Hi folks,well a couple of weeks back me and a mate had our second Mallaig trip,for some much needed R+R, Sunday on through till the Thursday.
Well it did'nt start off that way!
I was to meet up with him at his place early on the Sunday morning,but heading up the road i got a text from him saying that,during the night his car took a daft turn and put the windows down and locked them in place,with no way of getting them back up.So he managed to get a guy to come out and look at it,but was told that the car won't be going anywhere
.Well long story short,i carried on up to Mallaig and he would try to get up on the Monday IF he could get a courtesy car through his insurance. Thankfully he got one,but did'nt get into Mallaig until 5.30.We had a bit of a trek ahead of us carrying his canoe,into a bay where we could launch from,when we started the hike it was calm sunny conditions,but upon arriving at the bay the wind had picked up and the sea had white horses eveywhere.After alot of humming and hooing we decided to play it safe and wait for fairer weather the next day.
So our first night was spent in the disused farm cottage again.
The view from the cottage doorway,looking towards the cullin on Skye.
Well the Tuesday morning was waking and being eaten alive with midgies
.
Of course the wind had dropped thats the reason for the little gits munching on our blood.
And so we got our gear together,headed down the bay to lauch the canoe and paddle to our spot.
So before heading out i christened his canoe,HMS HANGOVER.
Hms Hangover and crew member Green Gills.
And midshipman Cider Guzzler.
This was the first time he had taken his canoe onto the sea,but she handled it no problems at all.
We finally got to our spot at about lunch time,as we were taking a break on the rocks before unloading the canoe we were treated to a sea otter that swam past us not 10 feet away,sorry no pics as my camera was stashed inside a dry bag!
Anyway our spot for the next two nights.
Looking towards Knoydart.
Once set up we did a wee bit of fishing and caught a couple of takers,my mate gutted them and i made a fish stew for our evening meal.
So after our meal it was time to chill out as the sun went down and have a beer.
Looking over to Skye.
Towards Mallaig.
We turned in fairly early,well we aint getting any younger.
The wednesday was a real scorcher and the sea was like a mill pond not a wave to be seen,but the weather forecast said that the Thursday was to be quite windy,so rather than risking a hard paddle on the Thursday we chose to head back to Mallaig,we got there at about lunchtime.
Back in Mallaig harbour/bay.
Fully loaded Hms Hangover and crew members.
So now we were back in,we loaded the car up,but we still had one night left.
Well as it was so hot we thought an ice cream was in order whilst we pondered what to do, then it was decided to scout out loch Morar.
We drove out to the loch and thought about paddling out to the islands,but we agreed that to get the canoe out and re inflate it would be a pain,plus i needed to be in work for lunch time on the Thursday,also he needed to be back for 3ish.And so the paddle was a no go,but instead we drove to Morar beach and camped the night there instead.
So once the tourists were all off we set up our gear,and settled for the night.
As there is not much in the way of fire wood,plus the estate not very keen on people having fires,we bought a bag of charcoal to cook our meal on.
We had Super kebabs.
Smoked sausage,polish hunter sausage,chorizo,onion,red pepper and tomato yum yum...
Whilst they were cooking and just after taking these pics i put my camera away,only to have two Red deer stags walk right into our camp to feed,all we could do was sit there motionless,and watch them munching away less than 9 feet from where we were sitting,as they kept coming closer i started to feel a little uncomfortable,sitting on the ground with two three year old stags,with rather mean looking antlers trying to figure out what we were.
But it was so funny because a drip of fat from the kebabs hit the hot embers and let a loud hiss,you should of seen the panic in their faces as they dashed for cover,looking back every now and again,thinking what the hell was that,i tell you money just can't buy that.We turned in full and contented.
Well Thursday was upon us already,so we were up at 8am packing away our gear with the midgies getting a last tatse of us.
Once back in Mallaig we headed for the fishermans mission for a shower and shave,followed by a full breakfast and a couple of mugs of tea aaaahhhh.
And that was us another year out on the west coast all over,back to the grindstone Sigh!..
Well sorry for the long post,i hope you get a feel through the pics of a great time,if not really a relaxing one though.
