Today I was back across at Loch Shieldaig – nestled in the south east corner of Loch Gairloch. The Simpson family – Malcolm, Susan and lads Daniel and Lewis – were with me on the water. We had a great time paddling around, seeing the seals wildlife and playing games.
Victor and Jean Michel were up in the area, spending most of their time with Paul Tattersall of Go Further Scotland. I had a couple of afternoons with them, the first canoeing on Loch Shieldaig and the second kayaking from Gairloch Harbour. Paul joined us in the canoes, along with great sunshine and plenty of seals.
The weather wasn’t quite so kind to us when we went out in kayaks, but we had plenty of seal interaction and even had an otter swimming in front of us whilst we sipped our hot chocolate.
I’ve been in kayaks a lot recently, so it was great to get out in the canoes. Katie and Andrew were in one boat and Colin and Gloria were in the other. It didn’t take long for the teams to get the boats moving well around the harbour.
Ellis, Emily, Callum, Jonathan, Derek and Jennifer came for a paddle in the sunshine. I could tell from the start that it was going to be a very wet session – I think by the end everyone had been swimming.
The sun chose to join us today, giving us a great paddling day. Calum, Duncan, Kathleen and Neil joined me at Gairloch harbour for a fun session kayaking.
I’ve been a bit slack at putting up blog posts this year. I’ll start doing it again soon, but here’s some pictures of a few recent trips out on the water.
Before we lose all the light in the evenings I took some of the local Explorer Scouts out for a paddle in Gairloch Harbour. We headed out just as the sailing club was heading in – they’d have liked more wind, but it was perfect and calm for us.
We had a fun session, with some of my standard games, a paddle up into the undergrowth of the little burn that comes out of Flowerdale, and some rafted balancing games. Sara and Sorley managed to loose their balance on the rafted games, ending up a little damp!
Archie, Ollie, Angus brought their mum, Alice, and uncle Cam along for a fun session paddling around in boats. We started off in canoes, with Cam and Archie in one and Alice, Ollie and Angus in the other. After practising our paddling and playing some games we set off looking for seals.
It didn’t take too long to find some seals, so we took a quick break on the beach to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate whilst watching the seals. We then headed back so that we could get the kayaks out. We all jumped on the kayaks, with Angus on the front of Alice’s. At the end of the session I couldn’t resist turning a few into submarine kayaks!
Peter joined me this morning for a paddling session on his birthday. He only found out he was doing it earlier on in the day as it was a birthday present. We headed off in some kayaks and combined skills practice and a little journey to get used to the boat so that Peter can help make up his mind if he wants to buy a kayak. We chatted about boat designs and different types of kit essential and useful to have if you own your own boat. It was a great morning in lovely sunshine.
I had taken Amos and Kadya climbing a few years ago and since then we’ve tried to get out paddling when they’ve been up again but not quite managed it, today we did. The plan was to have an evening on the water with Amos, Kadya and their sister Libbi, in the end we got Nicola on the water as well tempted out because of the fantastic calm flat water conditions. The calm conditions made for an easy enjoyable session. The competitive sibling rivalry certainly came out between Amos, Libbi ad Kadya when we played some games, with everyone getting very wet!
It was a sunny afternoon when Tricia, Duncan, Callum, Glean, Louise and Kate arrived for their paddling session. They had seen me earlier on in the week paddling from the harbour and thought it looked like a great fun activity to do whilst they where in Gairloch. We headed out for a fun session of leaning skills, playing games, seeing wildlife and having a paddle about the beautiful coastline.
Today I had a large group booked in for the day, the group of ten had split themselves into two groups of five, kayakers in the morning and canoeists in the afternoon. We paddled from Gairloch Harbour, with the plan of seeing a few seals, improving our paddling and having a bit of fun.
The morning started with all the kayakers – Kirsty, Paula, Jeff, Phil and Fabian. The session went well with lots of competitiveness, Fabian getting a little too competitive and capsizing! The afternoon canoeists – Joseph, Nicola Kath, Alistair and Andrea – arrived for another good session.
David and Brodie have paddled with me in the past, this time they where joined by David’s other son – Cosmo. We paddled from Gairloch Harbour and despite the grey clouds we still managed to have a good session on the water without being rained on. David owns the Poolewe Hotel, which over the last year has undergone a renovation making it a great place to stay or eat out at.
