Rhona and Raasay (Another Luke and Greg adventure)

 The islands of Rona and Raasay lie in between The isle of Skye and mainland Scotland and is a designated area of outstanding natural beauty.With Rhona and the north end of Raasay comprising of Lewisian Gneiss, the oldest uncovered rock in the world, the central section of Raasay being Torridonian sandstone and the south end of the island comprising of similar pre-cambrian rock found on Skye; it provides incredible geological scenery.
Raasay is a regular hot spot for White-tailed Sea Eagles and home to a sub-species of bank vole found nowhere else in the world, as well as being home to Otters, Mountain Hare, Red Deer and a multitude of rare plant life.

 

At the start of September i joined myself and Greg headed over to Torridon to sea kayak around Rona and Raasay.
 In true Luke and Greg adventure style i managed to forget a spraydeck, however, managed to borrow one from Tom who heads up the activities at the Torridon Hotel. This mishap however, provided us with a silver lining as Tom informed us that the best venison in Scotland can be found being sold my Rona's land manager, Bill.
At the put on we had a brilliant spotting of Otter amongst the kelp and sandstone cliffs. Off we paddled with the sea choppy and the wind gusting, giving us excellent moderate water conditions.

Pulling into a beautiful sheltered bay we spotted Bills home and wandering up the track to his house were met by Bill and a large grin.
Money changed hands and some venison steaks purchased, Bill was dismayed to find we didn't have a frying pan, onion or oil and insisted we take his with us and leave it in the bothy on the north of Raasay. He also showed us around his very comfortable bunkhouse, complete with cooker and fridge. "Here you go lads, take these too!" He said as he produced a couple tins of Tenants from the bunkhouse's fridge.
Continuing our paddle we headed around to the very comfortable Bothy located on the north end of Raasay. Approaching the bothy we glimpsed smoke rising from the chimney and inside were greeted by an already roaring fire and six friendly bothy-mates.

After a night of truly Scotland's best venison, good company and a few drams, we paddled south along the west side of Raasay, exploring inlets and caves.

 

Reaching the south point of the island we headed north along the east side with beautiful sandstone cliffs, a scene that could have been cut straight from Jurassic Park.

The weather had deteriorated and reaching our chosen camp spot we set up our tent. Luckily a small wooden shed, the remnant of a past military outpost gave us extra room to prepare our dinner of cous-cous and mackeral., my mug now forever tasting of fish and a broken spork giving me challenge!

 

The next day the wind was in our favour for our paddle back to our put on, but a long crossing on a beam-sea was to be made first. With the sea state close to 3 it was an exciting crossing, but meant we had good surfing down wind on the way back up the coast, with a family of Porpoise crossing our path!