Paddles with an Anas acuta...... unashamedly biased toward the sea kayak of that name (actually the voyages of two boats, one 'traffic over gold', one 'quill')

Saturday 24 August 2013

Shetland: Papa Stour

Just back from 3 weeks in Shetland, a mixed but generally good bag of weather, 16 days paddling out of 21 is not bad. Our day out round Papa Stour had light winds but the motion in the sea made many of the caves inaccessible. The swell was coming out of the NW, a gift from the Faeroes because of the ongoing fishing dispute according to a trawler skipper.

 It is all on such a massive scale, a never ending succession of cliffs, caves and stacks.
 Swell licking its lips on the lower parts.
 Calm patches behind every salient.
Shelter from the motion for sufficient caving to exhaust our headtorch batteries.
What a day out! More news of the Shetlands to follow