A Flash Trip To Scotland

By David Eden, Editor

After many years of wishful thinking, Tammy and I planned a whirlwind visit to Scotland at the end of August. Kevin Mansell's article about kayaking the island of Jura that issue made it clear that kayaking possibilities was a subject we needed to look into. It would be difficult to schedule anything significant, but we were planning to visit the isle of Skye, where we knew some of the most forbidding and beautiful coastlines were beckoning.

Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed by a significant factor in any visit to Scotland: the weather. The entire time we were in Skye, gale-force winds accelerated to unbelievable intensity by the wind tunnel effect of the Highland mountains and torrential rains made heading out a very foolish activity. Even thought there were occasional breaks in the weather, and although we saw several cars with kayaks, we saw none on the water during our stay. We saw only one recreational vessel, a largish sloop, on the water during our two days on the island.

As you will find in Tammy's story about the Great Glen Canoe Trail, we did manage to run into some paddlers, inland at least. Again the weather was hard to predict. We met a group canoeing and kayaking the trail as they finished their portage from the River Oich to Loch Ness, about a mile past the set of four locks that avoids the rapids entering the loch. They were dressed in coats, rain gear, and generally looked as if they were paddling during the winter. We were dressed pretty warmly as well, so their outfits did not seem strange. Within an hour, however, the wild Highland winds had blown the clouds away for a while, and the temperature rose by at least 10 degrees, and we swiftly stripped down to T-shirts.

So our Scotland trip ended up with no time on the water, just longing looks over the seas surrounding this incredibly beautiful coastline. Definitley plan to return to paddle some day soon!