Day 5 Na Gurrabail Gamisdale to Tigh Na Mara, campsite 16 miles Emma

We dropped our dry tents on the brow of the campsite at Eigg, ate breakfast on the beach, and prepped our kayaks for our final journey across from Eigg to the mainland. Very grateful to “Shazzers Shit shak” (compost loo) and the campsite there! 

The launch was a welcome, easy one, then we set off East towards the misty mainland we couldn’t see. With the tide one way and the wind the other, keeping the boats Eastwards using our compasses wasn’t easy, aiming for pimples and then the middle of peaks! Having checked a tracking app, we had done a straight line across for 12km. 

En route, we saw a little family of puffins and a pod of dolphins swimming in the opposite direction.

We aimed and landed exactly where we needed to be to explore the skerries before Arisaig, we tried to land at Arisaig for a lunch break, after the “warm welcome” at Arisaig, and feeling slightly tired needing a break after 3 to 4hrs paddling we found a little nook around the corner with lots of seals in the distance and relaxed and had lunch. The sun was peeking through, and we took a gentle paddle right back to the campsite where our cars and lots of camping space & sunshine awaited us.

The campsite was slightly hidden behind rocks, blink and you could miss it! We needed to seek out the phone mast on the hill and the 2 wooden pods on the right. It was an easy landing to a great trip. 

This was topped off by some great fish chips & mushy peas in Mallaig on the pier front.  

I learnt so much from my first trip away with the club! 

Thanks Ian, Catriona, and everyone on the trip for making a great team effort and a trip I won’t forget