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Product Description
Product Description
The west coast of Scotland casts a spell on anyone with a taste for adventure, a feeling for the past or a love of the wild, uninhabited places. With tidal currents of awesome power running between fascinating patterns of islands, it is a challenging place for any type of small craft. Robin Lloyd-Jones has been exploring here in his sea kayak for more than forty years.In this enchanced new edition of Argonauts of the Western Isles he takes us on many a memorable epedition to wild and beautiful shores. Amongst magnificent scenery and ever-changing seas, we are transported to Jura, Scarba, the Garvellach Isles, Mull, Staffa, the Treshnish Isles, the Monack Isles, Iona, Lewis and the Utis, Skye, the Orkneys, the Shetland Isles to places with music in their names, like Tir Nan Og the land of the ever-young, places which, once visited, become part of you.Along the way the author tells us a great deal about kayaking, about the wildlife and the history of the area but, more than that, he makes us feel that we are with him on his kayak. We experience what it is like to set out with one's destination below the horizon and nothing but open sea ahead, to bivouac under the stars, to spend the night aboard a wreck, to be 'hunted' by the vortex of the Corryvreckan whirlpool, to paddle into dark, booming caves, to feel an Atlantic swell rolling beneath the kayak and to become part of its rhythm. Through the author's vivid descriptions we know the terror of a force nine gale, the tranquillity of moolit trips, and the lure of tiny bays and seal-meadows accessible only to a slim kayak. We encounter dolphins, otters, unidentified monsters and nuclear submarines. And when he writes of the magic of remote islands, the Robinson Crusoe in all of us is awakened.This is a book to set the imagination adrift, a book for those seeking wider horizons, be their vessel an armchair or a kayak.
About the Author
As well as taking part in the Artic Sea Kayak Marathon, the Western Isles Challange and continuing to explore Scotland's west coast, Robin is also a keen mountaineer and photographer. He is the author of two collections of short stories and three books, including Fallen Pieces of the Moon.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a really well written account of the authors start into sea kayaking. It follows his, and his colourful companions, progress as they increase their skills and undertake more demanding trips in their sea kayaks. It captures the essence of exploring the west coast of Scotland and it is easy to immerse yourself into the stories, each chapter being a mini-adventure. I love ths book and have read it many times. I have no hessitation in recommending it.
Format:Paperback
Only one review in all these years? I'd better chip in then. OK, the cover's pretty terrible (as are other Whittles books, it seems), but who can resist the wonderful title which the book easily lives up to. We follow RL-J from his early days kayaking bathtubs, chased off the rivers by Clydeside Neds to be driven out to the isles beyond. The yarns unfold over four decades as we share his sense of adventure and wonder at the magical environment, along with engrossing historical asides and pithy anecdotes on sea kayaking technique and practice. Very occasionally you suspect the narrative gets massaged a little to help the story along or make an amusing pay-off, but you get over that as you revel in the lyrical evocation of his many island jaunts as well as the modest recounting of the occasional near disaster that readers of such books expect.
What may make Argonauts better than average is that the author is as accomplished a writer as he was an expert sea kayaker (now retired I suspect), so it's safe to say that anyone who paddles in the area or knows it well will find some inspiring destinations and great stories.
What may make Argonauts better than average is that the author is as accomplished a writer as he was an expert sea kayaker (now retired I suspect), so it's safe to say that anyone who paddles in the area or knows it well will find some inspiring destinations and great stories.
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