Keen to get out again, but there's no bloody water left!
Having got the hang of it on a couple of somewhat "contrived" trips, I really need to get up to the highlands with it where you can really make use of it.
im not coming as pack rafting looks like hard work and is slower than just ridding round most places around here , but there is presumaby some resonable scope for it in the lakes
Happy to try and arrange a little trip together John. I'm still building up my confidence too (I have next to no previous paddling experience) so simple, non-committing flatwater is fine.
The Lakes provides plenty of places to go for a paddle, but not really any scope to do journeys you couldn't without a packraft - unlike in Scotland where you might be able to skip half a day riding through a bog to get to the other side of a loch with an hour's paddling.
Also access is more of a concern south of the border. In fact, if I was a more serious paddler, I think I would find that a stronger pull towards Scotland than access for biking. The situation is just so much clearer.
Mostly splashing around the local lochs. My Mrs has one too.
I'd really recommend signing up on a skills course with Andy at backcountry.scot, even just as an intro to river paddling.
I've done a 3-day Spey descent - that includes some faster moving water. Tweed day trip with bike. Aviemore to Boat of Garten, beer and bus back home. Some easy coastal stuff. A fabulous inland loch paddle on North Uist last month....
Piemonster and I were planning a Rannoch Moor trip until I borked myself but that should still happen soon.
Single Speed George wrote:im not coming as pack rafting looks like hard work and is slower than just ridding round most places around here , but there is presumaby some resonable scope for it in the lakes
This is a fair point. I guess you can either look at paddling as an adjunct to bikepacking/biking or as a completely separate activity, though I've managed to mix. And that's before we discuss sails.....
I'm hoping my raft arrives at Andy's in 2 or 3 weeks and I've arranged (if Andy is ok ref his cancelled operation) to head up to his and pick it up one weekend with an over nighter trip out with him as well.
We had originally intended to paddle in to the foot of the hill called Eabhal, climb it, then paddle out. However, our departure was delayed by poor weather and we found a bit of a headwind as we paddled East. As a result, we arrived at the hill later than planned and decided just to chill out for a while. paddling back West, we found that the wind had (in)conveniently changed direction and we now had a headwind back too
Obasaraigh is very interesting, the normal "walkers" route to the hill involves crossing the outflow by a set of stepping stones that are covered at high tide. As a result, the sea actually flows into the loch and it has both fresh- and salt-water flora and fauna. It's also the largest loch on North Uist, an island that's basically more water than land anyway.
, but there is presumaby some resonable scope for it in the lakes
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1050128 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr
1050134 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr
1050137 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr
20180616_153852 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr
