24th – Loch Morar Brinacory Circle

The Club’s first scheduled paddle of 2024 took place on a chilly but calm Sunday towards the end of March.  Twelve paddlers set off from Bun an Loin Bay (aka Viv’s Bay!) on Loch Morar and followed the north shore of the loch eastwards for about seven kilometres to Brinacory.  From the water it is amazing to see how the path to Tarbet has been built up …the work of many men (and perhaps women!) over many years with very few tools and still a popular right of way today.  Lunch was taken at Brinacory on the shore under the remains of the Schoolhouse.  After eating, we paddled round Brinacory Island and headed across the loch to the little tree covered Eilean Allmha (the nearest meaning I found for Allmha was “alien, exotic, Foreign, Stranger”).  Perhaps the little island holds a secret or two!  Paddling west along the south shore of the loch we were able to clearly see the parallel furrows of the lazy beds.  These were formed when potatoes were cultivated by laying them on the surface and covering them with kelp and with soil from a trench on either side of the bed.  They were called “lazy beds” by contemporary writers because they were seen as a lazy method of farming.  However, it seems to me that gathering kelp from the shore and transporting it to the hillside around the loch was anything but lazy!
Stopping at Lettermorar we walked up to the ruins of the little cottage clad in corrugated iron.  It was sad to see the remains of furniture and cooking utensils lying amid the broken-down wood lining and rusting corrugated iron and the place seems to echo with the lives once lived there. 
Back on the water we finished the trip by taking a circuitous route through the islands exploring little channels and catching sight of two golden eagles flying high overhead.
Thank you to the bakers who kept us supplied with coffee cookies, lemon drizzle cake and a sticky nut slice! You know who you are…come again!!

Distance travelled: 17.8km.

Paddlers: Joan, Elizabeth, Bill S. & Jill, Peter K. Tasmin & Julie, Iain, Ruth, Mike, Kirsty and Lucy (who reduced the average age of the group by quite a few years!)