Excellent planning tool

[ciaran]

Hiyiz

in an idle moment was looking at the helicopter site linked from the left menu here. It\'s great for planning landings - the quay on inishark, for example, is really well shown.

Post edited by: ciaran, at: 2013/01/03 16:44

[conorsmith]

Agree, it is an excellent tool.

I have used it on a couple of occasions to research areas I have not paddled before. It will allow you to highlight landing areas and/or get out points on your OS map, before entering the water.

Particularly if you are visiting an area for the first time, you will have an idea of what the coast will look like and occasionally it might even highlight a hazard to watch out for.

[martinguilfoyle]

That quay and slip are not often usable and the slip is very steep and open to swell. photographs from the air can be deceptive. The military have branches solely trained to interpret aerial photographs and they get it wrong. Slopes are difficult to ascertain.
There is a nice narrow inlet to the right of the slipway that leads in to a good camping spot. It is narrow with a dog leg in it so take care.

Martin

[DaveWalsh]

Alternatively there\'s a yoke called Oileáin which isn\'t bad ...........

Landing and Camping
The traditional landing is inside a protective but otherwise unusable pier below the abandoned village on the E end of the S coast. The landing is onto a steep slipway or stony storm beach beside the slipway. Alternatively, use a very narrow cut providing a dependable soft landing about 100m E of the pier. The camping is excellent. The water in the well looks a little dodgy.
There is also a fine landing located at the SE tip of the island L503-643 that can be missed quite easily by kayakers making direct to the old pier and slipway. A distinctive square shaped hummock on the shoreline is a useful marker to guide in those looking for this landing. There are two narrow cuts leading to a lovely hidden sandy beach. The most northerly of the two cuts is the better for landings as a boulder partially blocks the more southern one.
The camping above this landing is very good and water can be found in the obvious little valley than runs away uphill. This may require a pool to be dug below the boulder area on the beach but the water quality was good in August 2010.