There has been no wind from the West for ages, the forecast is for generally light wind and the low tide is in the middle of the day. It’s therefore an ideal day for a trip to Mingulay which is the second island from the Southern end of the Outer Hebrides. The only problem is that we will have to motor all the way as there is not enough wind. Also it’s cloudy, the visibility is not good and the barometer is only showing 997! We set off and were glad to see the trip boat Boy James overtake us and pass through the Fisherman’s Passage, which is a narrow short-cut. They confirmed that we were heading for the right gap between the rocks. We passed the uninhabited islands of Sandray and Pabbay and eventually reached Mingulay where conditions at the beach were beautifully calm. We anchored and headed for the beach in the dinghy. There is always some swell so you have to land with care to avoid getting wet. The waves were only a few centimetres high, so there should be no problem. However we were surprised by a tiny wave and Pam ended up with a boot full of water. This was judged to be my fault. However the sun came out and the mood soon improved.
The people from the Boy James had just landed – the boat had done a circuit of the island, going very close to the big cliffs on the West side of the island and even passing through a rock arch. There was also a group of tents on the island which belonged to a group of climbers.
We walked up the middle of the island from the ruined village where nettles were growing among the old black houses to peer over the the cliffs at the far side. It was an astonishing sight – a great cleft in the island, with a vertical cliff about 200m high. The sea was washing idly at the bottom and a number of sea birds were nesting on the cliff or flying around. We walked along most of the West side of the island which is all high cliffs with some detached stacks. Birds included: Great Skua, Buzzard (probably), Tern, Kittiwake, Fulmar, Puffin, Corncrake (heard only), Gannets, Guillemots.
Returning to the beach we found a young seal playing in the shallows and watching us. We chose a better place to launch, but still suffered wet boots: Pam 2, me 1. Again it was judged to be my fault. We had sandwiches and tea to make up for not taking much ashore and decided to try a trip round the island. The slight problem was that going through the Sound of Berneray (between Berneray and Mingulay) would be against the tide which was a good-sized spring tide with coefficient 101. Leaving the bay we saw several basking sharks. The sound was not very long, but progress seemed very slow against about 2 knots of tide. On the way we saw some of the climbers. We then emerged into the Atlantic Ocean and found that we were still against the tide as we turned to go North, motor-sailing but mostly motoring. I did not fancy going in close to the cliffs like the Boy James – those people know the way and also have 2 engines – but we still got a good view of the cliffs. After a while we reached a point where the tide was behind us and it continued to be with us through the Sound of Mingulay. Both sounds were smooth water – they can easily get rough with wind against tide or wind against swell and in such conditions we would not go through. On the way back we even managed to switch off the engine for a while and returned rather late to the moorings at Castlebay.
Sorry - pics have all got jumbled up - whever I try to sort it out it gets worse!
Follow our
track on Google Maps.
 |
| Anchored in Mingulay bay |
 |
| Great Skuas |
 |
| 200m cliffs |
 |
| Nice gneiss |
 |
| view North over Pabbay, Sandray, Vatersay and Barra |
 |
| The bay, with the old village visible |
 |
| Berneray |
 |
| Hebridean Princess and Kisimul Castle |
