Epic Scottish Adventures

If you needed a hand full of pictures to sum up the week I'd just had the following five would be the ones. As I mentioned in my last post I was off up to Scotland for the week to explore the Knoydart Peninsula by paddling along Loch Quoich, walking up Sgurr na Ciche, and returning back along Loch Quoich. We achieved two thirds of our objectives; we didn't manage to summit Sgurr na Ciche. In fact we never even got close to the base of the mountain because of the weather.

We managed to paddle the entire length of Loch Quoich in one day, instead of the two that we planned, because the conditions were so perfect. However, the weather had alternative ideas for the following day, which meant we were tent bound as we sat out some ferocious winds.

The tents battling against the winds, which plagued us on the third day.

Then the weather surprised us again on the fourth day, as can be seen in the picture above, but the wind had died down. After some speedy packing and reloading of the canoes we were back on our way, out of the Peninsula, back to civilisation three days earlier than we had planned.

We arrived back safe and sound at the cars, packed our things up and headed for Fort William and then onto Glen Coe, before arriving at Lochearnhead the following day, which we used as an impromptu base for the last two days of our expedition. However, even though the expedition was marred with bad weather it was still a positive experience. I suppose the following three pictures show why this is.

Paddling under (and through) Gairich.

Sunset over Ben Aden.

The Three Sisters of Glen Coe.

One minutes exposure to such natural raw and untamed beauty is enough to last an hour, day, week, month or even a year. Scotland is an impressive place and after all the challenges and battles to survive in such an environment the experience is so rewarding.

More pictures can be found here.

Good lines, stay safe and see you on the wet stuff...
Iain