Yesterday’s canoe voyage consisted of Richie sailing solo in his new Sevylor Colorado and Iain, an old friend of mine who I eventually persuaded to come out on the loch (“If you’d have told me a few years ago I’d be out in the middle of Loch Lomond in an inflatable canoe with YOU of all people………….”) with me in the Back Country canoe.
Yours Truly and crew yesterday (Photo by Richie)
The weather forecast was for considerable wind and there was a fair breeze, but as it was an easterly, the islands themselves provided shelter. We did one of the ‘classic’ islands voyages i.e. Aldochlay to the ‘Geggles’ via Inchmoan and then back through the ‘Narrows’. The red line below shows the route:
Canoe route in red. Approximate walk in green.
The breakfast view yesterday (this shot taken on a previous trip)
After a rather pleasant cooked breakfast and mugs of tea at the Geggles, we landed again at Inchconnachan in an attempt to show our new voyager a wallaby or two. Unfortunately no wallabies this time but we got a fantastic view of a male osprey which we were able to observe for around 15 minutes. We were almost willing him to dive for a fish but unfortunately he wasn’t for performing. We did our best to stay out of the taped off osprey nesting areas but we must have been close at points. We had a superb view of the osprey through binoculars but none of us had a powerful enough lens for a good photo. To give you a flavour, here is an osprey in flight (and this one does dive):
On the way back from Inchconnachan the easterly wind gently ushered us back to Aldochlay.
An approximate 7.5 mile round canoe trip and a couple of miles hiking in grand weather.
And the best view I’ve ever had of an osprey.
Smashing.
Filed under: loch lomond | Tagged: aldochlay, inchconnachan, inchmoan, ospreys, the geggles, the narrows | Leave a Comment »
