Kielder v Hammocks

It was a back to basics, everything Kielder had to throw at us against tarp/hammock and two very unprepared blokes!

Back in civilisation again...! Last night went pretty well though, even with the 4 degrees cold overnight. We got up there about 5ish I think and found a decent spot hidden away in the forest in a little clearing. Car parked nicely off the road so it wouldn't be seen too much.

Got the tarps n hammocks setup, little groundsheet in the middle to make a bit of an area to sit and have our food. Learned our lessons from canoeing and got all the sleeping bit sorted first; so roll mat in the bottom of the hammock for insulation, sleeping bag inside (and unzipped), thermals inside ready for getting changed... So with all that sorted we got on to ration packs for tea.

They turned out to be a lot better than I think both of us imagined!! Even good in places. Chicken Tikka and rice was really good, the second curry portion of Curried Lamb on top of it didn't taste quite so good. But still definitely edible. Main courses over with we started on Pud. After a quick wash out of the mess tins Fruit Dumplings and Custard and Treacle Pudding finished us off. Fruit Dumpings were awesome... I'd live on those alone for a few days! Nice cup of coffee was all that we needed to close off a very satisfying (yet suprising) meal.

Now came bedtime.. Getting in the hammock was a job and a half by itself. Absolutely pitch black in the woods, getting inside a hammock & mosi net into a sleeping bag. Not one of the easiest things I've ever done. Got settled while Michael laughed at me, then I repaid the favour while he got in his. He had the insight of wisdom though and got in the sleeping bag first which seemed lot's easier. Took a while to get off to sleep.

I was awake 3-4 times so not too bad for a first attempt, got pretty damn cold during the night (weather said down to 4 degrees!) Every time you slipped a little off the roll mat underneath you'd get cold through the sleeping bag. Michael was up about the same, did have to get out and redo his hammock at one point because it was too high at one end. Slept till about 7:30 so obviously not too uncomfortable. Very different way to sleep which will take some getting used to, but loads more comfortable than the floor!! :o)

Got all packed up in the morning, had a cuppa coffee for breakfast before heading back down home. All in all a pretty successful trip out. We survied what Keilder had, and this was probably the coldest we'll ever really come up against for a while anyways. Would be nice to do it in Scotland and get a fire going too. Next time....

Hammock Test

So we're off to test out the hammocks on Saturday night and travelling really light as a test to what we need and what we can live without. When I say travelling light it started off as a tarp, hammock, sleepingbag and a knife... It's grown a bit since then when we actually got down to packing things - now added some food (always handy), a stove (another handy item), an axe (not quite so essential but worth having), first aid kit which will be in the car, some clothes! So as it turns out we're not quite as light as we first planned. But still a hell of a lot lighter than the canoe trip!

And that's the point of this one (and other trips between now and spring). We need to get a very well packed, well stocked but down to only essentials for the next leg of the Great Glen. Ration packs are being tested too as a light, simple alternative (maybe!). Mess tins instead of pans and plates/bowls. Just a spoon instead of knife/fork/spoon.

Who knows, maybe we'll think it's better to have more kit - possibly we've still got too much! Only one way to find out really. And it's only 1 night......

What's next?

Well being relatively warm/calm weather paddlers at this stage we've pretty much resigned to the fact that the next big canoe trip is going to be spring 2009 now. Hopefully we'll get a couple of day-trips out somewhere just to keep us going. Maybe Kielder again....

So in the meantime we're thinking about improving our wild camping skills, in particular;

• How to get everything setup and taken down a bit quicker
• Travelling a LOT lighter
• Finding a more comfortable way to sleep (ie. not on the ground)

We have some hammocks bought already (bargain from DD Hammocks) and planning on giving army rations a shot. Could be a Crocodile Dundee moment (You could live on it but....). Worth giving a go once as it would really make the food side of what we took last time loads lighter and easier to carry. Also cutting down on the tent now that we've got hammocks and tarps which will save some weight, and things like the axe which was hardly used, grilliput not used, smaller change of clothes etc etc.

