We took the K2 on the Cam, with our full protective gear and practised capsizing and getting back in.
There were a few "hazards" we wouldn't expect to encounter off the Scottish coast..
We had to reassure a flotilla of Chinese students in canoes, who were very anxious that we might need them to rescue us!
Then a duck brought her flock of ducklings along to have a look at what we were doing.
As usual, before trips to scotland with the Feathercraft K2, we assemble it at home to check it out, and practise our self rescue techniques.
But this time it was even harder than usual to assemble.. .the skin seemed to have shrunk!
A bit of googling confirmed our suspicion... its 20yrs old, and we haven't used it since 2024, so the urethane hull and deck may well have stiffened and shrunk.. The recommended solution is to soak the skin in water overnight (some would say for 24hrs)
We got the hosepipe out, wet the skin from the inside, and left it overnight. Thankfully, this worked.
But, to avoid a similar struggle when we arrive in scotland, we think we'll keep the kayak assembled, and car-top it to Scotland.
Once it was assembled we had a very pleasant paddle up the River Cam from our local nature reserve.
We spent a very pleasant couple of days canoeing down the River Waveney .
We started in the delightful village of Homersfield, where there is easy access to the river.
Camped a few hours later beside the river near Flixton.
We then paddled on and camped at the nice three rivers campsite a few km further down the river.
The next day, Tom took the bus back to Homersfield to collect the car, from the remarkably well stocked bus shelter in Gedeston.
The weather was still windy, wet and cold (with snow half way down Ben Nevis) As there seemed no prospects of an improvement we decided to call it a day and head to home, via a few days at Berwick upon Tweed (which seemed to have a slightly better weather forecast)
This was lovely .. we had a a blustery walk round St Abb's head...
then the next day cycled over the causeway to Holy Island (paying very careful attention to the tides, because the causeway is flooded for much of the day...)
Lindesfarne is lovely
We drove over to Arivegaig (nearest village is Acharacle) and cycled through the forest to the Singing Sands and Cul na Croise beaches. This was the base of the "Eden" TV reality show broadcast on Channel 4 during 2017, and was somewhere we'd long been interested to visit ...
We set up camp on a blustery promentory...
..overlooking a row of glorious, deserted sandy beaches
But cycling was hard!
Portaging up to Loch Morar, was MUCH harder than we remembered... We realised we last did it 10 years ago.... but things have changed!!....
We no longer fancy doing that portage again!
But once on Loch Morar, we paddled up the loch and set up camp at a nice spot on the south shore. The next day, on schedule, the sun came out the wind dropped and it was lovely.
We arrived at our favourite campsite near Arisaig, (Tigh-na-mara campsite, Back of Keppoch) and assembled the Kayak ....
The weather forecast not looking good, with Force 4 winds, so after a brief "warm-up paddle" we decided that tomorrow we'd paddle over to Morar, and portage up the road to Loch Morar, where it should be calmer.
Our trip to Scotland started badly, when a week before we were due to leave, our car's engine blew up.
We hastily hired a van from Enterprise.
We finished our Scandanavian trip with 4 days kayaking in the Santa Anna Archipelego, about 1hr south of Stockholm. We hired everything apart from our personal sleeping kit from the excellent company Do the North. They even did the food shopping for us before we arrived, then we set off to explore.
Having a free standing tent was important, on these rocky little islands!
For our holiday in 2023, we went interrailing: from Cambridge to arctic Norway, then back south through Sweden. Wonderful trip
With our Norwegian friend Jan we paddled down the river from Honefoss into Nordfjorden
Camped out on the Island of Frognoya
After an amazing trip, we came home to start the process of washing and drying everything and packing it away, with the help our our nephew Tamlin.
CalMac take kayaks for free, and we had a lot of gear to upload
Unfortunately, trying to load all gear onto the ferry in a hurry (to avoid delaying the already late-running ferry) I sprained my knee.
The CalMac crew were very helpful. They loaded the kayak and everything into their truck and took us to Malaig, where one of them stayed late to help Tom put the kayak on top of our car.
After trip to A&E in Inverness the next day, we started the journey home.
Very pleasant overnight stay in Appleby Manor
From Rubha an Dunain, we paddled the 12km, past gambling dolphins to the delightful Samhnan Insir Beach on Rum
A chance to relax and do some washing, while being careful to avoid disturbing the deer (which are part of 50 year research programme)
The next day we paddled past an apparently abandoned fish farm to Kinloch to get the CalMac Ferry to Eigg
Rubha an Dunain is a stunning place, thats been used as far back as the Mesolithic
We camped beside the harbour and dry dock complex, that was built by the Vikings, using facilities that have clearly been used and refined by users of small boats for 1000s of years.
Above us was a Dun, built of massive blocks defending the headland looking over to Rum
At high tide, in the evening light, we saw at least 100 dolphins feeding on a shoal of fish. Gannets and gulls fed on them from above.
We spent a few days paddling round the S west coast of Skye to Rubha an Dunain. Lots of brilliant views.
The coast is quite committing, because its not always easy to land, even for a pee.
