sailscotland 2020

Lovely Lochaber…

 Castle Thioram, Loch Moidart - view from hills above beach © Red Moon Cruises

Heading north from Oban to Kyle for our first 2019 Red Moon Cruise we had a few days in hand so we thought we would take a peak in the sea lochs of Moidart and Ailort, as yet unexplored by us. We were very excited to enter Loch Moidart as it is an interesting navigational challenge to get in there and we were keen to get our first view of Tioram Castle – and importantly to assess whether this could be a new cruise option for us.

Red Moon’s Skipper Scott Atkinson relates... “I was not too fazed having looked at the Pilot Guide* for the area and studied our charts before we entered. However, it proved to be a little more exciting than I thought it would be. There is a point at which you need to do a couple of significant turns and we were in the process of starting the first when our GPS had a position failure - so back to first principle navigation and mark ones eyeballs! I also had the advantage of Antares detailed chartlets but be warned the feeling of that turn when you are actually on the water is somewhat more pronounced than expected!” We came to a deep pool centred behind Riska island and as we looked to starboard there was the Castle, picture perfect. We anchored there and excited to explore ashore we jumped into the tender and were able to do a beach landing. We walked along a lovely white sandy beach to take a look at the Castle which is a ruin, but a very handsome one. It really is a picturesque, rather romantic spot and we were already planning bringing our guests back later in the season. The next morning was a glorious day and we decided to take the tender to head deeper into the loch. We cruised up the Moidart river and suddenly from feeling like we were miles from anything...there was a road! This was the A861 which winds around the Lochaber coast from Mallaig to Strontian. Leaving this behind us we took the North channel, leading to the loch’s North Harbour, which is only 6m wide at its narrowest with a flooding causeway to cross. This place feels really quiet and peaceful and we were rewarded for our patience in navigating the shallows by the sight of an otter and then deer grazing on the shore. Wonderful.

sail scotland 2020

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