Looking for somewhere to do one-nighters wild camping to get better at it all and learn a bit more about what we really do need and what we can do without. First trip soon and travelling ultra light. Should have an idea what is a MUST and what is a LIKE TO HAVE after that. No doubt we'll not take something that is majorly important but it's only one night!

Pictures of our trip...

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/itgod1/GreatGlenCanoeTrip#

How far did we actually go then?

Thu PM, Banavie - Camp 1 (just inside Loch Lochy) : 7.5 miles
Fri AM, Camp 1 - Camp 1.5 (the long paddle) : 4.5 miles
Fri PM, Round to Camp 2 (almost at Laggan) : 2 miles
Sat AM, Camp 2 - Laggan Locks : 3 miles

Total distance : 17 miles

Doesn't really seem that far now, but it definitely felt like it at the time! Shows what a slight tail wind did for us on the Thursday afternoon. Either that or we were just broken after one days paddling. Possibly a bit of both I guess.

Back Home

Ended up not sleeping out in the open last night, went up to get in to bed and there was a decent sized spider sat on the edge of the sleeping bag. Not quite ready for that just yet!! So got back in the tent and the tarp just kept everything dry overnight. Still a bit uncomfortable in the tent on the floor, need to get some hammocks or think of a new way of sleeping for next time.

Met a couple of walkers who were camped about 200 yards down the beach to us. They came along asking if we had a tin opener and some 'booze' they could buy from us. Seemed a bit odd at the time. But the next day while I was getting that car and Michael was waiting at Laggan they came past and explained they'd walked from Lands End and were heading to John O'Groats; it was day 70 for them!!! Makes our 3 day canoe trip look pretty tame.

Got up in the morning and packed everything together after pancakes and coffee for breakfast. Just a short 2-3 mile paddle up to Laggan then need to sort out getting up to Fort Augustus to get the car. Looking at the map we definitely were too ambitous thinking we'd make it that far! We made good time across to Laggan from Camp 2, about 1.5 hrs.

At Laggan by 10:45, we went up to the loch reception and found there was a bus due at 11am heading to Fort Augustus. Quickly got a few things together and I ran up to the road, just before giving up the bus came along. Got to the car, headed back for Michael who'd managed to blag a canoe trolley from someone and had all the gear up next to the car park.

Headed back to Fort William for Michael's car and grabbed some food at the pub before heading back down. Long 5hr drive back home but chilling out and starting to ache quite badly now! Great trip, very tired..... when we going back?

A long day

Sat at Camp 2 with a nice warm fire going, full from tea and all setup for bed. But we definitely were not this content earlier.

Had our breakfast this morning after a decent sleep, got the canoe set to go and headed out up the loch. We picked a spot that looked an achievable distance for lunch. It turned out to be a hell of a long way, we think about 5 miles in one go. We were both really struggling by the end, backs hurting like mad and shoulders seized up. Very glad to get out the canoe! Had some soup for lunch and a little fire to cheer ourselves up. Feeling much better we headed back out to find camp early and have a good rest.

Got here about 4pm, covered we think about 6-7 miles. I'm sleeping in the canoe tonight pulled up on the bank under the tarp. Hopefully more comfortable than the ground in the tent. Heading to Laggan tomorrow where we're calling it a day, no point killing ourselves to reach Fort Augustus.

Goodnight!

Are we nearly there yet?

No... But we made it to where we were aiming for. About 1 mile in to Loch Lochy at Camp1. Covered about 9 mile from Fort William through Moy Bridge and one hell of a portage at Gairlochy Locks to get in to Lochy. Had to carry bags and canoe roughly 1km!! Got all setup and made it round the corner in to the loch so we felt properly out in the wild.

Had some corned beef hash for tea and a cappucino each (this really can't be called roughing it). Tarp up, fire going and just sat watching it get dark. Michael's on the vodka n cokes. Off to bed soon for a long day tomorrow.

Official Naming

Poll has finished and the results are in....

In joint 3rd is 'The Aquaholics' and 'Big Rubber'. But winning the poll, and the official name of the canoe is....

THE GREEN PEARL!

Test Run at QEII Lake

So we got up to the QEII this afternoon after all. The rain kind of settled down to almost stopping so out we ventured. Got the fins on the bottom of the canoe and the new paddles to try, as well as check it out with all the bags strapped front and back too.

