Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 17
  1. #1
    Senior Member Gailainne's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Central Scotland
    Hammock
    DIY Bridge/DD Travel
    Tarp
    Kathmandu/Superfly
    Insulation
    Exped/DIY UB
    Posts
    178

    Three day trip to Loch Sween

    A friend of mine from England, had discussed a long weekend trip to a part of Scotland I had passed thru but never explored, Loch Sween, which is on the Argyll, Kintyre Peninsular, Jura and Islay is just off the coast, so we decided to set up a little trip, originally there had been six, but as the world interferes we were whittled down to three.

    To be frank the two weeks leading up to the trip hadn’t been promising, gale force winds and flooding all over the Country, plus my new canoe, a Mad River Reflection 15 hadn’t cleared the dock/customs, so I was either taking my inflatable (which had sprung a leak the last outing, Loch Ken with Grizz) or riding tandem.

    Wednesday morning I get a phone call, my canoe is here, ready to be picked up, brilliant, then I thought, I suppose I should fit the components together that make up my roof rack, and actually fit that to the car, so Wednesday night in a howling gale and driving rain I did just that, the “quick fit” system took over two hours, to actually fit, and I was soaked to the skin and frozen by the time I finished, never mind, it means I can pick up my new canoe tomorrow…..

    The wind gets worse, gusts of over 70 mph, discretion being the better part of valor, I phone the canoe shop and delayed picking the canoe up till the Friday morning, hoping the wind would have died down, as forecast.

    It did, the wind died, the sun came out, car packed, the canoe shop people were great, checked I had fitted the rack properly, and helped me load the canoe, by 11:30 I was on the road North, about an hour behind the other two, I arrived at the Tayvallich Inn about 14:40, where I met up with my two friends who were on their second pint ! they had been there a while.

    I was taught my first lesson on parking with a canoe on top, I had parked as normal, not thinking at all about the canoe, which my friends had a great deal of fun pointing out to me had left the canoe sticking out over the road about 3 feet....oops, fixed that.

    We loaded the boats, parked the cars further up the village, and set off..

    As you can see my canoe is the barge on this outing, so I get to carry the fire logs and kindling


    On her maiden voyage, she's trimmed a tad nose heavy, which made itself very apparent once we hit open water and the wind picked up, I spent a great deal of the weekend figuring out how to trim her properly as the conditions changed.

    We had a few spots picked out from the OS 1:25k maps, but when we got there, they were not suitable for camping, (2 of us were hammocking, 1 in a bivi), however we both had bivi bags as back up if required. In the end as the light was fading, we had travelled up to the far end of the Loch, beside the Faery Isles, Shewie had spotted a place, pretty boggy, but it had Scots pine trees to suspend from and a semi dry area for Grooveski's bivi, almost primeval isn't it, a Grooveski pic


    Early Saturday morning, we had had a fair bit of rain during the night, very cold too, but it had all died away to leave us with a truly wonderful morning


    We brought our cooking gear down to the shore and enjoyed breakfast on the beach in glorious sunshine




    We packed up and went looking for a better camp site, looking back down Loch Sween, from the water

    That's Grooveski in the distance in his superb clinker built sailing canoe


    From the shore at our new camp site




    My new craft, not so pristine now, just out of the bubble wrap on Friday


    The weather was looking ominous out towards Jura and Islay


    We got the fire going, and settled down to dinner and watch the night fall. A really nice photo from Shewie


    Luckily the storm came to nothing, but gave us a fantastic evening sky




    My hammock set up; Blackbird, double layer 1.7, with the superfly over the top, I wanted to enjoy the sunrise, so left that side up. I have an early Wanderinstar underblanket, (snugpak bought the rights to it) and a Alpkit Pipedream 600 down sleeping bag




    Shewies set up, Open hammock (not sure of the make) either the new DD tarp or the "Song of the Paddle forum" one, snugpak underblanket and he also used an Alpkit Pipedream 600.


    It was quite cold both nights, any standing water froze, and my wet gloves froze solid, as well as the canoes themselves, and anything left in them.


    A really enjoyable weekend, but Saturday night was amazing, no light pollution, no clouds, a three quarter moon, and so many stars, brilliant.

    Cheers

    Stephen

  2. #2
    Senior Member NCPatrick's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Winston-Salem, NC
    Hammock
    WB Traveler
    Tarp
    Custom OES tarp
    Insulation
    JRB Down UQ/TQ
    Suspension
    Whoopie slings
    Posts
    8,797
    Images
    40
    Excellent! What a great report. Thanks for your pictures. Looks like a very fun trip.


