Being 50+, I got me one of Scotrail’s Club 50 railcards. The main advantage of this is that several times a year they run a 6-week long promotion that offers off-peak return travel anywhere in Scotland for £17. A recipe for a cheap weekend away if ever there was one. I booked ahead as I needed a bike space as well. The 22nd June was the solstice this year and I found myself camping out on our highest local hill Read More
Intro I had spent the previous 9 days hill walking, 15 Munros for my second Munro round and 1 Corbett. My legs were wrecked and needed a rest, so what better solution than to use the arms instead for a packrafting trip in the Fisherfield?! I’d last been in this area some 5 years previously, and it had rained constantly, so I had bailed east for some sunshine hill bagging instead. This did at least mean that I was able Read More
The run up to this years holiday was not exactly plain sailing. Firstly, it was supposed to have taken place the month before in Switzerland (bloody COVID), secondly work got in the way – I always said that I would never let work affect play, well I failed ending up working an extra week including the weekend before finally managing to escape. Plan was to go find myself a lonely glen with no mobile signal and haul up where no Read More
The idea for this trip came about during one Easter visit to the area in 2018, during which I experienced hail, snow and brilliant sunshine (often at the same time!) while paddling down Loch Veyatie. The packrafting possibilities of the area a very apparent from the summits of any of the many peaks in the area, these peaks are not particularly high, but they are all rather shapely and offer tremendous views. I was not keen on abandoning my Campervan Read More
I got the inspiration for this wee trip the previous weekend while out bagging Carn an Fhidhleir, An Sgarsoch, Beinn Bhrotain and Monadh Mor from the Braemar side. From Monadh Mor especially good views through to Cairn Toul and the ridge beyond can be had, and the walk out down the glen goes past several Cairngorm giants. I had assumed that the weather would put an end to said inspiration, so thought nothing of it until the following Friday, when, Read More
The club’s meetup this weekend was to the Ochils Mountaineering Club hut in Crianlarich. The forecast was dire, and would-be attendees were dropping like flies in the run up to the event, their spaces filled by folks on the waiting list. In the end, we managed 16 folks on the Friday night and 18 on the Saturday which was no mean feat. The usual banter was had on the Friday night, with the group split between those talking nonsense in Read More
Not having been away for a few weeks due to our selling the house and with the house now sold it was time to take advantage of a half-decent weather forecast. I headed up to the car park at Cairngorm, and got some sleep prior to a planned combo bike and hike the following day. I relocated the van at Glenmore and hopped on the bike past Glenmore lodge and onto the track towards Bynack More which was like bloody Read More
Hurray!!! Its Going to Happen! After having been postponed 3 times due to Covid, this event is finally going ahead 3rd-5th September 2021. I have to support NHS Test+Protect as a condition of this going ahead. We have to clean the place properly before leaving, its a hut, there are no caretakers so we’ll all need to muck in. There was quite a process to getting back open as Scotland is not yet in the same free-4-all as England re Read More
The OMC trip to the Alex Macintyre hut at Onich was blessed with some half decent weather (at least for the Saturday!) With snow on the ground, James and myself planned a classic winter traverse of the Aonach Eagach. I grabbed a lift up the road with Andy, with a wee stop at the Clachaig for dinner on the way. The usual drinking and banter was curtailed by bag pre-packing and an early night before an ‘Alpine Start’ the following Read More
I’d had a cold for the past couple of weeks, caught from a mate on his last Munro; having missed the club meet with the Ochils Mountaineering Club the previous weekend due to said cold, and given the decent forecast, I was determined to get out this weekend. I’d not been to Glen Lyon for a while, and with low temps and a potential for snow, I chose to head that way. I set off later than planned (as per Read More
I had two weeks off work, and much planned. I was to be mostly solo on this holiday bringing the advantage of only having my own itinerary to worry about, and hoped to get some pack rafting, cycling and hill walking done. Weekend 21st/22nd The holiday started with good company at the Clachaig. I went for a paddle around Loch Leven, while Lucy (my other half) went to recce a future marathon she had signed up for. The paddle Read More
I have been planning on doing this packraft trip for a while, and while on holiday recently, got the weather window and wind direction required to make it go. If you take a quick look at the map, you’ll see that with a bit of walking and a lot of paddling, the three Lochs: Morar, Arkaig and Lochy can be linked, and the journey completed to Corpach via the Caledonian Canal. From Corpach, the train gets you right back to Read More
Packrafting has taken a back seat to Hillwalking for the past few weekends, so this weekend it was time to get back into the boat. I have a wee list at home of trips that I want to do and area’s that I want to explore by boat. The Ardnamurchan, specifically Lochs Sunart and Shiel (Aye, I know the latter is not strictly Ardnamurchan!) were two such area’s. The tides were right this weekend with High tide at ~8AM and Read More
For the past couple of years, the UK importer for Alpacka Packrafts – backcountry.scot – run by a guy named Andy Trop has organised a get-together for packrafters. I was just getting into it around the 2017 gathering, but made the gathering this year. Showing up at the venue Lagganlia near Kincraig on Friday night it was beers and chatter before a sensible night with lots planned for the following day. I had signed up together with 8 or so others Read More
I’ve been wanting to do the linear boat trip across Rannoch Moor via Loch Ba and Loch Laidon for a while. Finally, this last weekend the weather and the wind was favorable so off I set. I opted for a one night wild camp, meaning that the timings matched for a Lazy start and the train back from Rannoch Station the following day. [Skip right to the end for the video! | Find the full photoset here] I dumped my Read More
Over the early may Bank Holiday weekend, I headed to Kintail with the Ochils Mountaineering Club. The club was staying in the NTS Kintail Outdoor Centre , while I and some other members stayed on the Morvich caravan club site. My plans had been to get the boat out on the water, but the wind and changeable weather put an end to that. I did, however manage to get 3 Corbett’s (Scottish Mountains over 2500ft) bagged and a bothy walk Read More
The forecast was decent for Saturday, but rubbish for Sunday so I could not be arsed to drive very far this weekend. Against my better judgement, I paid Loch Lomond and the Trossachs Park’s ‘Wild Camping Tax’ – £8 to stay at the far end of ‘Three Lochs Forest drive’ near Loch Katrine. To get a spot on here in the summer requires booking a month in advance, but short-notice spots are available out of season. As one of the Read More
The Assynt region of Scotland, has to be one of my favourite spots. The mountains are not huge, but they are numerous, and rise suddenly and spectacularly from the surrounding landscape of rock, heather and many many lochs for a paddle! I headed up for Easter, meeting fellow members of the Ochils Mountaineering Club. We were staying at the SMC’s Naismith nut in the crofting settlement of Elphin. Being just north of Ullapool, its a fair drive on a Friday Read More
With a half decent forecast and a new drysuit (Palm Fuse) to test it was time to get back out in the pack raft (boat) again. I left fairly late and headed up to Dalwhinnie with the intention of having a paddle on Loch Ericht. Loch Ericht initially looked promising so off I went looking for a place to launch; as is all too common, while I was setting up the boat, the wind started blowing. The initial paddle was Read More
Usual Disclaimer: I gathered this information off the Internet and assembled it into this article. I make no guarantees as to its accuracy or suitability to your situation! Introduction I have visited a number of locations in my Packraft where I have launched into tidal or coastal waters. These include the Ardnamurchan, Uists, Harris Jura, and the waters off Argyll. I love visiting the Scottish islands, and there is limited scope for Packrafting without sticking your boat in the sea, Read More
