Day 28: Garenin Hostel, NW Lewis to Port of Nis, Butt of Lewis (25Nm, 10hrs)

Today was a fantastic finale to the expedition, involving the longest paddle, the most exposed paddling and the best finish.

It started at 7am in my bivvy bag with a nice sunrise. I went up to the hostel to boil the kettle for a cup of tea and to fill my flask, and heated up my black pudding and potato omelette from last night. It wasn’t as tasty as last night for some reason but I ate it nevertheless. After chatting to various people I managed to get on the water at 9.45am, 45mins later than I planned to, so that meant I’d be arriving around 7.45pm.

So I was off on the last day of the expedition, I’d nearly made it, so far, I couldn’t believe it, I’d nearly managed to paddle the whole length of the Outer Hebrides! Although it was far from over. I came out of the mouth of the inlet the hostel was in,and started along the coastline. There was coastline as far as I could see and further and I seriously wondered if I was capable of doing it. I carried on paddling. I was pretty good at being happy in my own company by now, not to say a paddling buddy would have been great, and coped with various activities such as singing and making up songs, talking to myself which I thought was pretty good conversation (!) and listening to the few hundred MP3s on my mobile phone which I now knew off by heart. The coast just went on and on and on.

One nice thing that happened was befriending a Fulmar who thought I was a fishing boat and kept on landing in front of me and watching for waste fish as I drifted by. It did this for a good 20mins and I started feeling sorry for it I aimed straight for it when it was in front of me, which scared it and it flew away and didn’t come back. The weather was great, clear blue skies, not too much swell - I stayed roughly 1km off the coast to avoid swell in the shallower water - and I was working with the tide (the whole 1Kt of it!). The paddling was a cycle of paddling as long as I could before the aches and pains got too much, then having a rest to stretch and move around to get blood flowing in my legs/feet again.

A nervous point on this leg was paddling past the army firing range which had ‘Danger’ labelling the boundary of an area on the map that I was paddling through. I thought about phoning the coastguard to make sure it was safe, but in the end thought they would probably see me if they were going to shoot anything. I couldn’t help wondering if things were going to fly past me at any time and explode!

I got to the planned lunch spot at Siadar, recharged the mobile phone which had run down due to listening to music, had some coffee and a cup of soup with the locally baked bread. After a 20min break, periodically floating my boat inshore and moving my stuff as the tide came in, I felt refreshed and ready to carry on.

So I continued with the tide and the sun into a light northerly wind on the next 4.5 hour paddle - the final leg! I was pretty ecstatic for a good while (probably partly due to the coffee), coming to terms with the fact that I had nearly paddled the 250Nm (275 statute miles) up the Western Isles. I looked back to see how far I’d come, grateful to see the headlands fading into the haze.

If paddling long distances does anything for you, it forces you to think about forward paddling technique! I think the technique frequently anyway but forward paddling is really the most essential skill in sea kayaking and good technique makes paddling much more efficient. Coaches often talk about aspiring to make kayaking skills effective and efficient, but I’d now like to coin the term EESSy (effective, efficient, smooth and stylish - in that order) which I think adds two more important qualities to skills and I’ll be using that in coaching - ‘…how can you make your strokes more EESSy?...’

I passed some creel buoys and was happy to see them downstream of the rope in the water meaning the tide was flowing in my direction. Then I got to a skerry which had an eddy NW of it, again comforting me because I was going with the tide. I was getting closer, now only an hour from the Butt. The anticipation was killing me! Eventually I got there, great!

What a place for paddling, with loads of islands and a natural arch above the HW line, but I couldn’t explore because it was 7pm and I needed to get on. I was nearly there! I rounded the Butt and had 3km to Port of Nis. I enjoyed the coast with the deepening light from the start of the sunset and the reduced swell on the east coast of Lewis. The tide had started flowing in the wrong direction for me and the last headland I had to cut in close land to avoid the current which looked a good 2-3kts.
Then I got to the harbour - woo hoo! It was like some kind of Mediterranean beach and with a flat sea, everything lit with sunset orange, I landed at the slip way in Port of Nis! I had done it! I sat down to come to terms with the fact that I had done it! Then some pals (Sean ZS and Innes) arrived with their bio-diesel, from used vegetable oil, van. They gave me a can of Tenant’s Lager which I gulped down - thanks guys! The rest of the night is another story which involved sausage rolls, whisky, more lager, and a party in Stornoway.

