Additional notes pages are intended to provide information of less interest to the general reader than the story of the trip, but which might be useful to anyone planning another trip in the same area. This provides context for any comments about weather and sea conditions or tides in the trip write-up.

Resources:

• The area around Mull is within the Clyde coastguard area, 01475 729988. Marine safety information is broadcast on marine VHF radio every three hours from 02:10, with the main bulletins at 08:10, 14:10 and 20:10. Listen on channel 16 for an announcement to say which channel to hear the full broadast (which channel depends on the best line-of-sight transmitter). The nearest is at Torosay, which uses channel 10, but close in to the SE coast of Mull, this may be out of line-of-sight owing to high hills.
• The inshore waters area is "Mull of Kintyre to Ardnamurchan Head".
• UKHO EasyTide OBAN for up to six days ahead.
• Tide for Tobermory from Proudman Oceanographic Lab. This goes 28 days ahead. HW Oban is just about twenty minutes earlier than HW Tobermory.

The 2010 trip

The Mull trip took place over the days 8th to 10th March 2010 (Monday to Wednesday), with neap tides during the week, and a forecast for high pressure and little wind all week. With no storms out in the Atlantic, there was very little swell - maybe a foot or so at the most exposed point of the trip.

The synoptic charts are for midday (GMT) each day (downloaded as current charts, not forecasts) and the tide times are as predicted by Autotide for the reference station of Oban.

Monday 8th March

	Tide height	Time (GMT)
	L 1.9	04:45
	H 2.8	11:04
	L 2.0	17:24
	H 2.8	23:55

On the water at 10:05, giving almost slack water (high) to paddle down the Sound of Kerrera and out to Bach Island. Tidal currents in the Firth of Lorn are relatively weak, maybe 1 knot at springs and considerably less at neaps, so there was very little ebb tide drifting me south during the crossing to Mull. There are overfalls during the ebb at the entrance to Loch Spelve - but these were not present at neaps on a windless day. There are a variety of landing places and possible camping spots on the Mull side of the crossing, including sandy beaches not far either side of Loch Spelve.

See the route via OSM / Google maps

The coast from Loch Spelve to Loch Buie is mostly rocky, with a few small steep shingle beaches. Several possible landing places in very good conditions, but all would be increasingly difficult or impossible in a rough sea, so this is a fairly committing bit of coast. None of the landing places offers an easy escape to a road. The coast is more exposed to swell from Frank Lockwood's Island to Rubha na Faoilinn, with no landings. Loch Buie offers landings from a kilometre or so inside, with better beaches and less swell further in - the head of the loch is quite sheltered.

Tuesday 9th March

	Tide height	Time (GMT)
	L 2.0	06:36
	H 2.7	13:09
	L 2.0	19:36

The paddling today was a reversal of the second half of the previous day, mostly against the first half of the ebb. This was weak enough (and I was close enough inshore) to be not noticeable at all.

See the route via OSM/Google maps

Wednesday 10th March

	Tide height	Time (GMT)
	H 2.8	02:13
	L 2.0	08:46
	H 2.8	15:00
	L 1.9	21:09

Starting after lunch, the entrance to Loch Spelve was crossed on the last of the flood, with no noticeable current inwards. The crossing was close to slack high, and with no vector from the tide and no wind, it was just a matter of pointing the boat at the north end of Bach Island (a bearing of 120° on the boat's compass) and paddling. The tide was not noticeable on the west coast of Kerrera, and the ebb was with me to paddle back down the Sound of Kerrera to the beach next to the ferry. There is a lot of traffic at the north end of Kerrera, and especially watch out for the big CalMac ferries as well as various fast small boats plying between Oban and the Oban marina which is on Kerrera. Some CalMac ferries also use the Sound of Kerrera, although you can mostly stay well out of the channel and make a swift crossing when the coast is clear.

See the route via OSM/Google maps

Overall, one of the easiest trips I've planned with very little tide to worry about. At springs with swell and a bit of wind, it could be a lot different...

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