Author: Iain Page 8 of 12

After what can only be described as a wet and blustery Friday, Saturday proved a lovely day for a paddle.  The conditions: cold – yes, but not too bad; very light winds, occasional  rain showers; definitely some confused sea out past Vaila, calmer water in by. The group: six of this year’s beginners plus four others.

Setting off south from the Walls Regatta Club slip and keeping close to the east shore, we could feel  the swell building as we got closer to Ram’s Head, and after crossing over and after sticking heads round Humla Stack, the decision was to follow the west shore of Easter Sound back towards Walls. Time was spent rock hopping, surfing through a lovely little tunnel, watching a flock of cormorants  launching off of the banks, waiting for blowholes to blow, and chatting until the get out for a bit of a leg stretch. As conditions in Wester Sound were pretty similar to the other end of Vaila, after a bit of a play in some waves we headed almost due north to Burrastow , then back in to Walls by way of the other side of Linga.

Now, normally we’d have loaded up trailers and headed home, happy paddlers. Today we headed over to Janet’s house for a very tasty selection of goodies and an extended natter about all things  paddling.

All in all, a great way to spend a Saturday in November.

Many thanks to: Janet for getting a lot of the organisation done and hosting the after-paddle get together; Janet, Laureen, Tracy and Christina for sorting out all that wonderful food; Wendy and Craig (Nicol) for sorting the trailer; and Angus and Catriona for leading the trip.

On Friday evening, nine intrepid paddlers braved a poor forecast and set forth from Clousta for an overnight camp. After a bit of a breezy crossing with a just a touch of swell, they arrived in Vementry, promptly set up camp before the sun set and, with a good fire burning on the beach and the sky clearing, it turned into a lovely evening. Overnight the promised rain also arrived in Vementry, accompanied by some very strong gusts to test everyone’s tent-setting skills and keep the temperature down.The morning dawned wet and wild, a gathering in Angus’s tent porch led to copious amounts of tea and hot fluids being consumed while Jim ate his bacon, and a group set off to walk round to the gun emplacements while others snuck back to their tents for a little additional shut-eye. As the walkers returned tents were struck, kayaks packed and another quick cuppa drunk before getting back on the water and the return leg to Clousta. It was again a bit of a blustery paddle with a little wind-blown waves to give a gentle workout before the shelter of the voe at Clousta was reached.

Many thanks to Angus and Tam for sorting out a great little trip!