Cheers Stuart.
Well it did'nt start off that way!
I was to meet up with him at his place early on the Sunday morning,but heading up the road i got a text from him saying that,during the night his car took a daft turn and put the windows down and locked them in place,with no way of getting them back up.So he managed to get a guy to come out and look at it,but was told that the car won't be going anywhere
.Well long story short,i carried on up to Mallaig and he would try to get up on the Monday IF he could get a courtesy car through his insurance. Thankfully he got one,but did'nt get into Mallaig until 5.30.We had a bit of a trek ahead of us carrying his canoe,into a bay where we could launch from,when we started the hike it was calm sunny conditions,but upon arriving at the bay the wind had picked up and the sea had white horses eveywhere.After alot of humming and hooing we decided to play it safe and wait for fairer weather the next day.So our first night was spent in the disused farm cottage again.
The view from the cottage doorway,looking towards the cullin on Skye.
Well the Tuesday morning was waking and being eaten alive with midgies
.Of course the wind had dropped thats the reason for the little gits munching on our blood.
And so we got our gear together,headed down the bay to lauch the canoe and paddle to our spot.
So before heading out i christened his canoe,HMS HANGOVER.
Hms Hangover and crew member Green Gills.
And midshipman Cider Guzzler.
This was the first time he had taken his canoe onto the sea,but she handled it no problems at all.
We finally got to our spot at about lunch time,as we were taking a break on the rocks before unloading the canoe we were treated to a sea otter that swam past us not 10 feet away,sorry no pics as my camera was stashed inside a dry bag!
Anyway our spot for the next two nights.
Looking towards Knoydart.
Once set up we did a wee bit of fishing and caught a couple of takers,my mate gutted them and i made a fish stew for our evening meal.
So after our meal it was time to chill out as the sun went down and have a beer.
Looking over to Skye.
Towards Mallaig.
We turned in fairly early,well we aint getting any younger.
The wednesday was a real scorcher and the sea was like a mill pond not a wave to be seen,but the weather forecast said that the Thursday was to be quite windy,so rather than risking a hard paddle on the Thursday we chose to head back to Mallaig,we got there at about lunchtime.
Back in Mallaig harbour/bay.
Fully loaded Hms Hangover and crew members.
So now we were back in,we loaded the car up,but we still had one night left.
Well as it was so hot we thought an ice cream was in order whilst we pondered what to do, then it was decided to scout out loch Morar.
We drove out to the loch and thought about paddling out to the islands,but we agreed that to get the canoe out and re inflate it would be a pain,plus i needed to be in work for lunch time on the Thursday,also he needed to be back for 3ish.And so the paddle was a no go,but instead we drove to Morar beach and camped the night there instead.
So once the tourists were all off we set up our gear,and settled for the night.
As there is not much in the way of fire wood,plus the estate not very keen on people having fires,we bought a bag of charcoal to cook our meal on.
We had Super kebabs.
Smoked sausage,polish hunter sausage,chorizo,onion,red pepper and tomato yum yum...
Whilst they were cooking and just after taking these pics i put my camera away,only to have two Red deer stags walk right into our camp to feed,all we could do was sit there motionless,and watch them munching away less than 9 feet from where we were sitting,as they kept coming closer i started to feel a little uncomfortable,sitting on the ground with two three year old stags,with rather mean looking antlers trying to figure out what we were.
But it was so funny because a drip of fat from the kebabs hit the hot embers and let a loud hiss,you should of seen the panic in their faces as they dashed for cover,looking back every now and again,thinking what the hell was that,i tell you money just can't buy that.We turned in full and contented.
Well Thursday was upon us already,so we were up at 8am packing away our gear with the midgies getting a last tatse of us.
Once back in Mallaig we headed for the fishermans mission for a shower and shave,followed by a full breakfast and a couple of mugs of tea aaaahhhh.
And that was us another year out on the west coast all over,back to the grindstone Sigh!..
Well sorry for the long post,i hope you get a feel through the pics of a great time,if not really a relaxing one though.
Cheers Stuart.
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