tidal and has easy car to water access. There's fairly limited parking in Crinan, so it's worth leaving plenty of time for packing up and parking. Another good starting point could be from the village of Tayvaillich, this might be preferable if the tide is flooding to avoid the very strong tides in the northern half of the Sound of Jura.
We set out from Crinan with our heavily laden boats and an ebbing neap tide. In leaving the harbour we headed due east and crossed the Sound of Jura in 1.5hrs with minimum tidal deviation. The crossing is only 7 km, but because of the strong tides the sea state can quickly change and make you feel very exposed. There have been several incidents involving kayakers in Dinos Mor area, so it's work double checking the conditions and your timing.
 |
| Crossing the Sound of Jura |
If the visibility is poor or you'd rather break the crossing there's a few options. Head slightly north west to the island of Eilean Na h-Eairne (note, the tidal streams are very strong in this area and especially between the islands) or paddle south west and use the small island of Ruadh Sgeir as a breaking point.
 |
| Looking back across the Sound of Jura |
The east side of Jura is leafy and very similar to Tayvaillich peninsular and contrasting to the west side which is remote, rugged and windswept. It's quite an interesting coastline and definitely worth exploring the various inlets and islands.
We camped just outside the small village of Inverlussa, there's not much there, just a few houses and a phone box. There's a good selection camping spots, but watch out for ticks we ended up covered in them by the end of the day.
 |
| The small beach at Inverlussa |
0 comments:
Post a Comment