A gentle breeze made for a calm start to the Brave Duo's paddling as they headed up Loch Lochy. The road swings away from the side of the loch so they had a beautiful peaceful paddle. Eleanor says "It was really pretty and I saw an osprey. I dropped my headphones in quite a lot of water so it kept playing track 1 of everything". (I should explain that El listens to tunes and stories on her MP3 player as she paddles).
After an hour paddling the wind started to build and when I spotted the Brave Duo at our lunch spot half way up the loch, they were surfing along on fairly exciting waves. We had lunch together on the shore and brewed up hot chocolate on the trangia, (anyone who has ever had to endure a New Year with us will know all about hot choc and trangias).
Then off they went for the final run to Laggan Locks. Ever the observant shepherds, El and James heard a sheep in distress - being a sheep it was naturally stupid and had managed to get itself stuck in some brambles, (perhaps taking advantage of afternoon sunshine to pick a few blackberries?). They crossed the loch, came to shore and de-brambled said sheep and then a short paddle to today's finish line.
There to welcome them was a supplemented support team in the form of Clare and Mark Meredith. It's great to have more groupies here and we are all staying together in the Great Glen Hostel. As I write Clare is knitting, wine/pink lemonade is poured and at some point we'll summon up the energy to cook supper!
Must add a last mention for our brilliant kayak - there have been some surprised expressions when people realise it is inflatable - and even more so when they see it disappear into its bag - but it is more than doing the job - feeling stable, safe, comfortable and moving well on the rougher water of Loch Lochy. Thank you so much to Nick Pipe of Advanced Elements for loaning the kayak to us - and the chocolate is doing the trick too Nick!
PS. Eleanor says not all sheep are stupid - Floppy certainly is not - OK?
Sorry Eleanor I have to disagree with you....I have yet to meet a clever sheep!! That loch looked a wee bitty choppy today so "well done" on the completion of day 3. Looking forward to tomorrows highlights. x
ReplyDeleteWel, you seem to be getting on well. I followed your track on Google earth, and it looks miles! Uncle John and Auntie Libbi stayed with me last night and send their best wishes. El, try cooking the mP3 player on the trangia for the other tracks!
ReplyDeleteWatching you!!!OWL
Well done guys! Some of those waves look pretty exciting so I'm glad to hear the Kayak is performing well! And great work on the blog mum its so cool to be able to follow your progress. Lots of love, henry
ReplyDeleteHello James, Eleanor and Sally
ReplyDeleteMary and I have just been looking at your wonderful blog. What an amazing trip the scenery looks fantastic Mary and I were impressed with the waves on the loch it sounds as if the kayak is up to the job though. Looking forward to further progress reports .
Love to you all Mary and Robin
Hi All,
ReplyDeleteGreat to see the trip is going really well. Very, very impressed with the 'in tent' blogging Sally - great to see you've been planning the trip on an 'interdisciplinary' approach!!!
Well done to James and Eleanor on the superb paddling - excellent progress along the route - I'm sharing it with a class tomorrow via Google Earth!
I agree with the MacTaggarts - sheep do usually struggle to do the sensible thing - especially if food is involved!
Best wishes for the rest of the journey!
Nick
Your trip looks fantastic, Keep it up all three of you! We will attempt to follow your adventures at school Eleanor if we can get past the crafty security folks at Argyll and Bute! Best wishes to all, Mrs McLellan x
ReplyDelete