Got round to doing the next leg of the Great Glen, from Laggan to as far as we got on Loch Ness (goal was somewhere around Foyers). Would be the first time we’d gone back up in the Old Town instead of the inflatable. Only been about 2 years since we started it!!
So travelled up on the Thursday (28th April) and put in at the top of the Laggan Locks about 3pm. All loaded up (and we don’t exactly travel light or rough it) it all still fit well in the canoe. Figured we’d aim for the island on Loch Oich about 3-4 miles for a nice gentle afternoon. Sun out although the wind blowing in our faces, it was lovely to get back out on the water. I think Loch Oich is my favourite of the Great Glen, by far the smallest which helps but also the whole environment around it – steep sided valley to one side, rolling hills to the other. Was a joy to paddle! Got up to the island by 5ish and set about pitching camp. Like I said, we don’t rough it; so got the tipi up and the stove burning, unpacked the rest of the stuff from the canoe and set about tea. Which was a very nice King Prawn Thai Green Curry and noodles courtesy of Fort William Morrisons and Camp Chef Michael (aka Mam). Washed down with some red wine, we got our beds setup (the nice big airy variety) and with it blazing hot from the stove chilled out for a good bit before sleep.
Turns out my nice big airy variety bed goes down every 3 hours! Grrrrr. So was up 3 times blowing it back up again when my back hit the floor. Still, gave me a chance to make a midnight toilet break to gaze up at the millions (and I mean millions, no light pollution up there) of stars through the trees. If you moved your head sideways it was like all the trees had Christmas lights in them, I’ve never seen so many stars.
Morning of the 2nd day, got the stove burning again and had our big meaty breakfast (again Morrisons and Michael combining to make a feast of epic proportions). After the lie in, big breakfast, cups of tea/coffee, cooled down the stove, packed up the tipi and loaded the canoe it was almost lunchtime again! What the hell, we’re on holiday. Set off for Cullochy and Kytra locks up through the rest of Loch Oich and the canal section towards Fort Augustus. Lunch (afternoon snack) was a really rather good packet soup done on the JetBoil stove at Kytra (and some more red wine). After that we pressed on towards Loch Ness, and with the wind picking up and blowing straight towards us cheated a bit and took the opportunity to try out the outboard mount and motor for the last mile or so. Works very well and certainly makes paddling easier! :o)
The big portage around Fort Augustus locks and in to Loch Ness is a killer, our backs well and truly aching we stopped off at the little café for a hot chocolate (and kebab). It would be rude not to really!! With our stomachs full again, we set of across a pretty choppy Loch Ness for the south-west shoreline. This didn’t go well… at all. Being our first real attempt at anything quite as big as Loch Ness and encountering waves up to 3 foot it all got a bit scary to be honest. Started quite amusing to have the waves crashing over and
well and truly soaking us, but once the canoe started filling up with them breaking over the bow we got a bit worried. We made it (just) to the other side agreeing that event went in the lessons learnt category of don’t take on Loch Ness with strong head winds and big waves! Bailed out on the shoreline and had to empty the gear out the canoe so we could tip the water out having collected a decent amount on the way over. Had a quick check to see if there were any camping spots (which there wasn’t) before starting to wonder what the horrible smell was… turns out ‘Bambi’ had been half eaten about 10 meters upwind from where we ditched. It absolutely stank!
Deciding very quickly that sitting around in the stench and freezing cold clothes wasn’t a good idea, and that attempting to get further up Loch Ness would just result in more of the same we loaded back up and headed back down the shoreline, looped around the bottom and found a nice wooded camp site looking all the way back up the Loch. It was obviously a well used site if the rubbish (including an umbrella in the tree) was anything to go by. Really people, ever head of Leave No Trace! And you wonder why land owners get up tight about wild camping.
So tipi up, stove burning, we set about drying out the kit as best we could. Rigged up a clothes line across the inside of the tipi to dry out clothes out above the stove, boots underneath which got them warm if not quite dry. Chopped a good supply of dead wood and retired to the tipi for food (we eat quite a lot on these trips!). Had a heated up Beef Stew with some freshly made ciabatta rolls. Stood the rolls on a mess tin lid with a pan upturned over the top to create a makeshift oven on top of 
the stove, worked a charm and they were gorgeous with the stew. Saved a couple for the next day. Was midnight by the time we’d ate and got sorted, so snuggled up ready for bed on a full stomach (preparing for the pending refills of the airbed) and aided by even more red wine, and some vodka and Irn Bru this time (when in Rome).
With the wind still howling down the Loch in the morning we made the decision to change our plans of making distance up Loch Ness, and instead turn round and head back to the car at Laggan. Packed and ready to go (after a more modest breakfast of porridge) we got back in the canoe rather gingerly and paddled back to Fort Augustus and the gruelling portage back up the hill to the canal on the other side. Of course, as sods law would have it by the time we got back in the canoe and set off down the canal about 10 mins later the wind shifted completely and was back in our faces! Paddled past a good few others in canoes and kayaks down this stretch. Looking for shelter behind treelines and such like we got back up to Kytra and then Cullochy before stopping mid portage for some more packet soups. And yes, you guessed it…. Red wine! Met up with my parents who were having a holiday at Foyers that week who helped with the rest of the portage and supplied some caramel shortcake. We headed off down in to Loch Oich again and for the island. Really starting to like this little island. It’s the third time we’ve stayed there and it’s feeling rather homely now.
After getting camp setup I decided to sleep that night in the Army Mosquito Net with a tarp above me just to try it out. Bought it for £10 off eBay a few months back and hadn’t been in it yet. While I got that rigged up Michael set about making a spatula from a piece of firewood, and pretty good it was too. He looks very pleased with himself! I also found the reason for my bed deflating, a small scratch at one end was very slowly letting it down so a bit of tape over it seemed to do the trick. Had to make some poles for the tipi and tent pegs which did they’re job, rather proud of those! My turn to cook that night and we had a Asian Noodle Broth (Jamie Oliver 30 Min Meals, slightly modified for camping) which was great. Very chilli-fied!!! Both pretty worn out we crashed out about 10pm after finishing the box of red wine we’d been carrying. Michael in the tipi, me in my mosie net/tarp. The tape fixed the annoying airbed and I the best night’s sleep of the trip finally dragging myself out of bed at 9:30am!!
After a big pile of heated up scotch pancakes, canoe packed we headed back down the rest of Loch Oich and the short canal section passing some more canoes on what seemed like a guided trip or lesson. Got some laughs and comments as we were well and truly cheating by now with the outboard back on (and me with my feet up on the front of the canoe). Don’t judge us, we’re lazy and horribly unfit! Car packed, changed in to some slightly less smelly clothes we set off back home about 1pm.
A fantastic trip even though we didn’t get the mileage up Loch Ness completed, and some good lessons learnt to take in to the next trips. 1, Don’t try Loch Ness in bad weather conditions, 2. Mosie Net setup works nicely as a light camping version, 3. Outboard can be invaluable, 4. Don’t rough it when you don’t need to. Oh, and 5. Take plenty of wine!
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