Loch Ken Trip with Ollie

After last weekends less than successful trip home from the Wallace Reunion, just had to go and pickup the canoe from the site… Be rude not to stay over and have a little paddle while I was there! Got all packed (nearly) before work on Friday morning, last few things in the car after work then me and Ollie set off, car picnic in tow. Good timing, as Oliver fell asleep about 20mins from the site… Guess I’m doing the tent myself!

River Ken: St. Johns Town of Dalry to Loch Ken

DAY 1: Approx. 5 miles

Nice easy access is behind the Church, down the track beside the Police station there’s a car park of sorts and a walk down and over the bridge. Put in just above the bridge and off I went. Apparently can also put in at Allangibbon Bridge which would add a mile or so I guess, but with water levels wasn’t worth it.

From the off it was pretty evident there’d be a lot of walking/lining instead of running rapids, had to get out at most sections and pull the canoe through them. Other than two runs which were good fun as my first ones. Nothing big. I reckon another foot of water was needed at least to make them all paddle-able.

 

Loch Ken Plan

Day 1, Saturday: Up sharpish and across to Loch Ken, car and canoe packed read to go the night before. Taking the ‘Old Town Jack’ for me and Michael in his inflatable outboard. Wants to get it registered at Loch Ken and he’s getting lazy and doesn’t want to paddle! The idea is to drop me at St John’s or the bridge just upstream (whichever is easiest to put in at) and paddle down the River Ken to one of the islands near Little Kenmure Loch (about 5.5 miles). Reckon that’ll take me 3-4 hours to get down.

Foiled Again…

Few things happening, and a trip 5-6 hours away and potentially being a day and a half from the car when we’re there wasn’t a good idea… So, Loch Ken it is and hopefully our trusty comrade Green Island. If that’s busy which it could well be on a Jubilee Weekend, we’ll find somewhere on the banks or just inside the River Dee. Michael’s found that the American Crayfish are taking over Loch Ken, and people are being urged to catch/kill/eat as many as possible – sounds like our sort of challenge!
We’ll have you next time Caledonian! Maybe…

Planning The End

A rather dramatic title to mark the beginning of what should be the completion of the Great Glen canoe trip.. But certainly not the end of canoeing! The Queen very kindly has given us an extra day’s holiday for the first weekend in June, must be something important going on? And as luck would have it the very same weekend is promising to be a very sunny, if a little bold, affair… Thanks Queeny!

How Mondays Should Be

Weather was a bit less sunny than expected but still decent enough to get up to the River Wansbeck as planned. Put in at Cambois Rowing Club, with it’s own jetti and carpark it was ideal. Loaded up the canoe with some basics (lunch, drink, waterproof etc.) and headed off upstream to see how far I could get before either I gave out or it got too shallow.

Old Town Pack

Bit the bullet and bought an Old Town Pack for myself, 30 next year so it's an early birthday present. Shorter and lighter than the 158 so will fit in the garage and can get it out much more often as it's only 15kgs!! Bring on many more trips! Can't wait.

Loch Ken 2011

Loch Ken Trip VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A quick round up of mine and Ange’s trip to Loch Ken, nice break from the kids for a weekend and a chance to chill out and get out in the canoe for a while.

Great Glen 2011

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 (28^th 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.

Vango Juno 500

Recently bought a Vango Juno 500 teepee from eBay, decent deal at £30 odd quid. Put it up for the first time in the garden the other weekend to check it out ahead of the trip to Scotland in the canoe.

It's That Time Again...

Yes, it has been way too long since we got out in the canoe. Couple of day trips to Bolam Lake etc. but nothing of any significance or mileage especially towards the Great Glen. Not for long though... The added bank holidays for the Royal Wedding are an ideal time to get away and let the country enjoy themselves while we get lost in the middle of nowhere with a canoe, teepee and... well, that's about it really! Planning a 3-4 day trip from Laggan to somewhere around Urquart Castle on Loch Ness, our first on the Great Glen in the new canoe (which isn't very new anymore). Hopefully the weather will hold out but even so we've got the teepee and wood burning stove to keep us going. Can't wait.... More soon!!

