In the afternoon we decided to give our sore fingers a rest and explore the west walls of Mingulay and Pabbay looking for new yet climbable sections of cliff. The coastline there, unlike at the Pink Wall, was completely open to the west. The Atlantic swell – wave peaks produced by storms far out on the open seas – hit the rocks unchecked and unfiltered and we were overwhelmed by the Eda being tossed about like a ball on the nose of a seal, almost as soon as she left the swell shadow of Pabbay. And that in the absence of wind.
Nevertheless, James wanted to take a stab at it and at least try an approach on the bizarre rock architecture of Mingulay with a roped team. We lowered the dinghy down into the water and Fritz and I climbed in. Eda quickly disappeared behind huge wave crests, only the swaying mast belying the position of the mother ship. We turned our heads and saw the vertical walls of black gneiss approaching precipitately. Surrounded by crests and wind reflectors, the dinghy was a toy boat on the waves. James pulled the outboard back and forth, revving the motor and then slowing it down again. Walls made of white spume alternating with dark rocks obscured the view. Then, abrupt tranquillity accompanied by a soft murmur and the calling of seabirds. We motored through a gate-arch of nearly 50 m in the rock and found ourselves at the back of the rock in the middle of a protected channel. But even there, this much was clear, landing with the dinghy would be impossible. Like an elevator – it was five meters up and five meters down. We would have to look for another way to approach Mingulay’s walls.
Part V of the journey
To be continued…
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