Northern Scotland: Strathy Point
The second video from my trip up to the Northern Scottish coast, with Will and Andy from Kayak Summer Isles, was from a wonderful day spent paddling around the large headland of Strathy Point, near Thurso. This was the second day of paddling that we had together, having paddled Loch Hope the day before, as the winds were simply too strong to have an enjoyable day out along the exposed coastline. This is a part of Scotland that’s very exposed to any kind of adverse conditions and your trips need to be carefully planned around both the weather and the very significant tidal flows found here. Whilst the loch paddle had been very pleasant, I was really looking forward to getting out into the salty stuff, and our trip around Strathy did not disappoint!
Arriving at Strathy Beach that morning was a little intimidating, as over a meter of surf was rolling into the bay, and I’m not the most confident of paddlers in the surf environment. As we got unloaded and setup, carrying our kayaks down a rather tiring, sandy path to the beach from the car park, my nerves were admittedly growing somewhat, and once I was sitting in my boat, spray deck on and ready to paddle out, those nerves were really racing.
But in the end, as I paddled out and hit the first wave, exhilaration took over. There’s something very particular about launching in surf, the way half your kayak is momentarily airborne before slapping down hard on the back of the wave, a loud bang reverberating through the entire boat, that just gets the adrenaline going.
After paddling around the top of the headland, the coast has many features to explore and play in. The geology here is incredible, with so much to see. We had a bit of bouncy swell all day, as the preceding week had been very windy and it was still a bit gusty throughout the afternoon, which added to the fun.
This is definitely a trip worth considering if you’re in the area, as there’s so much to see. The swell made for some lively conditions in some little gaps and arches, although I imagine even flat calm conditions (if indeed those ever even happen around here!) would make for a wonderful afternoon of exploration.
As with most of the other paddles we did around the coast here, the water throughout the day was teeming with jellyfish, many of the nasty, stinging variety, so care had to be taken to avoid stray tentacles becoming entangled on my paddle!
The landing here involved a rather exhausting carry up a steep path at Armadale, but with several of us to lend a hand it wasn’t too bad.