Loch Ken Trip

Back home now after our trip across to Loch Ken, and feeling pretty tired even though we slept well. It was a bit windy on the way up to Green Island from the aqueduct so me and Josh struggled a bit in to the wind. Luckily Michael was close at hand in his new boat (with engine) to give us a bit of a tow for the last 1/2 mile or so. So we got to the island with plenty of time to get our hammocks/tarps setup, start the fire and put up Michael's new tipi (absolute bargain). Had the usual extravagant camping food of fajitas and koftas and went out in the boat afterwards to head back to the car to get some water (and my hipflask), then back to the island for the night. Sat in the tipi with the petrol stove going and it was toasty warm, think we're sold on a small stove and some winter camping.

 

Had a good nights sleep with the customary 2am toilet break and then through to around 7:30, Michael and Josh joining me about 8:30ish. Got the few things tidied up and dishes washed from the night before… Yes, we did take everything including the kitchen sink!!
  

Got all packed up and loaded the boat up with all the kit to keep the canoe light as I was paddling back down myself while Michael and Josh played in the boat.
Took a few pics on the way down from the canoe, was a really nice paddle down with the wind at my back. Good to get out in the canoe and learn that ‘J-Stroke’.
   

Really good trip out with the canoe and boat, and a lovely Loch to go back to for more exploring.

Well Needed..!!

Sat on the train heading back from London in need of the weekend quickly to have a well deserved chill out at Loch Ken in the canoe. The week so far has been made up of;

Mon: Pinder's, 5:30 start, 9pm finish
Tue: Pinder's, 7am start, 9:30pm finish
Thu: London, 6am start, 8pm finish

And tomorrow (Friday) I'm back to Pinderfields after the 20 week scan, so more than likely a late finish again!! Trying to take this bit of time to think about what to take across to Loch Ken for Sat/Sun's trip in the new canoe. Going to be the first of hopefully many this year, even if they are just short weekenders. Although would be nice to get another bit of the Great Glen under our belts.

So for the ultimate relaxing canoe weekend what do I need... The basics are a good start; hammock, tarp, sleeping bag, underblanket, groundsheet, life jacket, knife, fire starting (yes, I know there's a few methods I have here). But to make this a little bit more comfortable as we now have the space, I think there's also room for a couple of seats maybe and a fishing rod if I can get hold of one in time!! And let's not forget the generous helping of food and drink we always seem to take along! :o)

I may even take my cowboy hat and harmonica just to annoy Michael a little bit.

Bring on Saturday is all I'm saying, and bring on the chillin'

Oh my god , its nearly 2 years

I cant believe its 2 years in Sept since we started this and are still only about a third of the way. I think the work/life balance is more work than life at the minute.

We have a short trip planned to Lock Ken next weekend , just something easy to hopefully get us back in the swing of things ready for the next leg of the great glen hopefully later this year. I was on Loch Ken a week or so ago with my son , we have bought a zodiac inflatable and just ran up to the island in that , camped over night and headed back the next day. We came up from the south end of the loch from the campsite , through the zoned area for waterskiing and up to the island. Even though I thought we had it all sussed we did take the wrong route back through the waterski zone , after getting told off from one of the park rangers and being instructed to wait for the senior ranger to come and see me I had expected this was going to be my first and last visit to Loch Ken but the senior ranger was a really nice guy, clearly explained my mistake and then chatted for ages with me about the area and good places for canoeing on the Loch. Even if we stuck to the edges of the Loch I still dont think it will be much fun in the canoe if the waterskiing boats are running up and down there. Head down over from the north end i think. Green Island was very small but quite nice. Clearly well used by campers as there was the usual rubbish left behind , will make sure i take a spare carrier bag or 2 and bring it back with us. There are a couple of small sandy beaches only about 6 foot wide but perfect for getting the canoe/inflatable in and out. There are just about enough big trees spaced right for our hammocks with a small clearing in the middle for a fire and chilling out.

The Maiden Voyage

Been up to the QE2 lake near Ashington to test out the canoe, and it's great. Everything we expected and more probably. We thought it would be much easier to paddle than the inflateable but this was a dream, considering the Old Town Discovery is an entry level canoe it shows just how much better the real deal is!!

Got it off the car and the few bits we'd brough along in the canoe (basically a JetBoil Stove for a cuppa, and I brought a seat although Michael forgot his!). It's only about half a mile across the lake but it really didn't take us long at all and neither of us felt even the slight bit tired by it.

Had a nice cup of coffee even after it boiled out the top of the JetBoil because somebody didn't keep an eye on it.. I'm looking at you Michael! Went out for a little solo paddle to test that out as well and I think you could cover the same distance solo as we were together in the inflateable. Don't get me wrong, the little Stearns Backcounty has certainly done it's job and has been great. But we're ready for the proper thing now.