    "Civilization is the limitless multiplication of unnecessary necessities."
    - Mark Twain
    “I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order.”
    - John Burroughs

  3. #3
    Senior Member Hawk-eye's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Oak Ridge & Linville Gorge, North Carolina
    Hammock
    HHE, 2QZQ Mod4, Jerry 5 DIY
    Tarp
    HG Cuben/SFly Camo
    Insulation
    HammockGear Prod.
    Suspension
    Use them all!
    Posts
    9,989
    Images
    3
    THANKS for sharing ... looks like a great trip. The pictures are fantastic. What a sunset!

    WARNING: Will discuss Rhurbarb Strawberry Pie and Livermush at random.


    "A democracy is two wolves and a small lamb voting on what to have for dinner.
    Freedom under a constitutional republic is a well armed lamb contesting the vote." ... B.Franklin


    Home of the Gorge Rats: Linville Gorge
    My Videos YouTube Channel
    Photo collections Flickr Photostream


    Gorge Rat Productions On FaceBook

  4. #4
    MacEntyre's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Trouble Ranch on Troublesome Creek, NC
    Hammock
    Molly Mac Gear
    Posts
    7,617
    Images
    6
    Wow! Great pictures!

    Whenever I want to change my desktop background, I'll just come back to this thread!

    - MacEntyre
    - MacEntyre
    "We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Ben Franklin
    www.MollyMacGear.com

  5. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    MI
    Hammock
    WBBB DL 1.1
    Tarp
    Ogee
    Insulation
    Jerry Chair
    Suspension
    whoopie
    Posts
    321
    that was a wonderful trip report. great pictures!

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2007
    Location
    Mountainside, NJ
    Hammock
    depends on weather
    Tarp
    SWT
    Insulation
    various
    Suspension
    Straps, Dutch Clip
    Posts
    1,422
    Images
    11
    Sounds like an excellent trip. The pictures are awesome. Thanks for posting.

  7. #7
    Senior Member GrizzlyAdams's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Illinois
    Hammock
    GrizzBridge Ariel
    Tarp
    HG Cuben Winter
    Insulation
    DIY UQ
    Posts
    4,777
    Images
    564
    loved that, thanks. I gotta go back to land of Lochs.

    McGrizz

  8. #8
    Senior Member SoundWitness's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2006
    Location
    Stockton, New Jersey (along the Delaware River)
    Hammock
    Warbonnet BlackBird
    Tarp
    HG-4SCCCFT/WBSF
    Insulation
    Crowsnest/JRB MWUQ
    Suspension
    Whoopies, DW baby
    Posts
    659
    Loch Sween looks like a great place for a group hang!! Means I gotta start saving my money.

    Beautiful pics! Thanks for sharing.
    "Surround yourself with the best people you can find, delegate authority, and don't interfere."- RONALD REAGAN

    "There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer." - CALVIN COOLIDGE




    My Backpacking Site

  9. #9
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Minnesota
    Hammock
    I have many so....
    Tarp
    Blackcrow DIY Tarp
    Insulation
    FrankenquiltUQ/Pod
    Suspension
    Whoopie Slings
    Posts
    23,394
    Images
    62
    Shweeeet! Glad you posted.
    Shug
    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  10. #10
    Senior Member Perkolady's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2006
    Location
    NE GA
    Hammock
    diy
    Tarp
    diy 9x11
    Insulation
    JRB No Sniveller
    Suspension
    CBs + DCs
    Posts
    1,093
    Images
    29
    WOW!

    Very enjoyable report! Thanks!

  • + New Posts
  • Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast

    Similar Threads

    1. Out On Loch an Daimh (pic heavy)
      By shambling shaman in forum Trip Reports
      Replies: 11
      Last Post: 05-29-2012, 12:52
    2. Loch Long - Scotland
      By Shewie in forum Trip Reports
      Replies: 11
      Last Post: 04-30-2010, 19:45
    3. A weekend on Loch Lomond
      By Shewie in forum Trip Reports
      Replies: 19
      Last Post: 02-04-2010, 13:45
    4. Loch Ken
      By GrizzlyAdams in forum Trip Reports
      Replies: 14
      Last Post: 07-01-2009, 17:26

    Tags for this Thread

    Bookmarks

    Posting Permissions

    • You may not post new threads
    • You may not post replies
    • You may not post attachments
    • You may not edit your posts
    •