All looking good, apart from the flock of geese trying to eat Michael at first. Got out on the lake paddles much better and whether the fins were making a difference or it was the paddles (or our ever increasing skill... hrmm) certainly seemed to be heading much straighter. Out we went about 1/3 of the way up the lake with relative ease really, canoe sitting nicely and the bags not weighing us down too much. Then the rain picked up a bit more... and a bit more.... and some more after that! We got turned round heading back to the car just in time for the proper onslaught of the rain and wind in our faces. I quickly found the downside to being sat at the front! Arms starting to ache a bit which doesn't give masses of confidence for a 3 day trip, wind and rain beating down and the lake getting choppy. But we still made it back in one piece, even keeping a pretty good pace too.

Made a quick dash for the ramp to get back out and I figured that I'd learn about jumping out the canoe in to cold water so the bottom didn't get scraped. Think that scared Michael a bit as it wobbled a fair amount, but I still stand by that he got the easier option; I got wet feet after all !!

Canoe got dragged out and the bags packed away quickly at a strangely satisfying (soaking) mini-trip out. Everything works well. Hopefully the weather next week won't be quite as bad as this time but at least we've paddled in what was miserable weather and came out the other end wet but OK.

Back home a got out of all the wet gear, next time I'm wearing the waterproof trousers for sure! Shoes drying out so that'll be a good test for how long they take.

Bring on the Great Glen!!!!!!

Weather....?

Today was going to be a test run at QE2 lake but at the moment the weather is seriously making that unlikely... don't think it's stopped raining since yesterday lunchtime'ish. Aparently it's supposed to be clearing later but really doesn't look like it. Drier day tomorrow hopefully.

And speaking of weather, Fort William was basking in sunshine yesterday and is today! Damn!! 17 degrees up there for the weekend. Ah well... checked for Thurs - Sat next week and at least it looks like it might be not as wet as it first seemed; just light showers and cloud, and the wind is moving round to blow from the West again which will be handy!

Got all our kit sorted now so just need to grab food before we head up there Thurs morning. More on the test run this weekend (if we make it) later.

More techniques to master

Got a day off and all ready for going to London... so what better to do that trawl the internet for tips on canoeing. After all, we are kinda new to this and I get the feeling we need all the help available for the Great Glen!

Couple of good YouTube vid's on canoe strokes, looks nice n simple;

Paddling Effeciently: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=f3XIWpEn3_Y
Forward Stroke: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5hJeAENpZs
Cross-Forward Stroke: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HQYzXB_g04U
J-Stroke: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eBnN1DrRLBI (This could be very useful!)
Duffek Stoke: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XVn99YeH2jU

Things to try once we've got paddles on the QE2 lake.

Laters...

Lack Of Planning Part 2

We had arranged to meet John and Chris at Leaplish Waterpark, Josh and I were a bit early as we were awake at about 6 am after out night out camping so I thought I would get the canoe ready to go.
None of us had thought to check if there were any requirements to launch the canoe there. Well there ended up being quite a list of things we didnt have, Public liability insurance, Canoeing certificates. This was obviously not going to go well and Leaplish had suggested trying the scout camp further up so Josh and I drove up to have a look. By the time we got back John and Chris had arrived and John was sporting a "nice" new camouflage hat.

We decided to give up on Kielder and drive over to Catcleugh Reservoir. We had no better luck there as there was nowhere suitable to launch the canoe without either trespassing or tearing the bottom out of the canoe. After spending an hour driving backwards and forwards we gave up and headed of to find a quiet out of the way spot on another large lake.

After checking out a few places we found a nice little cove with a perfect place for getting in and out the canoe.

Our main aims were to check how much weight we could carry without the canoe sitting too low in the water plus just to get a little bit of practice in before we head off to Scotland. It was quite a walk from the cars so we decided to use Josh as ballast instead of carrying all the camping kit down. Everyone had a great time and we paddled round this little cove for a couple of hours.

