We recently spent a couple of nights in Glasgow, and on the first evening had a walk to Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis. The Fir Park pleasure grounds, across the Molendinar Burn from the Cathedral, were transformed from 1833 into the place to be buried in Glasgow. It was inspired by Père Lachaise in Paris. The situation, on top of a hill, is very fine with extensive views, and the Greek, Egyptian, Gothic and Romanesque monuments are amazing. We could have spent much longer here, but dinner called, and the threatening sky did more than threaten – we got soaked on the way back to the bus stop.
Glasgow Cathedral from the Necropolis.The Necropolis, Glasgow.Glasgow Cathedral from the Necropolis.Glasgow Cathedral from the Necropolis.The Necropolis, Glasgow.The Necropolis, Glasgow.The Necropolis, Glasgow.The Necropolis, Glasgow.
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Further reading
There are several architectural guides to Glasgow. We used Central Glasgow: An Illustrated Architectural Guide by Charles McKean, David Walker and Frank Walker. ISBN 1 873190 22 0. It is published by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) – an excellent source of architectural guides and books. It was first published in 1989, so is somewhat out of date, but is full of interesting history and photographs.
A man who is not afraid of the sea will soon be drowned, he said, for he will be going out on a day he shouldn’t. But we do only be afraid of the sea, and we do only be drowned now and again.
John Millington Synge, The Aran Islands, 1907.
The sea kayak is a wonderfully seaworthy boat. Typically around 5m long and 55 cm wide, with a very shallow draught, they can go almost anywhere there is water. For at least 20 years I kept saying that I would like to try sea kayaking. As I approached my 70th birthday, I thought that I ought to get on with it, and booked a beginners’ course in Scotland, after which I was hooked. I then joined the Midland Canoe Club in Derby. This is about as far from the sea as it is possible to get in the UK, but it has a very long sea kayaking history, and is very friendly. I have been on a few more courses and a couple of commercial trips. The club goes regularly to Anglesey, which, being an island, usually has a side which is sheltered from the wind. It also has a big tidal range, fast tidal streams, and great rock scenery, so little chance of being bored. Canals and lakes provide entertainment in winter. Actually, canals are pretty boring, but larger lakes such as Bala Lake, Windermere, Ullswater and Coniston Water are definitely interesting, and have a long enough reach for the wind that they can be exciting.
What follows is intended to give a flavour of the sea kayaking trips. The photographs invariably show calmer conditions. As it gets more exciting, the photographic incentives decrease! The major omission is anything taken on the sea at St Kilda. I had quite enough to cope with in dealing with the Atlantic Ocean, without messing about with a camera.
The beginners’ course. Port Achadh an Aonaich near Smirisary, Gleniug. Eigg and Rum on the horizon.Skye from the Arisaig Skerries on the beginners’ course.Inga, Sharyn, Mark, Maxine and Isabel at the Arisaig Skerries on the beginners’ course.Lunch stop at Peanmeanach bothy.The first Midland Canoe Club trip: St Cwyfan’s Church, Anglesey.One of Anglesey’s five-star trips is to go around The Stacks. This is a serious expedition with no escape routes and potentially horrific seas. We had perfect conditions on this trip. The South Stack lighthouse is here seen from the North Stack, having started at Holyhead.The South Stack lighthouse. We timed our trip to arrive at the Stacks around slack water at high tide, but the current under the bridge was still running at several knots.I went on a very enjoyable trip run by Gordon Brown. This began with training sessions around the Skye Bridge area, followed by four days circumnavigating Raasay, camping on beaches with one night in the bothy at the north end of Raasay. This is the beginning of the trip, crossing to Scalpay in torrential rain. Gordon is on the left. This is a frame grab from a GoPro.A bit later the same day, crossing from Scalpay to Raasay. Ben Tianavaig on Skye in the background.A break on a beach beneath Ben Tianavaig on Skye, looking south to the Narrows of Raasay and the Red Cuillin. The boat is Gordon’s Nordkapp which I was paddling. After this trip, I bought my own. The Nordkapp is the precursor of the British touring sea-kayak. It was designed for the first expedition around the North Cape (the Nordkapp) in Norway, and the design can be traced back to the Inuit kayak that Kenneth Taylor brought