August 2018.
The last of the summer months in Scotland saw me still
fighting the kitchen mega-project and at last I got some more time into
paddling & pedalling through life.
From a couple of NESKy sea kayak pootling evenings at Cove and
Stonehaven (one of them was really quite bouncy) to a misty circuit under the
Forth rail bridge with SSKeG and then out to the west coast for MTB around
Torridon plus a bit of paddling.
Somewhere before all this I seem to recall doing a bike ride
up Clachnaben as well with Alec & John.
Its the very obvious “nipple” that sticks upwards south of Deeside just
off the Cairn o’Mount road. There’s a
long gradual climb on an estate track that curls south and west of the
summit. Then we skipped the bouldering at the actual top so
we could get on with the fast blast down the east side walkers path. Lots of rock gullies and steps so technique
needs to be switched on – I have a desire to learn more control of my descents
rather than pure speed so this was a good practice. Snakebite puncture for J though at the
bottom!
The 19th was about paddling with new
buddies. I went out with a SSKeG group of
about a dozen folk from under the arches of the Forth rail bridge and out into
the mist of Crammond, Battleship Island, and Inchcolm. Easy paddling conditions so time for a
relaxed lunch on Inchcolm. Had a curious
seal follow closely after that and nibble the stern toggles of a number of
boats. Photo credits to Dave Brown &
Vinny Campbell.
At the end of the month the kitchen was nearly complete and
I got a 4-day pass out for the west coast.
Starting with an old mate Chris doing the 21 kms of Arrochar (Loch Long)
to Lochgoilhead in bright sunshine. A
brisk southerly made progress down Loch Long (past the LPG store and Mark
Cottage bothy etc) quite energetic and we switched sides of the loch as
required for minimal shelter. Shame the
folk using the bothy had made such a litter mess – do no cider/Tenants drinkers
ever take their used tinnies home again?
Carrick castle looks like it is held up by some very rusty scaffolding nowadays; maybe a few more years before it ends up toppling in to Loch Goil.
Then up to Torridon for a big MTB ride. Woke up in the morning in the van to see some visiting stags come down to the water meadow whilst it was quiet at first light. Magnificent beasts.
The ride was the classic Loch Clair/Coulin up & over
to Achnashellach station then a coast down to Coulags before the pull up again
past Peaty’s bothy and finally the hike a bike to get to the Bealach na Lice. The pleasure though is in the two great
descents on this loop – firstly going down from Drochaid Coire Lair to
Achnashellach, and of course the big bare rock slabs of the final pitch back to
Annat. Of course you then need to enjoy
the hospitality at the Torridon Inn. I
was there on a bit of a pilgrimage with Mike & Lynn and were just as
thrilled as the last time we did it. It’s
a 7 hour day though and this is wild Scotland so best be prepared. Not sure that Lynn enjoyed the company of the
midges though!
Just time on the 31st to squeeze in a solo sea
loch paddle. Launched at Shieldaig and
went off into outer Loch Torridon at about 7 kph – yes it was a brisk south
easterly that morning. I revised my
original plan on the grounds that the return paddle would be twice as long
timewise. So instead of heading to Red
Point, I compromised with a loop inside the few islands. Did 21 kms and saw the young sea eagles soaring
above Shieldaig Island. On landing I had a good chinwag with the lady selling
seafood at the jetty and went home with fresh local scallops and langoustines
for supper. Great stuff.
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