ROCKHAGGIS

Below is just some notes that I managed to make whilst I have some lappy power – will expand later. Was hoping to post some pics with this – but looking at battery and download speeds - well you get the drift ! :( Day 1 Ganavan wwii obs buildings Day 2 Beach west of Tralee bay – Irish dude – family visiting childhood memory Day 3 Beach short of Port Appin – cricket. Day 4 & 5 N 56.64692 - W 005.30052 – wonderful beach – chat to dog walkers. Water form farm – beautiful garden like Kenya ones – oasis in a desert of bush. Day 6 the winds have changed – south and south west... das is good ja! The shallot its culinary virtues. Wires – the more connections the places for problems! Noodles a great success so far. Overall the rations packs seem to be sufficient. Managed the odd Gingsters type pie form the shops. Found some more space at rear of kayak for 4 more litres of water – now carrying 8. Progress slow both because of the persistent and abnormal north westerly and that I just don't want to over do it at the beginning. After the first few days I am all aches and pains – most I know will disappear soon. Anyway don't want to jeopardise the trip by and long term injury. Ticker seems to be bearing up well – had a few moments when I've been pushing too hard , trying to navigate a section with no landfalls as quickly as possible before the next flurry of wind makes the going to risky. But on these few occasions I have hit the pain wall, just. So need to make sure I work within my limitations.! Most annoying thing is that I've been unable to get any broadband connection and more annoying is the difficultly I've had getting the lappy charged – however, fingers crossed I cracked that one. Had many thoughts and things that come to mind that id like to write about but as yet, with the lappy problems and not yet getting into the swing and discipline of writing stuff down – most of the blog will be very retro and sketchy to start with ---- hope it improves as we go along. Day or 7 not sure will go into this in more detail later – Made good mileage – all the way to the outskirts of Fort William. Went ashore for some nibbles, slipped on a rock as I was getting out of the kayak and fell back on the paddle....SNAP !!!! No where in FW could I buy one – so much to my irritation – hopped on a bus ( Day 8) back to Oban to get one – Just back to my pitch as I write this....... should be at the main camp site in a day or two – then ill sit down and get the blog up to-date and filled out with pic etc....

DAY ONE:

Well Today finally arrived – the weather forecast,suggests a weekend fare weather. Low base winds but gusting to 20 plus – the main problem is the direction Northerlies and North easterlies – come flying down the sound whipping up white horses .

I found myself at the Port Beag slip in Oban, loaded up and prepared.

Well equipment wise prepared, but what about my metal preparation? Its easy to delude yourself about what you are capable of achieving.

 

Had I really thought this through. Standing there on my own, looking across the water into an unknown future, was I really going to do this? Physically I'm well over weight, Im running on two and a bit cylinders fortified by regular intakes of powerful heart medications. Im 55 feeling 75. Im on my own! Am I really going to do this?!

I squeeze into the kayak, the leg braces locking me in tightly, claustrophobicly. I check that all is stowed and lashed for one last time, fit the spray deck into position and gently, slightly nervously I push away from the slip.

The sea is reasonably calm, though the wind has already begun to pick up and choppy little waves begin to lap against the side of the kayak.

Oh my fucking god, do not tumble here!!!! right in the middle of Oban bay in front of 100's of early morning shoppers. The Oban Times headline ' By-passers stood helplessly as 55 year old Oban man drowns' passed through my mind – lol. FFS Duncan get a grip............

Coincidently I noticed a gaggle of kayaks appear around the corner, probably from one of the local activity groups. About eight in all – I'll tag along behind them I decided. However by the time I passed under the shadows of Dunolie castle it was becoming clear that the waters outside the protected area of the bay were an angry cauldron of whites horses and by the time we had passed Maiden Island even the experienced instructors leading the group were showing signs of retreat.

 

I turned and sort shelter in a cutting in the rocky cliffed shoreline. Not wanting to return back to the start point , no more than a mile away, I decided to wait there until the wind died down. As it turned out , it did not that day and I was forced to make camp next to the ruins of this old ww2 observation post.

 

Its interesting to note the history of this area during WW2 – An area where major trans Atlantic convoys assembled and squdrans of AntiSubmarine Catalina flying boats were based.
So although the day was pleasently sunny the wind and its direction ensured that I was unable to safely continue until the next day.

 

Well May 1^st has come and gone and I'm still at home-plate! Everything is ready and the countdown though on hold, has begun and will restart at lift-off as soon as the predictably unpredictable weather in the last colony becomes favourable for launch. Looking at the forecasts it might be as long as another week, but that's no problem, I'm in no rush!

 

Another significance of this post is it has been made by using a remote mobile broadband connection. A 'test all is working' post.

 

As an aside, I've installed Ubuntu 10.04 on my lappy. OMG its fantastic ….. running like shit off a shovel now and very pretty too.

 

Any way – since all is ready, give or take some final packing and documentation, I might as well get Shadorakk my level 80 rogue some new arena gear. I wont have my WoW fix for a few months so I'm off for a bit of binge wowing – lol!!

 

All for now my friends!

Just a short post extolling the virtues of the pan cosy kit from BackPackingLight.co.uk

Although I m sure you can buy the material cheaper else where if you buy in bulk ( ie: large rolls from the insulation section of a DIY store ) for the amount a camper needs I think its good value. In my case I bought enough to make the container section and the lid section ( double thickness on base and top ) with a few sections left over for general wind breaks around the burner. That was two kits at £5.00 each. My Pan cosy design insulates the pan with a double layer all round.

So far all my cooking has been what I call BTTB cooking. Bring To The Boil.

Rice , Pasta, Porrige etc have all been well cooked by the BTTB and then leave in Pan Cosy for 15 to 20 minutes method.

So Gas consumption is absolutely minimal... means it goes further ... means I have to carry less ... goto be good!

Just back from three days out at sea, testing myself and the equipment!

My first boot camp went well. Many things unforeseen came to light which can now be rectified or changed before I set off for real. Some major changes there will be too!!

But first, the trip; Set off from my usual point, near the Kerrera Ferry slip, and got my usual ear-ache from the 'knobhead' ferryman about using his ( McDougall Estates ) private slip. Having floundered some what on my right to roam speel , he starts on the Health and Safety pitch ... “ Well you wouldn't expect to be allowed to use the 'CalMac' Ferry slip in Oban now would you ?!....” ,this from a skipper who's middle name is 'Johnny Walker'... anyway after winding him up and then totally ignoring him I set off up the Kerrera sound, north, heading for my first target stop point at Tralee bay. The weather was perfect, clear blue sky, warm sun and a gentle northerly breeze to help me on my way. The miles passed effortlessly by and I soon found my self passing the Castle and the Marine laboratories at Dunstaffnage. However looking at my GPS I saw that I had actually only being traveling at 3 to 3.5 miles an hour – Not good!

From this point I could see my destination for the first day. A headland about a mile and a half across open water on my forward port side as the crow flies. And there in lies the problem I will be encountering quite often.... I have restricted my self to staying with 50mts or so of the shore, so being unable to head directly for that point I am forced to follow the coast anticlockwise all the way round the bay... so instead of 10 to 15 minutes direct, I had to paddle for another 3 to 4hours to get to Camp-One. However the temptation, I know will sometimes become overpowering, to go the direct route and that could lead to serious dangers. Solo, unsupported in cold tidal rough waters, far from shore, is not a good place to be, I can tell you from experience..... IS definitely NOT a good place to be !!!

Any way....

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