back from Greenland in 1959.Early morning view from the camp at Camas Bàn, close to Port Rìgh, looking north up the Sound of Raasay. Lucy is on the beach.The Storr on Skye from the vicinity of Manish Point on the west coast of Raasay.The Sound of Raasay widens towards the north, and the Atlantic swell off the west coast of Raasay becomes more obvious. The wave height was about 1.5m. The distance between peaks is much longer than the kayak, so you only notice the swell when the horizon vanishes when you are in the troughs. I am on blue water here, going up and down with the swell, and can use two hands for the camera. The white water is moving horizontally, and would be a different kettle of fish entirely.Lucy exploring the superb rock scenery on east coast of Raasay. The combination of shallow draught, stability and great manoeuvreability allows the kayaker to explore rock gardens and caves that could not be otherwise approached.Gordon on the east coast of Raasay in calm weather with very low cloud. The mountains of Applecross are invisible across the Inner Sound.The beautiful rock scenery on the east coast of Raasay.John and I had a winter trip to the Lake District. We are on the Lune Estuary, having just launched from Glasson Dock at the mouth of the river, with the Golden Ball Inn in the distance above the bow of the kayak. There appears to be a lot of water, but it is close to high tide, and probably sufficiently shallow to get out of the boat and walk.Another course, early in the year, with Gordon Brown. We are at Kyle Rhea, with the ferry jetty across the water on the mainland. This course was (deliberately) at Spring Tide, and the flood runs at 7-8 knots, with huge boils caused by the rocky sea bed. Gordon had us breaking into the tide stream with our eyes closed – very instructive!Back to Anglesey with the MCC. Seal watching around Rhoscolyn Beacon is a popular short trip from Borthwen on the Friday afternoon when we first arrive..Approaching Middle Mouse, a kilometer offshore between Bull Bay and Cemaes Bay on the north coast of Anglesey. This is a good objective for first-time sea kayakers, giving the feeling of open sea which you do not get if you hug the coast.A week in north-west Scotland with the MCC. The week started very windy, but there are many long sea lochs which are more sheltered than the open coast and give superb paddling. We are here crossing Loch Laxford, still a couple of kilometers from the open sea, several kilometers from our launch point near Laxford Bridge.Crossing Loch Laxford. Lynne, closest to me, is using a Greenland paddle.South side of Loch Laxford with Ben Stack on the horizon. John C, on the right, did the first sea kayak crossing of the Irish Sea.‘And are there mussels still for tea?’ We harvested these in Loch Kanaird, where they were fit to eat. Further north, at Kylesku, all the mussel farms were closed with notices about not eating them.On another windy day we launched from the old ferry ramp at Kylesku and paddled up Loch Glendhu and Loch Glencoul – superb remote paddling. Here we are having a cake break across from Glendhu bothy at the head of the loch.Roy with John D’s beautiful white boat, launching after the lunch stop at Unapool. The Stack of Glencoul (494m) is above Roy’s head.Roy paddling past the rock scenery along the shore of Loch Glencoul.Finally, sufficiently wind-free to get out around the Summer Isles. We are approaching Isle Ristol.Looking south from Isle Ristol.Skerries off Eilean Mullagrach.Lunch stop on Isle Ristol – Tráigh an t-Sean Bhaile.John D rock hopping on the north coast of Tanera More.Inside a cave on Tanera Beg. You reverse into caves so that you can see the swell coming.Summer Isles – crossing from Tanera Beg to the south coast of Tanera More, several kilometers from our launch point at Achiltibuie.Crossing from Tanera Beg to the south coast of Tanera More.
Sea kayak photography
I did not have a waterproof camera when I started sea kayaking, so the first photographs were taken with a mobile phone, at great risk of dropping the phone in the sea (not helped by the poor design of phones, where the aim is apparently to make them as slippery as possible). I next bought a Nikon AW1 which was a mistake; it was large so had to be in a deckbag in front of the cockpit; required two hands to remove it from the bag, and two hands to hold it. The paddle had to be clipped to a deckline so it was not lost. To cap it all, the user interface was awful. So the Nikon was replaced by an Olympus TG5. Small and light, it could be tucked down the front of my bouyancy aid and used single-handed, and if necessary, it would survive being dropped on the deck whilst I concentrated on staying upright.
