River Oich Kayaking

My big brother Mark is up for a day on the hills tomorrow, we had a few options for today but eventually decided to kayak down the River Oich.

According to the Scottish Canoe Association, "only paddlers equipped with helmets and significant moving water experience should be tempted to take this ‘short cut’"- well, we had helmets but not much (i.e. no) moving water experience but you have to start somewhere. I knew where the hardest rapids where and I also knew you could hop over to the caledonian canal a few hundred metres before if we didn't fancy them so we decided to give it a go.

Mark getting to grips with his kayak at the top of the river.

The river could have done with slightly more water running down it, for future reference the weir should have a good flow coming down the main chute, even better if there is water coming over the main face as well. The river is gently flowing and very picturesque, there are a few fallen trees to look out for and today a few shallow spots to ground yourself on. There is only one slightly serious set of rapids, and yeah you guessed it, it got me almost before I'd even started down it. I'd negotiated the first set of rocks but somehow hit the second, the boat turned sideways to the current and it was all over. I emerged from the water like Daniel Craig in that Bond film only to see Mark at the bottom of the rapids looking very happy with himself and very dry. Oh well, I'll have it next time.

--Matt

Great Glen Kayaking

Stunning weather up here at the moment so it was back out on Loch Oich again, this time with our own brand new - well, new to us anyway - kayaks.


We've got our friends Sarah and Al up and we all enjoyed cruising around the lovely still water in the spring sunshine. The kayaks seemed to work slightly better than the ones we used last time - these ones almost go straight! All was going well until I crashed into Jen and very nearly capsized her, I think she's just about forgiven me.

--Matt

Loch Oich kayaking

According to the Great Glen Canoe Trail Loch Oich is "arguably the most scenic of the four lochs in the Great Glen". Our friends Rick and Anna managed to bag themselves a couple of free kayaks recently and as Rich had a day off work today we decided to accompany him for a paddle out on Loch Oich to experience the spectacular scenery for ourselves.


None of us has much experience on the water but it was a beautiful still sunny day, so perfect weather for an introductory outing. Matt and Rick were first out while I lagged behind at home with Alby making the obligatory picnic. When I did eventually arrive at the lochside with picnic, baby and dog in tow, I was met by a bemused Matt who assured me both kayaks were broken and he'd been going round in circles all morning. I wasn't sure I fancied that much but decided to have a go, so got myself into a buoyancy aid and off I went. I could see what he meant straight away, the boat had a definite tendency to spin, but by leaving a few seconds between paddles I could work out whether to swap sides or keep paddling the same side and this seemed to help me stay in a straight line.


Rick and I glided around for a while before the picnic beckoned and we tucked into our falafel wraps. We then had another go, had a race around the buoy (which I lost), went round in a few circles, and decided to call it a day so Matt could have another go before we retreated to the four-star luxury of Invergarry Lodge.

Jen x