I'm off to the Caledonian canal (fort William to Inverness) in a couple of weeks, any top tips or advice?
Cheers
Caledonian canal
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Caledonian canal
by jimdriftwood » Tue Aug 07, 2007 4:44 pm
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HI
by zippysurfer » Tue Aug 07, 2007 7:16 pm
Hi
Drop me your email and I will send you some pics from your trip last year.
thanks
kevin
Drop me your email and I will send you some pics from your trip last year.
thanks
kevin
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Caledonian canal
by Moley » Thu Aug 09, 2007 11:14 am
Hi,
Myself and two friends did this trip a couple of years ago over the Easter period. I used a sea kayak and they paddled a Mad river open boat. Fantastic trip, snow was still on the top of Ben Nevis. Took five days of paddling, but we also had a home made sail rigged for the open boat. This made all the difference as we sailed the whole of Loch Lochy whilst drinking whisky and port! On arriving at the end of Loch Ness we could hear bagpipes coming through the mist. Very eerie, but truely memorable.
Camped rough, except one night when the weather turned and hence found a B&B in Fort Augustus - excellent owner - tumbled dried all our wet gear and transported our gear and boats from the Loch to the B&B by Landrover and gave us a bottle of whisky for the last two days on Loch Ness.
Have a wonderful trip and watch out for "Nessie"
Myself and two friends did this trip a couple of years ago over the Easter period. I used a sea kayak and they paddled a Mad river open boat. Fantastic trip, snow was still on the top of Ben Nevis. Took five days of paddling, but we also had a home made sail rigged for the open boat. This made all the difference as we sailed the whole of Loch Lochy whilst drinking whisky and port! On arriving at the end of Loch Ness we could hear bagpipes coming through the mist. Very eerie, but truely memorable.
Camped rough, except one night when the weather turned and hence found a B&B in Fort Augustus - excellent owner - tumbled dried all our wet gear and transported our gear and boats from the Loch to the B&B by Landrover and gave us a bottle of whisky for the last two days on Loch Ness.
Have a wonderful trip and watch out for "Nessie"
- Moley
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by Jim » Thu Aug 09, 2007 2:00 pm
Read the Scottish outdoor access code, and follow it to get the most out of wild camping etc. along the way. You can find it on the exec website, or even more easily on the canoe scotland website.
Sorry if I sound like a bore, but I recently had a call from my brother when he was challenged over a campsite and my answer was along the lines of, "there are how many of you on what sort of trip? - I'll have to check but I don't think you are covered by the access code.....". I also get really annoyed reading in the paper about landowners (mainly golf clubs) complaining about the land reform act and the rights it has given people and observing that in fact neither party is familiar with the code and the rights being complained about are generally outwith those granted. Some people think it gives them a right to go anywhere and do anything.
As for the canal, it will be good - enjoy!
Jim
Sorry if I sound like a bore, but I recently had a call from my brother when he was challenged over a campsite and my answer was along the lines of, "there are how many of you on what sort of trip? - I'll have to check but I don't think you are covered by the access code.....". I also get really annoyed reading in the paper about landowners (mainly golf clubs) complaining about the land reform act and the rights it has given people and observing that in fact neither party is familiar with the code and the rights being complained about are generally outwith those granted. Some people think it gives them a right to go anywhere and do anything.
As for the canal, it will be good - enjoy!
Jim
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Caledonian Canal report
by Copepod » Mon Aug 27, 2007 10:09 am
We (group of 5 20 / 30 year olds and 1 65 year old in single kayaks) paddled the Caledonian Canal in Sept 1999. As a newbie, I'm not allowed to sumbit a URL, but if you Google for "Camracers" and "Caledonian Canal", you should find report and photos. Hope you have a good trip, too.
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by David Fairweather » Wed Aug 29, 2007 11:15 am
There will be an article about the Caledonian canal in the forthcoming issue of Canoe & Kayak UK (5th September I think) which has a few tips for the trip.
Make sure you have a chat to the Loch Keeper at Corpach before heading off - he will give you a whole bunch of tips and maps etc...
Enjoy, it's a beautiful trip.
Make sure you have a chat to the Loch Keeper at Corpach before heading off - he will give you a whole bunch of tips and maps etc...
Enjoy, it's a beautiful trip.
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David Fairweather - Posts: 2577
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by mountainboy » Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:02 pm
Hi my advice would be to take a sail and pray for a hind wind.
We did from Fort Bill to the end of Lock Ness in 2 days but had force 5 hind winds , a very good experience! if on the edge of control!
We had no problems with camping but were only a small group. take mozzi spray though!!
We did from Fort Bill to the end of Lock Ness in 2 days but had force 5 hind winds , a very good experience! if on the edge of control!
We had no problems with camping but were only a small group. take mozzi spray though!!
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- Location: Tavistock
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