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| Neptune's Staircase from above |
So today has been a long day... We didn't start paddling until gone 1pm due to some delays getting the canoes and transferred from the pick up point at Muirtown Locks to the start point at Banavie but we got there in the end. (Good to note that there some British Waterways parking spaces at Muirtown Locks where we were able to leave cars whilst paddling).
So off we set the 10 of us and just as we paddled away from the top of neptune's staircase the rain started coming down...
In the end we paddled around 8km and in that time had bright sunshine, big black clouds, heavy showers and hail... And to top it all we the sight of Ben Nevis with snow on top.
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| Ben Nevis in the background |
Around 4pm we had our first portage where we have to take the canoes and all of the kit out and walk them around the locks at Gairlochy. There was an open set of locks there and then the closed set was the second set. There is a pontoon before the first set of locks but that leave a longer portage. Between the open and close locks there you can get out but there is a steeper bank to climb to get to the portage route. The basic camp-site at this locks was busy and not really fitted with our style of wild camping.
An hour later we set off again after a hot drink and a snack and paddled for about 4km to find our camp for the night. Around 18:30 we found a narrow beach on the north shore of Loch Lochy near Clunes (but about 1km before the beach that is accessible by road) and set up camp, our hammocks and a small fire. Whilst it wasn't a large area we managed to get 3 tents and seven hammocks up without issue.
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| My home for the night |
So now I lay in my hammock the sun not quite gone listening to the sounds of the outdoors, looking out across the water... It doesn't get better than this...!!!
