Although some may think that 200 miles of canoeing combined with climbing the two highest mountains in Scotland already sounds like quite a fortnight's entertainment, we have thought of a way to further our acheivements in an attempt to encourage some more sponsorship from those still unimpressed by our expedition (see link on the right ---->).
If the weather is on our side, there are a further 7 (yes seven!) mountains which we hope to summit in the two mountain days. As there are 9 mountains in the UK over 4000ft, and as they all happen to fall withing walking distance of either Ben Macdui or Ben Nevis, it would seem a shame not to fit these in whilst we are in the area. Although this potential extension to the trip converts two walking days of around 10 miles into two days of 17 miles and turns 'Bens by Boat' into the much less catchy 'Bens, Aonachs, Cairns, a Carn, a Sgor and Braeriach (by Boat)', we are sure we are up to the challenge and if we don't get lost in the cloud and the snow, we will hopefully return to find that we have raised lots of money for the RNLI.
Alex had a productive spell on the telephone this morning, speaking to some people who have made our lives easier and helped ensure the trip runs smoothly:
1) Loch Insch Watersports facility (http://www.lochinsh.com/) have very kindly allowed us to leave our vehicle there for the time we are in the canoe. Thanks very much to Clive Freshwater, the main man at the centre.
2) Major McMasters, camp commandant of Fort George army base was also very helpful regarding passing through military firing range danger areas in the Moray Firth. Thanks very much to him and his staff. Imagine our amusement when, whilst looking at the Ordnance Survey maps of the route, we discovered that we have to pass through two separate firing range danger areas on the seafaring section. Not wanting to end up as target practice it seemed sensible to talk to someone important. It turns out we are welcome to pass through, will most likely do so on days where there is no firing (nothing is booked during the timeframe we expect to pass through) and, even if there is firing in progress, it will be halted for as long as it takes us to pass. They have sentries and a radar system specifically to look out for boats.
So now we have the backing of the Scottish leisure industry and the British army. What could go wrong?
We visited the offices of the Suffolk Free Press earlier today and had an interview (more of a chat really) about the trip, the charity, our backgrounds and the like. Hopefully they've got enough to make a catchy article out of and therefore generate us some publicity.
One slight worry: Journos have a disconcerting habit of writing in shorthand so hapless interviewees can't spy over their shoulder and see what is being written about them. When we said, "Canoeing - yeah, good fun stuff. Looking forward to the trip. We're no experts but should manage fine." he could quite easily have been scribbling, "Dangerously underprepared local men bite off more than they can chew."
Looks like we're relying on him to pitch it well on our behalf.
The paper prints on Wednesday nights and hits doormats on Thursday mornings. We're as curious as anybody to see what they put about us!
We first saw the idea of sailing a canoe on Song of the Paddle (http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk). The forum on the site is the forum for the UK open canoeist and has plenty of people and good information to pick up tips and ideas from. Canoe sailing rigs vary from simple downwind only setups, comprising umbrellas or a jumper between two paddles, to the much more elaborate, making the canoe not much different from a sailing dinghy.
Wanting to only slightly overcomplicate things we opted for our sailing rig to be a downwind only design but to have more tug than the simplest of the simple (umbrellas/jumpers). Alex had a Terra Nova bothy bag that was a good size for the sail, a mast and mast foot were assembled from old tent poles and a sink plunger and a boom was fashioned from a broom handle (we are in fact on boom number two after an unfortunate episode involving said broom handle, a lathe and a dent in the wall). Add some rope and we have a sailing rig.
We’ve adapted and improved the design over a few sessions on the river and now have something that can drag us at a good speed and can even steer us a few degrees either side of downwind (bonus).
The mast is just behind the front seat of the canoe. Two stays are attached to where the front seat hangers meet the seat and the third attaches to the yoke. There’s a carabiner attached to the top of the mast, which allows the boom to be hauled up and dropped relatively quickly and without standing up (nice to avoid losing stability if it's windy and/or on rough water). The bothy bag sail is a jellyfish/mushroom cap kind of shape and is suspended from the boom. There are four control points on the sail but whether the bottom two do anything is open to debate. The bottom of the sail is attached to the seat, which stops everything flapping around so much. The man at the back steers and the other chap holds the sail (or ties it off and has a snooze).
It works satisfactorily on the very lightest of breezes and carries us at a very good speed in a stiffer wind. Unfortunately, the likelihood of us getting favourable winds where we want them is low. Wind generally comes from the South West in the UK, which only helps us out with the Spey section of the trip (down river and fast flowing in places anyway). The route in the sea is side on to the probable wind and the lochs, rivers and canals of the Great Glen straight into it. The bit of luck we’re banking on is getting a North Easterly for the Great Glen section. We are informed they do happen from time to time!
The best thing about the sailing rig is its ability to turn heads and the feeling of superiority felt whilst effortlessly drifting by other, lesser equipped, paddlers.
arrived at Alex's house this morning. As mentioned here, we thought pumps could make bailing easier (as opposed to using tupperware boxes). The bicycle-pump style Easybailer will strap under a canoe seat, out of the way, but will help massively if we do need to empty the canoe away from shore. It emptied Alex's kitchen sink in no time at all and is well worth while having about considering how little room it takes up.
