2022 Scottish Sea Kayaking Trip
Day 10 Tuesday Mull – Calgary Bay to Rubh` an t-Sean Chaisteil by Frankie Annan
Waking up early; it was to be a quick departure from the controversial campsite, Keith rated it 5-stars, Ian 3-stars, the ladies were most disgruntled having been promised the previous day, that our reward for paddling on was a 5-star campsite on golden sand in Calgary Bay. Instead, we had a view of the golden sand from an abandoned pier. Definitely a zero-star campsite. Just like in Frozen, I need to Let it Go!
The plan for the day was on the water early to make the best use of the tide to get us around into the sound of Mull. There was slightly more tide against us at points than I had imagined, but the sun was shining, and the scenery continued to be wonderful. And for me personally, I was paddling another part of the coast I hadn’t managed on my previous trip to Mull when the weather made a circumnavigation impossible.
To help us on our way there were Eagles to be spotted, Dolphins to play with and Otters. It was a long paddle though with no obvious good landing spots there was no break and elevenses was taken on the water (and oh I think my boat is moving backwards whilst stopped). The morning became afternoon as we finally approached Tobermory and navigated into the harbour avoiding the ferry, to land for a well-deserved break after 5hours on the water, or was it 6, it was certainly the longest spell in the boats of the trip so far.
Finally, Tobermory and who should we meet but the captain of the Molly Roger. Our very own Roger of Wales who had gone sailing instead of sea kayaking. Amazingly he had spotted Keith urban foraging 
around the marina for water. It was great to catch up and have a chat. After various bits of urban foraging by all and lunch (there were pies, doughnuts, sorbet, and beer) we carried the boats down to the still receding water line for our 7th hour of paddling (we settled on 6 hours for the morning stint). I’m sure a shorter day’s paddle had been mentioned the night before!
Heading from Tobermory out into the sound there was a moment where we almost ran out of water between Calve Island and Mull. I told you so, said Andy. Most of us got out of our boats to drag them across the kelp and minimal water supply. Andy seemed determined not to get his feet wet. He made it through the shallows with a couple of helpful shoves from a kind person called Frankie, – who promptly overbalanced and ended up sitting in the shallow water. It was hot the water was cool – that was quite an effective cooling strategy!
We slowly made our way along the coast looking for the first possible campsite, by this point everyone was ready to stop. Ian thought there was a possible campsite ahead as did Keith. It turns out the 2 completely different descriptions of the possible campsite were the same place. We were in luck. After about 4km of paddling the possible campsite turned out to be a true 5-star site and with 6 people on a boat, we got everything off the water to enjoy a midge-free evening. It included an opportunity to wash in freshwater thanks, to a stream and an early night.
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