Further reading
Doug Cooper. Sea Kayak Handling: A Practical Manual Gordon Brown. Sea Kayak: A Manual for Intermediate and Advanced Sea Kayakers Jim Krawiecki. Welsh Sea Kayaking: Fifty Great Sea Kayak Voyages Doug Cooper. Scottish Sea Kayaking: Fifty Great Sea Kayak Voyages Doug Cooper. Skye and North West Highlands Sea Kayaking Alastair Dunnett. Canoe Boys. Brian Wilson. Blazing Paddles: A Solo Journey Round Scotland by Kayak
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St Kilda is remote. Very remote – about 65 km west of North Uist, and over 100 km from our starting point in Loch Mhiabhaig on Lewis. It is an archipelago with two main islands – Hirta and Boreray – and many sea stacks. It is home to an enormous number of seabirds – a quarter of the world population of Northern Gannets, and nine-tenths of Europe’s Leach’s Petrels. Hirta was inhabited for two millenia. The population was finally evacuated in 1930. The National Trust for Scotland owns the islands, and the Army have had a base there as part of the missile range on Benbecula since 1957. Getting to St Kilda is now relatively easy, weather permitting, and landing craft regularly service the base. We pay for the military base, and fund the heritage maintenance and tourism, but did not think that the population that produced the heritage was worth supporting on the islands. Strange set of values.
Approaching St Kilda late in the evening, after sunset. Boreray is on the left behind Stack an Armin, with Stac Lee on the right and Hirta just visible in the distance. There are still Gannets in the sky.The store on Village Bay, Hirta. Hirta was the only inhabited island – all the rest are very difficult to land on. Dun, on the other side of the bay, has lazy-bed remains clearly visible. Most of the islands and stacks were visited when possible for grazing the Soay sheep and for harvesting sea birds and their eggs.Main Street on Hirta. All the houses are on Main Street, which is the only street, and curves around above Village Bay. The roofed houses are used by the National Trust for Scotland, and accomodate the working parties.An Lag, Hirta, looking towards Village Bay and Dun. In the foreground are cleits, which are found all over Hirta – they are naturally ventilated food stores.Stac an Armin, almost hidden by Stac Lee, and Boreray from the Gap, Hirta. Stac Lee is white from the Gannet guano.Main Street from Oiseval, Hirta. One of the roofed houses is visible at the lower left.Three of the roofed houses on Main Street, Hirta.The graveyard and Dun, Hirta. Dun is the far island, sheltering the bay.Walls and cleits, Hirta.Stac Lee, Boreray, and clouds of Gannets.
Further reading
A great deal has been written about St Kilda – it was, for visitors, a remote romantic destination on the edge of the ocean.
Tom Steel’s ‘The Life and Death of St Kilda’ was the first book I read about the archipelago. Very interesting with lots of old photos.
Roger Hutchinson’s ‘St Kilda, A People’s History’ is more recent and even better.
The definitve book about St Kilda is Angela Gannon and George Geddes’ ‘St Kilda: The Last and Outmost Isle’.
There are lots of photographs of St Kilda, but few can equal those in Beka Globe’s ‘Land, Sea and Sky’.
For me, the most evocative picture of all, which captures the mixed majesty and terror when paddling a sea kayak between Stac an Armin and Boreray, is Norman Ackroyd’s etching ‘Stac an Armin Evening 2010’ which hangs on our wall. You can find it on page 40 of Norman Ackroyd, ‘The Furthest Lands’ – the catalogue of an exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
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Raasay is a small island lying between Skye and the mainland. Unlike most of the Hebridean islands, it has beautiful woods of birch and rowan, festooned with lichens. The strikingly diverse geology is reflected in the vegetation. The proprietor, George Rainy, cleared the common people off their land, replacing them with more profitable sheep. The memory remains, as do the house ruins. Unusually, there are also remains of heavy industry – an ironstone mine worked for a few years during the First World War by German Prisoners of War, in defiance of international agreements. The scenery is peaceful and beautiful, witness to inhumanity and outrage.