The next day we went for a trip out into the Minch on a 67-foot yacht which Innes and his dad Angus charter. What a life! Sean, Innes and Alison gave me a lift and buddied me down to Leverburgh where I paddled across the Sound of Harris with the wind which was great, and had a wee play in the wind and against tide next to the hostel which was quite a big area of 1ft standing waves with the tide ripping through at 3ish knots! Stayed with Brian and Kath, the friends with the wind turbine, left the boat there, stayed over night and then got the bus the next day to Eriskay and the ferry back to Barrabados!

So now I’m back at home, eating lots of green vegetables that are growing in the garden! That’s it. The first Sustainable Expeditions expedition is finished! I’ll wait a couple of days then I’ve got a few kind of results of and thoughts on this expedition which was really a bit of an experiment.

Day 27: Reef to Garenin Gatliff/SYHA Hostel, NW Lewis, via Callanish

Today was the second last day of the expedition and the last night of camping.

I had stayed at Paul and Alison’s for the second night, thanks to their generosity. I had some muesli for breakfast, packed my stuff, said my goodbyes then walked to my kayak with my newly dried clothing. Everything was covered in sand and there was a message on the boat: “Hello from Stornoway Canoe Club! Keep on moving!!!” So that’s what I did. It took ages to pack the boat and get ready because I was out of the swing of things, but I eventually got on the water at 10.45am.

I was exploring west then east Loch Roag. It was great - flat water with no wind! I enjoyed the relaxation but after 15min of an open crossing got bored and had to put music on my mobile phone. Then I got to an island and found this great natural arch right through quite a wide point of the island, must have been 100m long and a good few meters underground.

After paddling under the bridge from mainland Lewis to Great Berneray, I paddled with the tide to Callanish, had a wee look at the stones and had some potatoes and chocolate cake for lunch. The stones are interesting to look and find out about, probably erected around 3,000BC. After that it was north to the hostel. Into a F3/4 again for a bit in mid-afternoon, but thankfully it died down almost completely after a few hours and I could enjoy exploring the coastline again. The coast is an abundance and maze of rocky outcrops and inlets that could provide hours of endless fun for exploring in a sea kayak, especially if there was a bit more swell. As it was there was only a foot or two of swell which increased as I got further out of Loch Roag. I had only glimpsed the second map (which the hostel was on) today, so I paddled off the first map then along the coast hoping to find the hostel. I knew it was a rocky beach and saw a few with big boulders for shores which worried me, but I eventually found it to be a nice shingle beach.

So I got to land, set up camp, cooked dinner in the hostel due to lack of any firewood or heather, phoned people, found sorrel and watched an awesome sunset. Another good day but I’ve got diarrhoea from the food poisoning and am a bit dehydrated due to that, so it’s not all good!

Food today: breakfast - muesli; lunch - potatoes + chocolate cake; dinner - fried potatoes/omelette/black pudding.

Day 26: Reef, NW West Lewis

Today was much better in comparison to yesterday but I still wasn’t feeling great and it didn’t involve much Sustainable Expeditions stuff, so again I’ll make it short and sweet. I got up and did some e-mailing and blog writing, then went to the school sport’s day with Alison/Paul’s kids. After that I borrowed Paul’s bike and cycled to the nearest shop (30min cycle) to get some emergency food, then spent the rest of the day writing up the blog which felt like it took ages. I usually write a page of A4 in my pad about how things have gone then type that up whenever I can, so a week’s worth of writing takes a while to type up. I eventually finished at 9pm then enjoyed relaxing and reading a magazine.

Food today: breakfast - muesli + tea; lunch - cheese sandwiches; dinner - fish fingers, peas and chips - lovely!

Day 25: Reef, NW West Lewis

Today was undoubtedly the worst day, so I’ll make this write up short and not so sweet.