Anyway.. Finished off the coffee and got back in the canoe to head back over to the car. No hassles at all, canoe lifted out and back on top of the car. Perfect! Sat for a few minutes while my feet dried off a bit watching a bunch of youngsters in one man kayaks and thought about how much better a Canadian Canoe is!

Got it stowed away nicely in the unit ready for more adventures to come... can't wait!

A New Era

Been looking and thinking about this since the start of the year... and we finally took the plunge and bought a proper canoe!! Old Town Discovery! Yeeeaah!!!! Can't wait to see how much easier it is to paddle, and how much more junk we can fit in this compared to the inflateable. The 'Green Emerald' has done us proud but it's time to move onwards and upwards with the 'Red Ruby'! Hahah.. It's red, obviously.

Planning on a quick trip up to QE2 lake for a test on Saturday when Michael's back from Manchester with it. Had it strapped to his roof for the last couple of days!

Roll on the Great Glen!

This Could Take Some Time

Was just sitting in front of the TV ( Watching Bear Grylls and Will Ferrel ) and got me thinking about our little trip and what we had done

Well this year very little other than a few overnighters with the next section of our great glen trip cut down to about 500 yards paddling to the island and back again , So in the last year we have achieved nothing distance wise, been difficult with work and family commitments, John and I also work in the same team again at work, Its a pretty small team so its been even more difficult to find time when we can both "escape" for a few days

But we have gained some useful experience , we are still carrying far to much equipment but we are probably 100 Kg lighter than our first trip out ( my bum doesnt get wet now from the canoe sitting so low in the water )

I am trying to figure out where the problem area's are and have come up with the following so far

Food

We buy enough food to feed 3 people plus extra snacks and other stuff we throw in the shopping basket. I think we justify this to ourselves in a "what if we get stuck" way and need extra food

The second problem is the choice of menu , its far too complex. I enjoy cooking at home but need to plan the food better to cut down on the weight , preparation and storage problems. Note I said I there , I do quite naturally fall into the mam role

I am my own worst enemy - I have spotted an outback oven - its basically a heat proof cover which works like an oven ( more even heating ) rather than the direct bottom heat of a normal stove - My finger has been over the "Buy" button a dozen times , WHY !!! am i really going to bake a cake or make yorkshire puddings , well if i could i probably would but its completely over the top.

The stew we cooked for about 4 hours on the island was fantastic but this could have been prepared at home and just heated through

We need to look for simple meals that just need water adding

Breakfast should be porridge made with boiling water not a full english
Lunch should be a dried soup mix with some bread
Evening meals need to be heated rather than prepared from scratch

Drink is another problem - This is supposed to be fun and relaxing as well as an acheivement. I do enjoy a drink when i am chilling out but we ( I) take far too much , its not like i am drunk or hungover for the entire duration but a couple of bottles of wine plus some vodka weighs a lot , of course i do my bit to reduce that weight as fast as possible.

The next problem is cooking equipment

Stoves - We like to have an open fire when we can and carry a grilliput ( small take down grill ) , I generally pick up a couple of large baking sheets as we can cook just about anything on one of those , plus they are cheap so we throw them away once we get home. This is always our prefered means of cooking. We are back to the "what if" senario's again , we are not the most proficient at lighting fires especially in wet conditions so also carry a jetboil stove which is great for boiling water plus an MSR pocket rocket with spare gas , again why !!! this is down to our experience. The jetboil can boil enough water for a meal for us both in about 4 minutes , so that should be breakfast and lunch sorted. A prepared meal could be cooked over an open fire or put inside the jetboil with a covering of water so there should be absolutely no reason why we need anything more than that

Pots , pans , mess tins

We seam to have things for cooking then different things for eating or drinking. With the right choice of foods there is no reason why one item should not cover all 3 purposes

Knives

Both John and I carry a small pocket knife plus we have a very large Gerber machette. It has a saw edge on the back and i even cook with it but is not an ideal tool for any job. The saw edge is too fine for anything other than small branches, The knife blade is to light to be effective as an axe. While we are trying to reduce bulk and weight it is just as important to make sure our kit is working for us , And the machette isnt. John found a folding bow saw which we have yet to try but it takes a standard bow saw blade so should have no problems with larger branches. I have bought a small hand axe for chopping those branches into useable fire wood. The weight will have gone up significantly but we can both now collect firewood and the result should be much quicker than before

I have mixed feelings about my hennessy hammock , I quite like the bottom entry but find that it takes too much effort if i need the toilet during the night , therefore spend hours lying there thinking i need to go but cant be bothered to get in and out. Some nights i sleep better than my bed at home , other nights i am awake half the night and cant figure out why. I have tried to find information on the various hammock forums to see how the heights of the hammock ropes affect a good or bad nights sleep , I have had the head end too high and woke up with my backside out of the entry slit. Could not find out anything useful other than its personal choice how high or low these should be and i cant find any way of making this consistant from site to site.

