2025 Inner Hebrides Sea Kayak Trip – Part 2 Loch Awe
Wednesday 27th, Loch Awe Day 2 – Monkey Puzzle Tree Island by Debbie (Day 12)
Day got off to a good start – Christine surprised an otter on the beach – or the otter surprised her, not sure which, and that was all before breakfast!
Today we will reach the end of Loch Awe-fully long, and get camp set up before the rain sets in at lunch time. The topic of conversation for first and probably second elevenses was how to keep dry when paddling. Various alternatives were discussed, and most of the different solutions failed one way or another. Not very promising for the next two days’ forecast of rain.
We arrived at Kilchurn Castle after threading our way through the various islands, one now renamed Monkey Puzzle Tree Island, even though Scots pine island may have been more appropriate. Whichever, we knew exactly which island we were heading for as a marker.
Kilchurn Castle was a disappointment, all fenced off to avoid falling masonry. There were also no facilities, another disappointment for those wanting a comfort break. Meanwhile, while some of us were being a little disappointed, Keith had gone off on a solo mission to find us a 5*camping spot. Excellent view of the castle, a bit slopey but hey ho…rain was on its way.
We were all off the water, tents pitched, tucked up and cosy by the time the rain arrived, and boy, did it arrive. So there we all were, looking forward to an afternoon snooze when things started to go badly wrong.
The rain was not all that arrived…
“Hello! Hello! You can’t camp here. You’re blocking my track. This is fenced stock land. It is exempt from the Right to Roam. There are sheep and cattle in this field, and you have to move. You should have exercised due diligence”
A very irate lady was shouting from outside my tent in the pouring rain. There was silence from the other tents. With rain hammering down, the prospect of packing up and putting on all that damp paddling gear was a grim prospect, but it had to be done. Frankie was next to benefit from her attention, and eventually, everyone was on the move. The landowning lady left briefly while we packed.
We noticed she was heading back towards us across the field with backup this time to check from a distance that we were indeed going. Eventually, she came back again and apologised for her cranky approach earlier. I was uncharitably hoping she’d got more soaked than we had.
So…it was a return to Monkey Puzzle Tree Island for the night, not too far away, and the rain stopped for us to pitch camp for the second time, and we had the most glorious view of the sunset to cheer us up. And no one came and shouted “Git orf my land”