Jura May Bank Holiday 2010
I signed up for this trip in November when Andy first posted on the forum. Having pretty much just joined the club I was super excited about a weekend of biking and hiking in Scotland. My excitement somewhat faded when Tenk suggested wild camping. Its not like I hadn’t camped before, but I wasn’
t really up for three days camping in the middle of nowhere, carrying ALL that stuff, drinking stream water and most importantly lacking some very essential facilities.
In the two months before the trip I remained very non-committal –
one minute really excited and definitely up for it and the next wondering how I would survive for 3 days in the wild, much to the irritation of certain club members (sorry!!).
On the Monday before the trip I finally decided I WOULD go (due mainly to being able to nick kit off people)! Woo Hoo and OH MY GOODNESS!
Friday came and on the third attempt I managed to get absolutely everything I needed in my bag, which surprisingly didn’t feel as heavy as I thought it would. I couldn’t stand up straight (for fear of falling over backwards!) but I could carry it – this was very good news –
I had not fallen at the first hurdle!!
Ready and eager Frank, Vidal, Helen and I set off in the rain. Traffic was good and for half the journey Frank and Vidal sat in the back of the car while Helen and I discussed school and politics and education and jobs and more school!
Having refreshed ourselves with food at the Truck stop and charged our camelbaks we set off for the second and last leg of Fridays journey – the Rest and Be Thankful – a car park…
on a main road.
We arrived about 10, pitched tents and crowded around Tenk’s camper for warmth. The last of the party turned in about 3…
and that was Friday!
On Saturday I woke to the sound of a car horn and some very loud German (I think) lads who said something I didn’t understand, laughed REALLY loudly, beeped their car horn and drove off – an incident that Vidal later had me believing I’d dreamt. I was so incredibly pleased that I’d survived my first night of wild camping – I was still alive and my little tent had not fallen down (though I did have help putting it up!). I wandered down to where the car was parked to be told we were heading into the town for bacon sandwiches and a cup of tea –
immediately I began to like wild camping A LOT!!
A large YMC party of some 23 assorted humans plus 2 dogs got the ferry from Kennacraig and landed on Jura at about 3.30.
Jura comes from the Norse words meaning Deer Island. Today over 6500 deer live on six estates on the island. In contrast, the human population is less than 200 so for 3 days YMC increased the population of the island by more than 10%!!
The island is 29 miles long and 7 miles wide in places. The west is wild and virtually uninhabited, occupied only by the three Paps of Jura which are known in Gaelic as The Mountain of the Sound, The Mountain of Gold and The Sacred Mountain.
We trekked for about 5miles as a whole group before splitting off at Cnocbreac–
half went for the long haul off track to the beach and the other half went for the shorter route to camp by Na Garbh-Lochanan. Needless to say I was in the second group and so excited was I to put my pack down that I pretty much ran the last leg of the journey!! We set up camp and that was Saturday.
Sunday brought rain in the morning. Fortunately as the group who took the shorter route we had the luxury of not having to set off so early in the morning so a lazy breakfast saw off the rain, we left bags at the bealach and we began our accent up the scree path of Beinn Chaolais. It was fairly cloudy when we got to the top, but cleared on our way down to reveal some spectacular views of Beinn an Oir and Beinn Shiantaidh which inspired the group to tackle the other two paps.
I managed one of the Paps, so not completely shameful. While the rest of the group tackled the other two, Frank, Tenk, Lewis and I headed for the pub (we had our priorities sorted!!). We took the longer slightly flatter route passing Loch an t-Síob, unfortunately (for me) this involved falling in two bogs! The first time I was fine, right leg in up to knee, the second time both legs went in –
having spent a horrendous 30 seconds fearing I may be stuck there forever I managed to pull myself out pleased that there had been no witnesses!
We met the road at a bridge about 3 miles from the hotel and from there we walked on tarmac for the rest of the way. The views across the coast were stunning.
We were the first people from the group to arrive at the pub and from our arrival there was a steady influx of campers ready for food and a pint. The rest of the evening was spent chilling out, some playing pool, eating and drinking in the pub.
You forget when you live in the city, that there are so many stars in the sky (well maybe you don’t forget –
but you know what I mean). The sky above Jura is AMAZING so being the science geek that I am I spent a good hour laid on the jetty staring at the stars trying to recognise constellations, with a can of gin and tonic to keep me warm!!!
Monday was welcomed with a fry up at the Jura Hotel. Its not like I hadn’t enjoyed my porridge with boiled stream water the day before, because I actually did –
but that fry up was GOOD! The bus that Tenk organised was picking us up at 2.00 so we enjoyed a relaxing day of just enjoying the gorgeous view.
We arrived back at the ferry port at about 5 and set off for the journey home.
It was an amazing trip and will be very hard to beat. Having been ever so slightly terrified about it I would have happily stayed for the week. Massive thanks to those who: organised the trip, believed I could do it (Lizzie), give me advice, a lift or bits of kit and to Helen for the photo's.
