My heart was thumping in my chest and my palms were sweaty tho you could not tell this as they were soaked in the brine. I tried to keep a steady pace with my paddling to settle my nerves. Tick-tock, splish-splash,... It seemed to be working.
Once we rounded the eastern headland of our bay, we hugged southern coastline to shelter from the strong winds. This led eastwards into Loch Nan Uamh. An hour or so later, the sun came out and we could have been forgiven for thinking we were in the Caribbean. Paddling through crystal clear waters above milky white sands with the sun blazing overhead. The wildlife even came back out to play. Surely this cannot be Scotland!?
As we rounded Eileen Gobhlach at the end of Loch Nan Uamh, there was a stark reminder that this was Scotland! The wind had strengthened causing almost a meter high waves to crash over my boat from the starboard side. These were worse than the conditions in which I capsized. To keep this from my mind, I raised my left knee to tilt me boat into the waves and focussed on paddling at a steady rhythm. Tick-tock, splish-splash,... My rhythm was only broken by a wave crashing on top of the boat or an airshot as I sat on top of a wave. The latter unsettling me the most.
For about an hour, I needed to maintain this rhythm and level of concentration until we passed between Rubha Chaolais and Eileen a Chaolais into the sheltered mouth of Loch Ailort. Here, we were able to breathe a little easier. Around the next headlands our camp for the night, the beach in front the ruined settlement of Peanmeanach.
The sun was setting as we devoured Tortellini with Ricotta and Spinach smothered in pesto alla genovese and accompanied with a Chilean Malbec. Who says you need to rough it when camping?! ;-)
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