BAD weather has forced a Douglas man kayaking round the Scottish islands to curtail his trip.
George Shaw of Willow Terrace set out ten days ago and has already completed 125 miles of his kayak trip which should have taken him right round the Outer Hebrides.
But thwarted by high winds and with no sign of any respite from the bad weather over the next few days, he has been forced to modify his route to avoid the roughest of the seas.
Mr Shaw left on April 19 to cover the first couple of miles of his trip from Castlebay in Barra and camped for the night at Bhatarsaigh.
‘Once I set camp, the beauty of the Outer Hebrides hit me. This place was stunning. It was a clear sunny evening and the sand on the beaches was white with crystal clear waters,’ he said.
But from early on the trip has been blighted with high winds, rough seas and rain.
Setting up camp in the sand dunes at the end of day two he said: ‘It felt like a long day having covered around 40 miles. Raining all day and went to bed hoping for sunshine the next day.
The third day was still windy and with it came rough seas and heavy surf which rolled the kayak.
Further problems came later as he tried to camp for the night and the surf made landing the kayak impossible, at one point flipping it over before he finally found a sheltered bay.
‘I was so happy. It was time to rest up so I landed and camped at Scolpaig.The beach and water looked like something out of Thailand. Very lucky to have been here.
Day four saw little improvement: ‘In the back of my mind I knew the weather was going to get worse as the day went on.’
The crossing to South Harris took two hours into the wind before he finally made land in a howling gale and set up camp for the night.
‘Found a place to pitch tent behind an old coach dumped in the sand dunes spent the whole night lying there awake to the sound of 60 mile an hour gales,’ he said.
After two days stranded by the weather and with long range forecasts offering little hope of a respite he decided to head south on a modified route.
‘A complete trip around is not on the cards. This trip was always weather permitting I have kayaked over 125 miles so far. The scenery is some of the best I have seen and the few folk that I have met are very friendly and helpful
‘At present the weather is gales of around 50 to 60 miles an hour, pouring with rain and it’s not looking good for the next week.’