The canoe was brilliant and could obviously take far more weight than we would be carrying but the paddles I bought that converted from a double ended kayak paddle to two single ended canoe paddles I thought were rubbish ( nobody else seamed to mind) they felt pretty sturdy but the blades on the ends are about the size of tea spoons, I started of trying these double ended but they splashed a lot of water in the boat so single ended seamed to work better.

John and I rocked side to side and the canoe showed no signs of tipping over, certainly not on the calm waters where we will be going anyway. We think we will be able to borrow a couple of canoe paddles to give them a try before going to Scotland.

We forgot to fit the 2 blades on the bottom which help stop the canoe drifting sideways and I think we all agreed that this would be very difficult to paddle solo, there is obviously a knack to it , something which none of us seamed to have

Another day with a rocky start but everything turned out ok

Kielder Camping

Mmmm , One word sums this up "Planning" (lack of ). Its not a good idea to try and find a camp site the night before on a bank holiday weekend, After many phone calls I eventually managed to get a last minute cancellation on the Kielder Castle campsite, Good job really as we were already driving up there. The alternative was to wild camp somewhere but every likely spot had no camping signs everywhere so we would have had to drive over the Scottish border where wild camping is more accepted.

It was just Joshua my son and I who were camping , Chris and John were not joining us till the Sunday morning and this was Josh's first ever camping trip apart from the one night where we made a camp and slept under the dining room table ( some interesting head injuries when i sat up during the night.)

We didnt leave home till about 4:30 and decided to go the longer but more interesting route of which the last 12 miles are forestry commision gravel roads so got to the camp site about 6:00.
After we booked in we were told to just go and find a spot to put our tent but were warned its was a bit wet. It very quickly became obvious why nobody else had taken the spots that were away from other people, the best spots were wet to say the least, water logged was far more acurate. I was fairly amused at the bright yellow Ferrari and a Porsche that were muddy up to the windows and looked like they would need a tractor to pull them out.

Anyway, we found a little spot that unfortunately was on a slight hill but less wet than the other parts of the site and set up the tent and a large tarp to sit under, Earlier that day i have picked up some cheap (£1.94 each) folding camping chairs and a little table from ASDA and they were fantastic, lightweight and much better than trying to sit on the muddy ground.

Tried both the petrol stove and a small gas one, both worked really well (apart from the petrol one throwing out huge flames, much to Josh's amusement if I did'nt pump it up enough) , however we have way to many pans and stoves than we actually need or could carry. Cooking was no problem, Quick cook pasta and some steak cut into cubes took about 5 minutes to sort out, along with a bottle of wine ( fanta lemon for Josh!)

The mozzies were out in force so sprayed Josh and I all over with spray and lit a mozzie coil under the tarp, That seamed to do the trick as they didnt bother us after that, the mozzie coils were quite brittle and about half of them broke as i was getting them out the packet so will need to salvage any good ones and find a way to carry them without breaking them.

We already had a large camping lantern (not sure why ?) and that was really useful once it got dark, Its too heavy for the canoe trip so we will need to get a lightweight gas or petrol one

We both slept fine and were warm and comfortable, Josh being cold or wet would make or break whether he ever wanted to go camping again. As he moves around so much (and we were on a hill) i twice had to drag him back up to the top of the tent as he was this little squashed bundle at the bottom. My army sleeping bag was far too hot and I ended up sleeping on top of it. It was pouring with rain during the night and very windy but we got up in the morning and everything was where we left it.

Breakfast was easy as Josh doesnt like milk on cereal and we fried up a few sausages. Packing up took about 20 minutes. The dry bags were great for just chucking everything in and making as few as possible trips back to the car.

Overall it was a huge success (dispite the lack of planning) and a good oportunity to try out the new kit we bought , it all worked great and could be packed/unpacked with almost no effort

So off to Leaplish Waterpark to meet Chris and John to try out the canoe

Canoe paddling

Got a few things to try out at Kielder, I'm sure it comes naturally though!

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Gorge/1066/528canoeskills.html

Trial run

Trial run of the canoe and camping out looking good for 23rd/24th August. Get to test out the tents, stoves and of course the canoe. Got all the kit apart from one life-jacket which will hopefully be sorted for then.