Isle of Jura Day 2 Cont... - Tarbert Bay to Craighouse

Having left Tarbert Bay feeling refreshed we continued our journey south west with the ebbing tide along Juras east coast.  Sticking with plan A  our aim is to make it to Craighouse, Juras main settlement and home of the Jura Distillery.

The east coast of Jura is mainly low lying forestry and grassland.  Dominating the view for..well the entire trip, are the Paps of Jura.

The Paps of Jura consist of three conical quartzite mountains rising to 2575 feet.  The word 'pap' originates from the Old Norse word meaning 'breast'.

Photo by Simon Ford - Myself and Chris - The Paps (tits) Of Jura 

The hope is to get up onto the Paps tomorrow evening when we plan to camp at Loch Tarbert.

We take a brief refuge with the birds after being caught by unexpected localised downdrafts coming down off the mountains.

Moving on however with barely a clouds in the sky the winds dissipate.

Myself and Jules leave the remainder of the group briefly to bag another shipping Buoy - Nine Foot Rock, but also out here there may be more chance of spotting some sea life.

To the south eastern horizon stand the mountains of the Isle of Arran, another one for the bucket list, maybe next year.

Approaching the Small Isles just off Craighouse we are once again mobbed by Arctic Turns as well as a few common seals. 

Drifting into Craighouse Bay there's actually a lot more going on here than I imagined.  The shoreline is dominated by the white buildings of the Jura Distillery and neighbouring Jura Hotel.

Feeling quite shattered having been up since 4:30am, we stretch out on the grass, get the kettle on and make ourselves some lunch.  Our plan A would see us camp here and spend a few hours looking around the small settlement, maybe even pop in the distillery for a tour.  However...

Simon got talking to a local fisherman as we landed who's words were.."have you seen the forecast for Wednesday?"..."and Thursday...and Friday?".   We check a number of forecast sites while we have a little signal.  There be a storm coming and it's here to stay a while.  Time for plan B...