I woke up with my neck in agony and could hardly move it. I had slept without any kind of pillow and who knows what I did to my neck but it was sore! That was today’s first lesson. This was about 9am, so I thought I’d wait to see how it went. I ended up in bed till 12pm(ish) then it started raining, soaking my stuff that was hanging on the improvised washing line - tow rope tied to either end of kayak with split paddles making support on middle. I also felt sick and was sick nearby my camp after trying desperately to keep whatever it was down. Up came last night’s barbecued vegetables which I thought should have been digested by now, so I thought maybe a dodgy mussel had blocked up the plumbing. Whatever it was, and I’m sure it was the mussels that I had taken from the inlet with not a huge amount of flow, next to the road, I felt sick for the rest of the day. This in combination with a stiff neck and the rain made it pretty miserable.

So I eventually went up to knock on Paul and Alison’s door to ask if I could use their bath as I’d got cold after getting wet in the rain. Thankfully they said yes, and also offered me dinner and a bed for the night, which made life a lot more comfortable than it would have been. Thank you Paul and Alison!

Food today: breakfast/lunch - bread and jam; dinner - pasta and vegetables.

Day 24: Reef, West Loch Roag

Today's been a day of rest that was well needed after yesterday.

I only woke up at 12am when the sun woke me from being too hot. I finished writing the journal entry from yesterday because I fell alseep while writing it last night. After that I got up, rinsed my salty clothes using the tap at the nearby campsite, hung them up, had breakfast (bread + jam) and drank some water.

I needed to get some more emergency food after eating it all yesterday so I wondered into Valtos to find a shop. Unluckily there was none but luckily I went to say hello to Alison/Paul who told me where the nearest shop was and lent me a bike. I cycled there and splashed out - a bag of assorted caramels and two dairy milks emergency food and a can of tango which was great! (I disposed of it in the nearby recycling skip.) Then cycled back to Valtos, picking up some mussels on the way back, where Alison/Paul invited me in for a cup of tea.

We chatted for a few hours then went for a barbecue on the beach where we had potatoes, mussels, scallops, Halumi cheese (sheep's cheese), skewers with vegetables and chocolate cake. I didn't eat many potatoes, so they'll do for lunch and dinner tomrrow. We said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, neither more than 1km, mine less than 100m to my bivvy.

So I'm lying here in the dunes writing this having just watched an awesome sunset over the hills. I just heard the forecast on the VHF - NE4/5, 6 in the north - not good at all! I doubt I'll either make it or attempt to make it to the Carloway tomorrow.

Mealasta to West Loch Roag (13.5Nm, 7hrs) via Aird Bhreinis, Ard Mor Mangurstadh & Gallan Head

Today was without a doubt the hardest day of the expedition so far, both physically and mentally.

I started off well. I planned the trip the night before and set my alarm for 7am so I could be away by 9ish. After a few 'snoozes' I got up and ate my pre-cooked porridge. The wind was chillingly cold so I sheltered behind a rock to eat. Then I packed stuff up, dragged the boat to the water's edge and packed it. Ready to go at 9.15am, fantastic, my earliest day yet!
It was still pretty breezy, probably F4/5 gusting 6. I had four headlands to round, with exposed open crossings in between and knew it wasn't going to be easy. So I set off, full of porridge/jam, on what was going to be the most difficult paddle of my life so far. What followed was 7hrs (not including breaks) into a F5/6 wind. At first, while I was still fresh, it wasn't too bad and I found refuge in the numerous inlets which although were still breezy, there were spots that were pretty sheltered. I had to have two lunches to keep me going, which were pasta and sauce, and beef olives, thanks to Iain from STV. I made it to the headlands one by one, Mangurstadh was a bleak place with spectacular cliffs and rock gardens, but nothing living there, no plants or birds - the rocks all looked new which made me think it was still eroding relatively fast. It didn't feel like a place that humans should be, so I carried on. The headlands behind me seemed to take forever to get closer! Eventually I got to Gallan Head and had another toilet/lunch stop. I felt refreshed but knew if something went wrong after this and I ended up on the rocks, me and my boat were as good as bananas in a food blender. So I carried on. The worst bit of swell was the first bit where the sea bed shallowed and the waves were reflecting and interfering with each other. I very slowly watched Gallan Head get further away. This was the worst part and I seriously questions my reasons for doing the trip. I cursed and swore and screamed as loud as I could at the wind and the waves as they played with me like a puppet.

I ate the last of the emergency food - boiled sweets - and was determined to make it! I could write a book about this, but to cut a long story short, eventually I made it to the camp site in West Loch Roag. I was wet and cold and needed to change into dry clothes. Then I needed to get away from the sea and the boat, so I took a walk into the village to use the phone. While I was on the phone telling family I was still alive, Paul who I'd met on the beach yesterday, popped round outside the box, signalling beer + food, which I was only too happy to accept! Paul and Alison gave me a nice pasta with tomato and vegetable sauce, then home made ice cream with Scottih raspberries and strawberries. Then offered me a shower which again I gratefully accepted - I also felt at least a kilogram lighter after the shower. On my way out Alison gave me a still-hot freshly baked cake. Again, I'm touched by the friendliness and generosity of the people I have met. I also left my sandals on Mealasta, so Paul gave me an old pair of shoes.

So I walked back to my campsite, hung clothes to dry and fell asleep in my bivvy, minus the tarp because if it's not going to rain, then it's more trouble than it's worth. I ate the whole of the cake on the 15min walk back!

Day 22: Mealasta

Well, today's been eventful as usual. It's 6pm and I'm writing now because I've got time and because I need to get sleep early for an early start in the morning.

Eventful as it was, it's also been nice and relaxed. I got up at 9am, wrote the blog for yesterday, then for the fire going for breakfast. There was no heather close by so I made it my goal to light the fire with one bit of paper which worked just fine. I made some kindling sticks, as in bits thin enough that they would catch light quickly from the paper. Crumple the paper, pile some kindling on top, light the paper and hay presto - fire! Then lightly pile on progressively larger bits of wood (but not too soon). Then get some nice square stones to put the grill on. So I cooked some porridge for breakfast in the morning with jam and boiled some water for tead.

STV came at 11am(ish) and we did a wee bit of filming which will be on North Tonight either tomorrow (Monday) or the day after - fantastic! This is what the whole expedition's about - raising awareness and making people think. Iain McIver from and Michael the cameraman from STV were unbelievably kind, bringing gifts of locally baked bread, free range eggs, beef 'olives' (local beef), jam and salmon! I was set up.

After that I went to get some heather to light the fire again, it was a nice 15min walk up the hill which allowed me to look over yesterday's journey from Husinish - all 11km of it!

So I cooked dinner on the fire which had been kept going since PJ, Lewis, Nina, Suzie, Frin (the last three being the 'Lewis/Harris bikini girls') and Kara had cooked their lunch. Potatoes and beef olives (mincemeat rolled up in slices of beef) with stew - lovely! The porridge is cooking just now so I don't have to cook in the morning.

So now I'm sitting next to the fire, it's another nice night and there's some sorrel growing at the river so I'm going to get some vitamins! This place is idyllic, but then so were all the other places! I've packed the boat ready to try and leave at 9am.

Food today: breakfast - oatmeal with jam; lunch/dinner - potatoes, beef olives & sorrel.

Day 21: (Morning after) Husinish to Mealasta (6Nm, 3hrs)

Yesterday had potential to be one of the worst days of the expedition so far and in some ways, it was.

Through the night, the rock for the tarp line had moved and the tarp had come off the pole and was flapping around. Then the pot of porridge I had precooked blew over so I had to get up again to cover it. Then through the night the wind picked up which was pushing the tarp down on me as if the elements wanted to bully me a bit after all the good weather so far. I woke up in the morning at 9am and looked at the porridge, it was covered in sand, so breakfast was cold sandy porridge with jam. Then I planned the trip, Husinish to Gallan Head (19Nm). The only problem was that it was blowing force 4-5 NE or E which was totall the wrong direction for me. It would be 10+ hours to Gallan Head, so I planned to just see how far I got and camp wherever that may be.

So I set off. I should have been up much earlier, and have now vowed to plan trips at the latest the night before. I made slow progress, quartering into a F5. Eventually I made it across the bay to more sheltered water. The coastline to the east looked awesome for exploring but I had to resist. I continued, making better progress in the shelter. So many inlets that I wanted to explore but I knew I had to push on. I was now looking for a lunch spot. Eventually I found a nice beach at Mealasta.

