ron-t kayaking blog
03 June 2013 .............. Rhoscolyn Beacon and round Rhoscolyn Head
This was an interesting day for two reasons - firstly, it was my first trip out to the islands around Rhoscolyn Beacon, to have a play in the several tide races that flow through them.
Secondly, it was the first time out in the Isel since I trimmed back the built-in skeg - I wanted to adjust the balance between how the boat tracks, and how manouverable it is. Some people like a boat that tracks well, I prefer a boat that has a good degree of manouverability. I liked the result.
Heading out of Rhoscolyn Bay, you are soon into an area of rocky coastline, with rocky islands and headlands, and before long Rhoscolyn Beacon comes into view.
It doesn`t look far across to Rhoscolyn Beacon, but it is worth being a bit cautious about crossing the sound and the area to the north west, especially during a flood tide, as it can be quite chunky if the wind is from the west. Even if there is no wind, there is a significant tidal current through the sound, getting more pronounced as you get closer to the first island. You have to cross a tide race to get to the first island.
On this occasion there was a bit of wind, tide races don`t really show in photographs, but here is the view looking back across the sound towards the mainland.
The islands around Rhoscolyn Beacon provide lots of places to play around, with significant tidal currents through many of the gaps. Here are two of the inner races.
Here is a gap I managed to squeeze through - without adding to the scrapes on my boat.
And here is the beacon itself - a stone and concrete tower that really needs a bit of attention before it disintegrates too much.
After playing around for a while, I headed out to Rhoscolyn Head - here it is, taken from ( I think ) the outer race.
I headed pretty much in a straight line from the outer race across to the islands beside Rhoscolyn Head, and as a route it was fine, until I was getting close, and it then became clear the current was taking me outwards, so I turned and headed straight for the coast, and I found another cave. I don`t seem to have taken a picture of it from the outside, but it is quite a deep one, and here is looking out from it.
Then it was round Rhoscolyn Head, and down the coast to the white arch - I was hoping the tide level would be high enough this time for me to paddle through the arch, and it was.
So after successfully paddling through it, I headed on to the Black Arch to see if I could get that one as well - well there was certainly enough water to paddle through it, but I wasn`t sure whether there would be enough water at the other side, so I paddled round the outside of the headland to see what was what. It was a good thing I did, because there wasn`t enough water to get round to the back of the arch, and if I had come through the arch I would have been stuck, I couldn`t even have turned round.
Annoying - so I paddled back round to the front of the arch, and watched the swell powering through the arch - and it was clear that, unlike the swell at the arch on Dinas Stack, the swell through this arch would not cause the same kind of problems that it does at the Dinas Stack arch.
So I pondered for a while, then set off and paddled through the arch backwards. It meant I didn`t have to turn round at the far side, and I could watch the swell coming in and react to it as required.
I got through the arch - just - there was just a big enough puddle for me to say I got through the arch. Then paddled back out again.
So it looks like the Black Arch needs a high tide level if you want to go right through it, and it looks like swell coming in is not neccessarily a bad thing - get it right, and you could blast through the arch on the swell. However you need to make your own judgement on the day as to whether it is safe for you to do it.
After that it was back up and around Rhoscolyn Head. Somewhere around the head I passed spiderman who was on holiday in Anglesey -
I love the view you get as you come round Rhoscolyn Head, and you begin to see all the islands that are dotted around that area, and you get your first view of Rhoscolyn Beacon.
The coastline between Rhoscolyn Head and Rhoscolyn Bay isn`t perhaps as dramatic as some of the Anglesey coastline, but it has plenty of interest. Here`s a general view looking along the coast, and some of the features.
All the time Rhoscolyn Beacon is growing more prominent, and on good days, a great stretch of the Lleyn Peninsula provides a backdrop.
After a while I found two more caves - very low, formed between two distinct kinds of rock. They are both quite deep - I tried to go into the first one - I did get some way in, but it was so low that the sloping roof was scraping my lovely glittery deck, so came back out again. I didn`t try to get into the second one. It might be possible to get in them at lower tide levels, I don`t know.
Here are the outside views of them - sorry about the quality of the first photograph, the camera autofocus seems to have turned into auto-out-of-focus.
I went back across to Rhoscolyn Beacon to see what the tide races are like at higher tide levels - they weren`t really any more tide racey - just wider. Here is one of the middle races, looking back towards Rhoscolyn Head.
When I was playing around in one of the middle races, I was joined by someone else enjoying the tide race.
He was a bit shy at first, but eventually came across to say hello.
Finally, I love it when just sometimes the camera produces an effect that you didn`t expect - and here is one I like.
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