Monday, August 03, 2009

A Week on the Edge: D2 – Round Dun and through an arch

Now writing this at 6am the morning before I leave for the Skye trip, I’m tight for time, so I’ll need to make this succinct….

After another tasty meal on the Elinca, including some of Angus' fine scrambled egg and everything else that is part of a good healthy Scottish breakfast (Stornoway black pudding), we went back on the island. I said hello to a few people then tried to decide what to do…I had to go for a paddle…just s short one. So I got kitted up and set off on a trip round Dun - there (were) a few arches that I wanted to see if I could get through.

Needed and easier day to get used to the swell before the bigger paddles, so this was it. I headed out the gap between Dun and Hirta, sat bobbing around for a bit getting used to the swell, then turned left. Coastline similar to Hirta (see day 3). Nice introduction to the swell. Found an arch and after timing it to avoid breakers, got through safely…a few crashed in scaring me though…I suppose it’s partly the fact that the waves are all much louder in caves/arches that makes them seem worse. Maybe they weren’t that bad, but it was my first day paddling since last summer, so I was erring on the side of cautious. So I got through, went back across the bay, practiced some self rescues, went in and had tuna sandwiches for dinner and read my book.

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