And, of all the places I thought I'd find girls in bikinis, the west coast of Harris wasn't one of them! After nice chats and gifts of cheese sandwiches and apples, I set off again. The journey got more negative again. I was going to have to paddle directly into a F5-6 for 3k to get to the next stop. I checed the GPS and was managing to make 0.5kph! Then I heard to forecast on the VHF - F4-5, 5-6 in the Outer Hebrides. That was it, no way was I paddling into that. I turned around and with with an average speed of 7kph and a max speed of 13, I got back to the beach in no time!

I set up camp and went on the search for firewood and thanfully found some, but no heather. It was going to have to be a stove night. Luckily the Harris bikini girls as I called them, and PJ, offered me dinner which I accepted gratefully. A nice night of chat and whisky followed.

Day 20: Husinish, North Harris

I say this every day, but again today has just been great, a slow start but great all the same. I'm sure other people might people might think this was boring, but I like it, here's why...

I woke up at 8am and wondered around for a while coming up with a plan of what to do today. A few things were on the list: find firewood + heather; find food; phone people like my folks, the coastguard, and the media to let them know I'm still alive and how it's going; find water. So I tried to start on my list of essential activities. I couldn't cook breakfast before finding firewood, but I was still weak from paddling, so I ended up falling asleep for an hour. After waking up again at 10am(ish) I went to search for wood and eventually found a palette - fantastic, I could have a fire tonight. I also tried to find a mobile signal up a hill but there was none. So after chopping the firewood and making a fireplace, I had a quick chat with a local guy who pointed me in the right direction, which ended up being a 45min walk along the road to the watershed where I could see the mobile phone mast to the east. So I made my calls and on the way back collected some dead heather and a wee bit of peat. Spea to friends/family was nice and I'm starting to look forward to coming getting home.

When I got back to camp I had to have another sleep, which I also did on the road back. I don't know if it's too hot or because I hadn't had enough food, or because I was still shattered from yesterday's paddle.

After I woke up I got cooking dinner, which tonight for lack of finding or catching anything was potatoes, a few spoonfulls of jam for pudding, and dried mint tea.

So now I'm sitting infront of the fire, drying my wellies, it's another nice night! I tidied the campsite and am looking forward to setting off again tomorrow. I've got loads of thoughts about the expedition, about what's possible and what isn't, about life and how we could/should life and the costs/benefits of different ways, but I'll save writing them till the end!

Food today: breakfast - bread + jam; lunch - hard boiled eggs + white pudding; dinner - potatoes.

Day 19: Berneray to Husinish, Harris

Today has definitely been one of the best days of the expeditions - that's not saying much though because it's all been fantastic.

I was up at 7.30, woken by a flapping tarp which had come off my wooden peg. I had an easy start, packing my stuff away in my routine method at a relaxed pace, then went to the hostel to make breafast - porridge with jam. After saying goodbye to the travellers I had met, I carried on packing. I've got a happy routine system now: food and sleeping stuff in front; all emergency stuff including hot flask of coffee in the dat hatch, and everything else in the back hatch (clothes, electric stuff, paper/books.)

It was the windiest day so far today, at around F4/5 sometimes 6 east or southeast. I had the right maps out and planned the trip assuming 4kph into a F5, working with the tide in the Sound of Harris, and then it was off. It took a while to get across the Sound but once I got to the channel between Harris/Ensay the tide was taking me NW, great!

I rounded Toe Head and found some amazing caves where I had to make a precarious emergency toilet stop. The inlet with a beach I had planned to stop for lunch on unfortunately had boulders before the sand so I couldn't easily stop witout dragging my boat over rocks which I decided against, instead opting for a balancing act on submersed stones which resulted in my losing four slices of bread, and eating lasnight's pork off the bone and eating tonight's pudding - chocolate cake. Then the longest crossing so far, roughly 10Nm from Toe Head to Husinish, with Taransay on my right side. It was great paddling in a new place with new things to look at. I was seriously starting to wonder if I'd lost my passion for exploring and this totally refreshed my enthusiasm for it!

So I got to the N beach, set up camp - the best tarp set up yet, with a sand shelf for more height - phoned STV, helped people packing their boat for Scarp, cooked on MSR because there was no firewood. Now I'm lying here under the tarp, lovely night again. Expedition life is harder than a 'conventional' life but simpler.

Food today: breakfast - 2 portions of porridge with jam; lunch - pork + chocolate cake; potatoes and dried ham; 2 oranges from the Scarp people (David + Lesley), and a mug of coffee.