Packrafting Inverpolly
Posted: Wed Sep 12, 2018 9:13 pm
While at last year Adventure Cycle Festival, Mark, Rich & myself had a taster session packrafting on Windermere.
A plan hatched to go and do something bigger. Boats were hired and Marks old friend Matt came along.
We all met up in Manchester Airport to share out the kit, fly up to Inverness, drive over to Ullapool, have some chips and prepare for a few days out in the wild.
In the morning we drove up to Elphin with a few plans in mind.
We walked out to a launch point, inflated the rafts and had a 10 min test paddle to make sure we were all comfortable.
After that it was a case of loading the packs and heading off down Loch Veyatie
As the day progressed, the weather improved and we started to pick up the gentle river flow
We found a suitable place to set up camp and then hiked up Suilven to take in the views
I'd say perfect conditions for the first day out on the water.
Its Scotland, and we knew the forecast was was going to change, so we had to adapt our plans.
Heavy rain and strong winds were forecast, so we bushwacked cross country to Suileag Bothy for the night.
A night of darts (yes theres a dartboard there), balloon keepy uppy, and whisky provided by some other people in the bothy, provided the evenings entertainment.
All night the rain bounced off the bothy roof, so we made the plan to escape via the leadmore traverse path.
All things been well, it was 12k back to the car, half of which could be paddleable.
Nature had second thoughts
Due to the shelter of the surrounding hills with the near side of Loch na Gainimh the water was flat and paddleable. The opposite end of the loch was a different matter. Less sheltered with the wind whipping up the water. It was too risky so we walked.
A couple of km of walking took us to Lochan Fada
This seemed more promising, so we started to get the boats out. The wind then picked up and without being aware of any exits we again thought better of it.
We were a long way from help if anything happened, so more walking.
At Cam Loch we had a choice. A 2k paddle or a 4k walk.
We were all keen to paddle, but there was a 200m crossing into the wind before finding shelter.
I was a bit nervous, being the one with least paddling experience in the group. Mark headed out for a bit of an explore and i followed to see how the raft handled in choppy water before returning and loading up the pack. If anything, the extra weight helped to balance the boat.
We made the crossing together and then went for an explore before heading back to the car.
With the weather we didnt fancy another night in the wild, so headed back to Ullapool for the night.
The following morning the weather improved, but was still very windy, so we headed out to Lochinver in search of pies.
If the weather had have been better we would have originally paddled back via Loch Sionasggaig, so we thought we would have a cheeky look on the way past.
Conditions had improved so we followed the good path out to Boat Bay. Its quite sheltered in there, so we quickly inflated the rafts and did a bit more exploring.
Lots learnt over the weekend and keen to do something similar again.
Big thanks to Mark for organising and keeping an eye on me during the difficult crossing
A plan hatched to go and do something bigger. Boats were hired and Marks old friend Matt came along.
We all met up in Manchester Airport to share out the kit, fly up to Inverness, drive over to Ullapool, have some chips and prepare for a few days out in the wild.
In the morning we drove up to Elphin with a few plans in mind.
We walked out to a launch point, inflated the rafts and had a 10 min test paddle to make sure we were all comfortable.
After that it was a case of loading the packs and heading off down Loch Veyatie
As the day progressed, the weather improved and we started to pick up the gentle river flow
We found a suitable place to set up camp and then hiked up Suilven to take in the views
I'd say perfect conditions for the first day out on the water.
Its Scotland, and we knew the forecast was was going to change, so we had to adapt our plans.
Heavy rain and strong winds were forecast, so we bushwacked cross country to Suileag Bothy for the night.
A night of darts (yes theres a dartboard there), balloon keepy uppy, and whisky provided by some other people in the bothy, provided the evenings entertainment.
All night the rain bounced off the bothy roof, so we made the plan to escape via the leadmore traverse path.
All things been well, it was 12k back to the car, half of which could be paddleable.
Nature had second thoughts
Due to the shelter of the surrounding hills with the near side of Loch na Gainimh the water was flat and paddleable. The opposite end of the loch was a different matter. Less sheltered with the wind whipping up the water. It was too risky so we walked.
A couple of km of walking took us to Lochan Fada
This seemed more promising, so we started to get the boats out. The wind then picked up and without being aware of any exits we again thought better of it.
We were a long way from help if anything happened, so more walking.
At Cam Loch we had a choice. A 2k paddle or a 4k walk.
We were all keen to paddle, but there was a 200m crossing into the wind before finding shelter.
I was a bit nervous, being the one with least paddling experience in the group. Mark headed out for a bit of an explore and i followed to see how the raft handled in choppy water before returning and loading up the pack. If anything, the extra weight helped to balance the boat.
We made the crossing together and then went for an explore before heading back to the car.
With the weather we didnt fancy another night in the wild, so headed back to Ullapool for the night.
The following morning the weather improved, but was still very windy, so we headed out to Lochinver in search of pies.
If the weather had have been better we would have originally paddled back via Loch Sionasggaig, so we thought we would have a cheeky look on the way past.
Conditions had improved so we followed the good path out to Boat Bay. Its quite sheltered in there, so we quickly inflated the rafts and did a bit more exploring.
Lots learnt over the weekend and keen to do something similar again.
Big thanks to Mark for organising and keeping an eye on me during the difficult crossing
.
I was wondering how you'd got on.
