Club Expedition to Skye 2020
“Team Alaska go on a Skye #staycation!”
Day 6 (Thursday) 13th August –Point of Sleat to Teangus (Castle Ruin)
As we were expert at packing boats by now, we were on the water by 7:40am. There was nice breeze and no midges. A strong wind was building, so plan A to go to Knoydart was turned into a plan B to stay safe and camp on Skye again. We hugged the coastline to stay out of the wind. The Scottish coast looked impressive with the mountains engulfed in low cloud.
After an hour or so we found a beach with a stream and hammock for elevenses. Great to refill water, have a wash and a quick swing/snooze. The rock pools had a great selection of anemone and shellfish in the crystal-clear water. The beach had grey and pink stripy cobbles.
We continued along the rocky shore where there was a sea Eagle chasing some seagulls. As we passed the Armadale ferry terminal it was a quick dash against the headwind and waves to clear the terminal as we realised the boat was coming in.
White horses were growing out in the sound as the winds increased to a force 5. The crossing to Knoydart wouldn’t have been much fun so we took shelter after 10.5 miles behind a headland where there was a castle ruin. On arrival, a swordsman practising his moves against the castle skyline – aka Brave Heart.
There was a selection of 3 beaches so we picked the one with the easiest carry, but still decided tomorrow would be a 10am start to let the tide come in over the rocks and allow the wind to drop if it followed the forecast. An otter was spotted while we scouted out the beaches before landing and as we pitched, we were watched by some lambs in the field above.
After dinner a few of us went to sit on the rocks to watch for the otter again and saw 2 as they ran round the outcrops and jumped in for an evening fish – which is just what Vic was doing too. Before we returned to camp, a fish was spotted jumping, so we wondered if it was being chased. Some walkers turned up that evening and pitched in the castle ruins, we thought they might get blown away that night – but they were still there in the morning. A couple also came down to the beach searching for some pipe they wanted to salvage for a drainage system they were putting in.
Jenny Brown More Photos……….