Time for another trip to get some more practice in I think

Half Way Home

Had a great day on Friday after all the hassle Thursday getting to the island. The beef stew was awesome and bannock with freshly picked blackberries was pretty good too. Even if I did burn a couple of fingertips off!!

Decided on Friday evening we’d get packed up in the morning (after another decent nights sleep, we must be getting used to this hammock’ing stuff), leave everything at camp and head up to see if we could find the skegs for the journey back. We did find them to our amazement – 1.5 days later in the long grass where we thought we’d lost them! Headed back to camp, fitted the skegs, loaded the canoe and headed for the shore. Raining again as normal but all good really.

Had nice lunch in the hotel as a bit of a thank you for letting us leave our car there.

Came down to Loch Lomond thinking it was half way back, have a nice night chilling out and another night camping. Far from it – couldn’t find anywhere to camp again! Obviously all of Glasgow empties to Loch Lomond at the weekends so it was really busy everywhere. And we’ve kind of got used to being away from everything by now. Finally found somewhere reasonable to camp and lugged the kit down to it from the car. Started raining really hard this time, so we just quickly stuck up one tarp between a couple of trees and pegged the back down to create a shelter. Dragged the kit under it and sat down to let it pass. Few hikers went by probably thinking we were set for the night!! Hahaha.

Getting the fire going properly turned out to be the next nightmare, even with the bag of kindling and logs from the garage! Just wouldn’t get going. Ended up getting so fed up I went back and got a bag of charcoal which livened things up.

Big fire going and eventually getting the food cooked. Beds all setup and looking very comfortable. Hoping for another nice sleep (although shorter than previous ones!) before heading back home tomorrow.

Oich Island and a Canoe!

Half way through our first day on the island now, but getting here last night wasn’t much fun!

We were running late anyway, then it started to rain pretty heavily so we started rushing things a bit. One good thing, we managed to persuade the hotel opposite to let us park the car there for free! Got across to the island and couldn’t find anywhere to get out – all just marshy. Finally got out and unloaded the canoe to find there wasn’t anywhere to camp. So had to load up the canoe again. In the rush getting back out we ended up loosing the skegs (fin’s from the bottom) off the canoe so it now doesn’t paddle very straight. Limped down and found another place to get out but it did involve getting fairly wet!!

Got camp setup in the rain, cold and dark – and found out we’d left my underblanket in the car! So fashioned the sleeping bag I should be sleeping in under the hammock and I’m making do with the fleece liner as a sleeping bag. Both sat having hotdogs for tea at about 9:30pm wrapped in silver blankets feeling wet and cold and a bit miserable.

Got in to bed and was warm enough, just about. Only chill was early morning when we’d noticed the wind had picked up. Both felt loads better in the morning after some breakfast, a cuppa and some dryer clothes on. Got a fire going and put up a washing line to get things dried. Made a bench seat out of two tree stumps and a decent sized log so we’re not on the floor.

Had lunch and now busy cooking a stew over the fire for tea. Things starting to look better.

Heading off soon

The weekend is finally here and we're heading up tomorrow! Can't wait.. Working from Bellshill office tomorrow and driving up to Laggan in the afternoon to get all setup ready to go on Friday. Final bag pack done and checked, food sorted and ready to go - just need the weather to hold out which isn't looking hopeful. Tail end of some hurricane heading across so quite a bit of rain forecase unfortunately.

We've decided if it's really bad weather it's pointless getting soaked in the canoe and we'll just paddle to the island on Loch Oich and setup a big camp and stay there for a couple of days. Be nice either way really!

Menu for the weekend consists of a couple of ration packs (Michael grudgingly accepted), home made donner-kebab style thing, raviolli, bannock mix and probably a good bit of drink! Just to keep us warm at night obviously!! :o)