Their story, in their words…..
Over the course of 2.5 days we kayaked a tandem kayak across a 60 mile waterway that led us from Fort William to Inverness.
The journey began with lots of ambition and what we thought to be a very equipt kayak, topped off with porting wheels and a water pump that we acquired from the hire place. We initially set off just after the locks of Fort William connecting the canal with Loch Linnhe. This was a period of very inefficient paddling as we were only just getting to grips with the new tandem touring kayak which we had never yet been in.
After a grueling first day we set up camp on the bank of Loch Oich where we set to work on our first hot meal using the stove. After each devouring a bowl of noodles, we locked ourselves into the tent to take shelter from the swarm of mosquitos that seemed to be everywhere!
It was a not so early start for day 2. Having set off very hard on the first day we treated ourselves to a lie in before getting back on the water at around 9am. This day was more focused and due to be our hardest. We made good progress initially so we thought that we could afford the detour of a more interesting route. The one we were due to take was a rather bland canal designed to facilitate the movement of large vessels across Loch Oich and Loch Ness. However, there was a fast flowing shallow river adjacent to this canal which I cleverly suggested would be more entertaining and perhaps faster due to the current. This route did ostensibly end up being more enjoyable however a particularly rough part of the rapids caused our kayak to get stuck on a rock which tipped the boat so that water came rushing in from the side. This made our boat sink rather unspectacularly to the bottom of the 2 foot deep bank. After righting the boat and pumping out the water we were able to get going again but this definitely set us back on schedule.
Later that evening we had to kayak for a couple extra hours than we planned to make up for our lost time. Saying that however, we did make some impressive distance into the great Loch Ness that day and were able to set up camp right next to the Castle Urquhart. This made for some amazing views of Loch Ness and did well for our morale coming out of the longest day of over 10 hours of paddling time. Most people complete the trail in 5 days but we were on a tight budget and could only afford 2 and a half days due to some unforeseen extra costs for necessary equipment due to the weather forecast for the trip.
Finally, on the third day we could kayak our last victory miles and we sailed into Inverness with ample time, arriving by noon in time to meet the hire company who would be collecting the kayak ready to drive it back to Fort William where they were based.
Concluding this trip we were filled with a great sense of gratitude for the opportunity and pride in our accomplishment. It was no easy feat and at times we were hesitant about even being able to continue due to heavy fatigue but the important thing is we persevered. It was an incredible experience with stunning views although definitely a lot harder than we anticipated in hindsight.
