2024 Outer Hebrides – Fuzzy Water
Day 11 Monday 26th Aug – Scalpay by Alistair Ball
The weather wasn’t as miserable as it had been and was different from most days as it didn’t require a long drive to get to the launch site, we only had to drive a few miles from our superior lodgings, the idea of “wild camping” from our boats had been binned a few days earlier, as the weather itself was too wild for such endeavours.
When unloading our boats on the concrete slipway, Keith had a mishap, stubbing his foot on a protruding steel spike, after which a health and safety directive was issued to the unwary and from memory, that was the only injury sustained that particular day.
Once all launched, we mustered in flotilla formation, our first objective was to creep along the shoreline against the tide under the rather simple but elegant road bridge which spanned the gap to the Island of Scalpay. Having cleared the bridge we then had to ferry glide our way across the flow to reach the still water on the coast of Scalpay.
The manoeuvre was carried out without incident and we all continued on hugging the coast until we were out of the tide. Off to our left was the aptly named inlet of “An Acairsaid a Tuath” (? exactly) in which lies the main settlement on the island.
We pressed on across some open water to gain the shelter of a string of smaller islands, where I was given the task of finding a sandy beach for the first elevenses. Having failed miserably to find such an elusive haul out, we ended up heading south, leap-frogging from island to island to gain the lee from the rougher seas rolling in from the west. Eventually, we got to a point where we had to decide whether or not to continue with our plan to circumnavigate Scalpay. In the end, the decision was made to bottle out of the exposed paddle along a rocky shoreline and start the journey back via the inlet of An Acairsaid a Deas (getting the hang of it now).