We met with a very nice chap from the Suffolk Free Press (local paper) down by the river last night. He got loads of snaps of us in the boat and seemed very interested in the trip. We're meeting with a reporter later this week (or early next) for an interview and should be featured in the issue coming out on the 24th September.
We're also going on the lecture circuit! People have read the blog, talked to other people, who have talked to other people, and word has got back to us that the local primary school would like us to give a presentation about the trip. It turns out that the kids have been learning about the lifeboats recently (good coincidence) and are raising money for the RNLI themselves. For the children (and the teachers) it should be an exciting morning with cool pictures and interesting stories about our adventures. For us it's more publicity. Good news all round really.
We wanted the Bens by Boat logo on the canoe so Oli donned his creative hat and got busy with scissors and sticky-backed plastic. The next task was to identify the least scratched areas of the boat and rub them down with white spirit. Most of the sticking down was done by Oli. Not wanting to interfere with an artist at work, or take responsibility for mucking it up, Alex made the tea and kept out of the way.
Though luckily he was on hand to point out mistakes.
Four hands were needed at times.
We had just enough time for a test drive before our photographer, the ever-present Julie, had to go.
We spent this morning paddling from Sudbury to Bures. We’ve done this bit of the River Stour quite a few times before but wanted to have a go with the canoe laden with the kit we’re planning to take with us (or at least the equivalent weight and volume of house bricks). We hadn’t got a schedule to keep to so went at a fairly leisurely pace.
The water level was down and many of the weirs were dry so we took the opportunity to practice our portaging technique, which, with the added weight of rucksacks and barrels of bricks, was more complex than envisaged. Without removing the barrels, lifting the canoe onto its nifty portage trolley proved strenuous. We also discovered there’s definitely a knack to using these canoe trolleys. Our first attempt was going fine but ended a little like the police car scene in American Graffiti.
As it turns out, paddling with the additional weight wasn’t noticeably more difficult than paddling the empty boat. Manoeuvring and speed were pretty much the same as usual and the gunwales still sat high above the water (in perfectly calm conditions at least). Perhaps we’re just not carrying enough to make a difference to this particular canoe.
The section of the trip from Spey Bay to Inverness (the North Sea) has the potential to slow us down and complicate things. Tides and wind aren’t a huge a concern on the rivers and canals but could cause us to lose a day’s progress or wash us out to Norway on the seafaring leg! As neither of us had travelled by canoe on anything apart from lakes and rivers before an afternoon at the beach seemed as though it could prove useful to get a bit of experience, as well as being a worthwhile outing in its own right. With the Met Office forecasting winds of 3 to 4, gusting 5 and sea state slight to moderate, we headed to Jaywick, Essex on Sunday to get familiar with wind and waves.
It turns out we have to be a bit of a distance from shore to avoid the breaking waves close to the shore. This was the first thing we discovered, getting fairly wet just pushing the boat off the beach. Keeping in mind the difficulties of sorting out a capsized boat without dry land close by (see our previous blog on this very subject) we are faced with a necessary (but still not outrageous) risk. Keeping the canoe stable isn’t too difficult. Even taking friends for a spin around the bay the added weight (more than the weight of our two weeks’ kit) was easily manageable. We’d quite like it if the sea was mirror flat for our trip, a pleasant temperature and came with a ready supply of sunshine and refreshing light breezes. Unfortunately; being October in Scotland it’s more likely to be cold and raining with waves and gales for the few hours of daylight we’ll get. Sitting on the beach waiting for poor weather to pass isn’t ideal but is far better than making slow progress and getting soaked and cold. With quite choppy conditions and the odd white horse, the Jaywick foray was a good preview of the type of sea conditions we are likely to face. We learnt a lot about how the boat handles and a few key things to avoid. The more canoeing specific stuff is omitted here, at a risk of boring the broader audience, but can be seen in the video description on youtube.
As an important aside, thanks and recognition must finally go to our photographer, benefactor and all round good-egg, Julie. Most of the photos and videos we put up she’ll have taken and she’s also the only person so far to donate on our fundraising page (http://www.justgiving.com/bensbyboat2009). She can be seen in the photo below, albeit from a distance so as not to steal too much of the limelight.
As we have told our plans to more people, many of them have warned us of the dangers of canoeing solo, particularly on large areas of open water. Alex’s mother in particular is convinced we will be swept out to sea and killed. Despite our reassurances that we will stay aware of the weather and tides, it is only sensible to be prepared and plan for the worst. Capsizing on a relatively narrow stretch of river or close to the sea shore is not a big problem. Swim the boat to dry land, tip it over and the boat is dry and ready to go again. Capsizing either in the middle of a Loch or several hundred meters into the North Sea is a much bigger problem. Learning how to do this in a raging storm with our camping gear floating over the horizon is far from ideal so we decided to get an idea of what we would be up against. On Friday evening we headed to the River Stour. The following video (part 3 of 5) shows the method we will probably use in the event of capsize far from the shore.
From this we have learnt: 1/ It’s best not to capsize in the first place! 2/A boat filled with water is very difficult to manoeuvre. 3/ Bailing with a tupperware box is inefficient – we’re trying to obtain a pump to make life easier.
