Words: Geth Roberts,
Sea Kayaking Wales

Photos: Geth Roberts,
Mirco Goldhausen and
Neil Hamlet

Geth Roberts

Geth’s Bio

Geth Roberts is co-owner of Sea Kayaking Wales, based in Anglesey, offering course opportunities throughout the year. This expedition was part of their 2023 expeditions programme. Their other expeditions and trips in 2023 included Slate Isles, Scotland, and Pembrokeshire. Their initial 2024 programme of expeditions can be found on www.seakayakingwales.com.

Barra: Outer Hebrides sea kayaking adventure

I’m on Vatersay, Outer Hebrides, reflecting on what makes a great sea kayaking expedition. My tent doorway frames a beautiful pale sandy beach and azure sea. The blue sky has been replaced by cloud and wind, remnants of a cold front neatly bisecting our week. Our team members chat under the neighbouring tent’s extended tarpaulin porch, planning the next days following this timely wind-enforced rest day.

Our aims
We are on this long-anticipated holiday to unwind and have fun. Living ‘feral’ and simply under canvas in the wilderness is high on our agenda, as sharing the experience with good company and finding time to think and mindfully absorb our surroundings.

From a kayaking perspective, we want to explore, paddle far and wide, develop boat handling skills in our loaded boats on the Atlantic swell, and better understand expedition paddling decision-making.

The journey
So far, we have explored Barra Sound’s archipelago of intricate islands. This was followed by traversing Barra’s eastern coastline on our way south to Vatersay, the most southerly inhabited island of the Outer Hebrides. We are thriving on our simple nomadic lifestyle. The wellbeing benefits have already been substantial to us all. So what factors are contributing to our successful expedition?

The team
We are a group of nine paddlers who have grown to enjoy each other’s company. A lot of ice was broken, eating and camping together near Oban, before sharing a wonderful lunchtime ferry journey to Castlebay, Barra. Mull gave us our first captivating wildlife sightings of a porpoise and white-tailed eagle. On reaching the open sea adjacent to Coll and Tiree, a large pod of common dolphins entertained us with high-speed gymnastic manoeuvres of joy. As team building experiences go, this five-hour ferry journey was a great way to start our time together.

We have since discovered so much to like and respect about each other. Our past and present working lives have included: travelling the developing world as a missionary doctor; flying helicopters for both the army and police; social science international development; police work and industrial rope access; social housing and computer coding; anaesthetics and intensive care; chef work on three continents, sea kayak building and coaching; physiotherapy and medical safety; teaching and more sea kayak coaching. Our interests and values are equally fascinating and varied. It is the privilege of my working life to get to know such amazing people on great sea kayaking adventures.
We are developing mutual support and trust for each other. Off the water, the teamwork continues in our camp craft and camaraderie. Shared food, including foraged and appropriate Scottish whiskey, adds to the team’s morale.

The skills
Each team member brings valuable skills to our joint endeavour. From a sea kayaking perspective, we are all at least competent group members in moderate water conditions. Our team members also bring specialist further expertise in meteorology, leadership/group management, medicine, photography/videography, camp craft and ‘feral’ living, plus many other useful skills to lubricate the mechanism of our quest.

The Wilderness
Sea kayak expeditions are about exploring wild places and taking a break from our everyday existence. The Outer Hebrides exemplifies this with its dramatic environment and wildlife. Our biodiversity log has further grown: more white-tailed and golden eagles, bottlenose dolphins, otters, urchins, starfish, sponges, edible seaweeds, great northern divers, gannets, black and standard guillemots, terns, skuas, skylarks, the calls of corncrakes, cuckoos and so much more.

This edge of the world environment sees substantial Atlantic Ocean swell meeting great cliffs and beaches. We are near the birthplace of North Atlantic low-pressure systems, which occasionally torment these islands with awesomely powerful storms. Time spent in this environment helps put into perspective our every day worries.

History and Culture
We’ve had a rest day on Vatersay to explore the local history through its community centre and our welcoming local permanent resident neighbours. At the far end of the island, we visited Eorasdail. Founded in the 1900s and abandoned in the 1970s. It was established by fishermen from neighbouring Mingulay Island. Only the gable book ends of houses remain, a testament to brave and inspiring people.

Memorials on Vatersay also record two voyaging tragedies caused by storm conditions. An emigrant ship, the ‘Annie Jane’, bound from Liverpool to Quebec, was wrecked here in 1853, killing 350 people. And during the Second World War, an anti-submarine Catalina flying boat crashed with the loss of nine young airmen. Twisted aluminium wreckage marks the crash site. These remind us of the dangers of exploring the seas and skies around Vatersay.

The memories
Our experiences will soon be collated into a series of stories/anecdotes, illustrated with our albums of photos and videos. We will remember stepping out of our kayaks into far deeper than expected landing waters; rainbows, sunsets, starry nights, sunny blue skies, crystal clear waters, turbulent seas, and the passage of weather fronts. We met friendly local people and unexpectedly met up with old friends whose adventurous paths crossed our own. Hearing Paul’s radio updates on Manchester City’s semi-final match vs Real Madrid further entertained us. Our time chatting together will be cherished, as will our time paddling deep in our mindful thoughts.

What happened next?
I’m now on the ferry, returning to Oban, with a very happy team of happy paddlers.

After Vatersay, we crossed the sound to traverse the exposed western coastline of Sandray Island. The exciting force 4 wind, a neap tide race and Atlantic swell conditions provided an exhilarating passage. We’ve all paddled in bigger conditions, but the committing nature of this wild coastline concentrated our minds and galvanised us into a brilliant show of teamwork, mutual trust and support. Sandray provided us with another stunning camping location, a sweet reward for our endeavours. Arguably, my favourite beach on the Outer Hebrides, with powerful beach surf and a sneaky sheltered secondary beach landing spot. Another expedition highlight.

All too soon, our last paddling day arrived. Low winds were forecast, but the residual large Atlantic swell remained. We headed south to Pabbay. More exploding rocky shores and reefs kept us in awe. Despite the surf on Pabbay, we managed to solve landing at the sheltered most spot, in between surf sets. This revealed a beachside machair landscape carpeted in primroses, guarding another abandoned village, further remnants of a long-ago hardy people.

We returned to Castlebay and celebrated our fantastic week of shared adventure and friendship with fish and chips. Our last night was spent back at Derek’s super hospitable and nice Barra Sands Campsite, overlooking Barra Sound, where our expedition began so long ago.

Our obligatory team photo on this Oban-bound ferry will always remind me of an extraordinary week with a group of amazing people, forever bound by this wonderful team endeavour. We are already discussing plans for expeditions in 2024 – perhaps we will try a Skye/Harris/Lewis Expedition; the Shiant Islands would be lovely to visit. And Norway has been mentioned as a potential 2024 sea kayaking destination. No doubt there will be spare spaces for new friends to join us.