Sunday 15/9/13
During the night the weather changed dramatically, a storm front had hit us, wind and rain gave the tents and tarps a fair old lashing, but they stood firm.
The following morning we awoke to the noise of more rain and yet more wind.
the name says it all
This didn’t faze us as we were on a natural high, we just got stuck in to our chores.
Again as the day before the river levels dictated how we propelled our boats, be it with paddles, poles or just plain jumping out and mauling. That was for the four canoeists, Mike who was in a loaned cross over kayak which being all but two weeks old was employing as many techniques as he could to prevent his boat from "boulder strike" and scratching/marking it (find out later if he succeeded)
Mike on a boulder
Not long after setting off we went under a road bridge at Newtonmore where we had to make an emergency pit stop, one of Stu's seat bolts gave up the ghost and his seat was now looking rather wonkey. This was soon fixed with my super strong kite string-tracking bridle. (Thanks to the 4* training we had for that idea) this temporary fix lasted the whole trip and was easy to untie as well
Fixing the boat
Off we paddled, shooting the odd riffle, dodging submerged boulders and negotiating gravel beds, of which, kept us on our toes or indeed on our feet out of the boats, mauling them if we got stuck. My poling repertoire had gained yet another technique, I called it the Spey shuffle, whilst asserting a fair amount of pressure on the pole I was rocking my boat side to side vigorously to free it from boulders etc that lay just below the surface.
a small channel of flow for us to negotiate
We passed a few islands en route as the river meandered towards the Insh Marsh Nature Reserve, by now our stomachs were saying it was dinner time, but as we were in the middle of a marsh with steep banks either side, it was deemed wise to push on to Loch Insh and the possibility of a beach.
approaching Loch Insh.
We pulled up for lunch on a beach at the southern most point of the Loch, just in time for the rain (Scottish mist?) to ease.
Lunch was eaten and very soon over, we clambered back into the boats. I have to say we were all surprised how warm the water was on our hands.
In the small bay by the beach the Loch surface was like a mirror,
but we noticed when we pulled off that there were a few tell-tale riffles in the middle of the Loch indicating some wind, on the shore a photographer was clicking away, his telephoto lens pointing in our direction, whilst the Fellowship crossed the Loch. It would be interesting to see his photos.
The exit route of the Loch being the mouth of the river was just over one kilometre North from "our beach," and the wind was blowing North East, not a problem when we started but sullen storm clouds were coming our way at speed, hitting us as we were mid-way across, in no time at all, the wind had picked up the waves turning them into galloping white horses. The waves were big enough to break over the sides of the canoes threatening to swamp us; on top of this we also battled desperately trying to prevent the boats from "weather cocking." Only Stu equipped with his sail enjoyed the crossing as he tacked his way across.
the wind was picking upon this photo, time to put the camera away as the wind picked up and the waves grew in size.
The Fellowship collected together in the lee of the island at the mouth of the Spey, just in time for the micro storm to abate. Now with a smile on our faces and fully warmed up we paddled off down-stream.
I will not try to repeat myself, but just to reiterate each and every day we were confronted by stunning views as the rivers character changes as it flows towards the sea, re-entering the river was one such event.
Another river joined as we started to look for camp two. Several kilometers later we had found one, grid ref NH 833 086. This campsite had a sandy surface with trees and shrubs dotted about which were convenient to hang our drying lines and to suspend the tarp upon. Same as yesterday and the following days to come we chose a "tarp spot" and then bagged ourselves a tent space.
Wood was sought, cut and chopped for the cooking fire, some was stored from the previous night in my boat but needed drying out a little as earlier that day my gunnels were dipped under water by a tree, I didn't swim but I did come close, loaded boats just aren't responsive at all and the river had a fair flow to it!
It was Mikes turn for tea that night, Pasta Carbanara was on the menu followed by "*Lumpy Delight*" for pudding, a new one on me but it worked.
We were now running low on water, I had bought a water filter and was filtering the river water, however it was hard going as the fine peaty water soon clogged up the ceramic filter.
Eventually we set the fire with a big billy pan full of river water suspended from a tripod; we got the water to a rolling boil and left it for the morning.
This was to supplement the filtered water, filtered water for cold drinks, boiled river water for hot drinks and porridge. As the night before after some idle chat we "hit the sack" as the sky went dark.(we weren't being unsociable as had been chatting all day.) During the night Clive heard a pig like snuffleing and snorting sound around our camp, wild boar maybe?
*lumpy delight for the curious ones is Angel Delight (this one was caramel) with crunched up Hobnob biscuits*
Cheers
Tim
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Originally Posted by Tigger004
I'll definitely have to give that go...
It is always a pleasure to see what you can make !, instead of buying it ready made. R Proenneke.
