Can I start off by saying I had pretty much written this post ages ago. Don’t know where it has disappeared to…went back in just to give it a wee edit before publishing and it’s gone. Completely disappeared. So, here we go again…
Whilst I’m due to return to the same spot next month, this post is all about last year’s visit to a lovely spot just outside Ellenabeich, about 40 minutes’ drive South of Oban and probably more notable and famous for it being the place that you get the very short foot ferry to Easdale, the home of the World stone skimming championships.
We stayed at Dunmore Lodge, a beautiful house with the most stunning views of Luing, Mull, Colonsay and beyond. At the end of our road (5 min walk) was an easily accessible (stoney) beach for swimming and for launching the board from, whatever state the tide was in.
I had many muckabouts around there and would probably have been a lot more gallus but I was glad I did some local research. It turns out that certain areas around there can be very, very tidal and if you go out at the wrong time and don’t know what you’re doing, you could easily get yourself into trouble.
From the looks of it, it should be fairly straightforward to circumnavigate Easdale, head South to Luing (off the map a wee bit, maybe adventure to Insh or paddle round from Clachan Bridge. Thing is, it can get very, very choppy very, very quickly around there. Something to do with the way the waves hit the sheer cliff face on the far side of the island. Didn’t stop me having fun in the general area though!
One fine Sunday afternoon, I set off from my local beach and paddled over to Easdale in the hope of getting scone and cup of tea from the Puffer restaurant/cafe. It was closed! The owners had given up for the summer (thanks, Covid). Quite a disconsolate paddle back.
Later in the week, our party decided to head over to Easdale for a spot of wild swimming and tombstoning. Easdale was a slate mining mecca for a number of years until a massive storm filled the quarries with water. Makes them amazing for swimming in and jumping into.
Everyone else got the foot ferry across but I set off from my beach to paddle across, staying fairly close to the shore and following the same route I’d done a few days earlier on the failed scone mission. It took a while for my family to get a ferry so I did some more exploring and headed to the Northerly edge of the island. It started to get a whole lot choppier and I could see why it wasn’t advisable to try to go right round the island so I just mucked about a bit.
I disembarked at the ferry station and carried my board across the island to one of the swimming holes. I believe there are a couple on the island. They aren’t massive but I did find it useful to have the board in the water as as a bit of a support vehicle as people were jumping in from various (and increasingly precarious) heights!
The water in the pools is lovely. Not too cold, clear as crystal and definitely can’t wait to visit again next month!
Saying cheerio to family and friends, I headed straight back to the holiday home across the bay. The tides and wind were in my favour but I was slightly nervous about getting carried away off course towards the Corryveckan whirlpool. A jeopardy free crossing though and by the end of it, I was definitely ready for a cold beer and my tea at the house!