Towards the north of Raasay, Calum’s Road – built by Calum MacLeod with shovel and wheelbarrow – leads from Brochel to Arnish. From Arnish, there are paths to Eilean Fladday’s tidal causeway and to the remote bothy by Caol Eilean Tigh. Walking south, at the top of a long hill, the view to Dun Caan opens up. Below Dun Caan is the fertile limestone grassland of Hallaig and Screapadal. The people were cleared from there onto the infertile gneiss in the foreground. In the far distance is Rubha na’ Leac, above which is the track to Hallaig and the monument to Sorley MacLean.
‘Between the Leac and Fearns the road is under mild moss’ (Sorley MacLean, Hallaig).
The track from North Fearns to Hallaig is wide and well-built until the cairn commemorating Sorley MacLean. It runs part-way up the hillside between the beach and limestone cliffs. Below the track are grass-covered walls, remains of dwellings and field walls.
Below the track from North Fearns to Hallaig is an enclosure with a handsome wall, the upper part one vertical stone thick. The sanctuary of Applecross is on the other side of the Inner Sound.
After Sorley MacLean’s cairn, the track becomes a footpath through a birch wood.
‘I will wait for the birch wood until it comes up by the cairn until the whole ridge from Beinn na Lice will be under its shade.’
After the birch wood, the fertile limestone grassland below Dun Caan can be seen, with the remains of Hallaig above the enclosure wall.
The enclosure wall at Hallaig was built using the stone from the houses, and the name of the wall-builder is remembered. Applecross is on the horizon.
Below Dun Caan is green fertile grassland on the limestone. The people were cleared from here to make way for sheep, which were more profitable than people. The remains of houses are scattered across the more level ground.
Some house remains at Hallaig still stand waist-high, others are only low mounds in the grassland. It seems beautiful in the sunshine, and peaceful, with Applecross visible across the Inner Sound, but ecologically this is a devastated landscape and the Highlands as a whole are a monument to destroyed communities.
Part way up the east side of Raasay is Brae, with obvious house remains like this, and other walls buried in the grass. A path through the birch wood leads to Inver on the Sound of Raasay. There is said to be a Norse burial below the tree.
Ironstone was mined in the south of the island during the First World War. The buildings of Mine 1 are about 100 m above sea level, at the head of an incline down to the pier. The compressor house and haulage house can be seen, with the Cuillin on Skye across the Sound of Raasay. The mine entrance is to the right of the buildings.
In the foreground is the concrete base for the compressor. The mine was mothballed when it closed soon after the war, and all the machinery was removed for scrap during the Second World War. The Skye Cuillin are visible in the distance.
The 8 km of tunnels in Mine 1 are accessed by this adit (a horizontal tunnel). A steel grill now closes the entrance to the dangerous and unventilated workings.
The mine was ventilated by a fan house on the hillside above the Mine 1 entrance, looking from a distance like an abandoned church. The grill on the left is across the shaft leading down at 45° into the mine. The curved walls minimise the resistance to airflow.
Above the pier was a crusher and the kilns. Coal for the kilns was hauled up the incline from the pier. The pier incline hauler house echoes the shapes of Glamaig and Beinn Dearg Mhor on Skye. Loch Sligachan is to the right of the building.
The five calcining kilns had concrete bases with circular steel kilns above them. Only the bases remain, used as shelters by sheep.
The interior of the concrete bases of the five calcining kilns.
The social and economic history of the Clearances and crofting is impressively told by James Hunter in ‘The Making of the Crofting Community’.
Angus and Patricia MacDonald provide a superb overview (literally) of the landscape in ‘The Hebrides, an Aerial View of a Cultural Landscape’.
The history of the mine, with many historic photos and maps, is covered in ‘The Raasay Iron Mine: Where Enemies Became Friends’ by Laurence and Pamela Draper.
Sorley MacLean’s poem ‘Hallaig’ is quoted in full in the MacDonalds’ book, and also found in his ‘Hallaig and Other Poems’. The relationship between the Highlander, the Gaelic language, and the land is explored by James Hunter in ‘On the Other Side of Sorrow: Nature and People in the Scottish Highlands’, which includes a penetrating discussion of ‘Hallaig’.
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