Open for Donations

We've set up a justgiving.com account to look after the fundraising side. You can view the page and donate by clicking on the link here.

We chose the RNLI because it is very relevant to the method of fundraising (i.e. travelling by sea). The sea is nice when the sun shines and the ice-cream vans are out but much less pleasant in the teeth of a raging storm in the dead of night in the middle of winter. Tides, waves, cold, drowning etc will all eagerly contribute to people's deaths.
There are some great statistics available on how long a human can survive in cold water. Suffice to say swimming back to shore takes longer than the lifeboat picking you up and therefore lives are saved.

So the RNLI are basically the ambulance crews of the sea (apart from they don't get paid for it and it's infinitely more dangerous). They must be funded like ambulance crews, right....
This is where my jaw dropped too.

They're nothing to do with the government. Totally funded by donations and staffed by volunteers despite being on a par with two of the three main emergency services!

Donations very welcome and spent usefully.

The Route

The first section of the route is done on foot, starting from the car park at the Cairngorm ranger Station. We will climb Ben Macdui (second highest mountain in the UK – 1309m) and with any luck the sun will shine and we’ll be able to see the summit of Ben Nevis, our final destination. The walk is not particularly short but we still hope to be in the canoe by mid/late-afternoon. This unfortunately entails an unpleasantly early start!

Distance so far: 11 miles by foot

The canoeing starts at Loch Insh. From here we will follow the River Spey until it meets the sea at Spey Bay. It’s a good mix of steadily flowing calm sections and plenty of straightforward white water. We’re aiming to cover this section in a minimum of three days.

Distance so far: 11 miles by foot
70 miles by canoe

From Spey Bay we will follow the coast of the North Sea westwards then head up the Moray Firth to Inverness. We’re aiming to cover this section in four days although this largely depends on the weather. Better late than never!

Distance so far: 11 miles by foot
125 miles by canoe

The coastal chapter of our journey finishes at Inverness where we join the Great Glen. After 8 miles along the Caledonian Canal we join Loch Ness, the largest volume of freshwater in the UK. If we aren’t paddling against a substantial headwind (which we more than likely will be) it should take about a day to negotiate Loch Ness and return to the relative calm of the Caledonian Canal. Over the next few days we’ll continue along the Great Glen through Loch Oich, Loch Lochy and the River Lochy ending in Loch Linnhe at Fort William.

Distance so far: 11 miles by foot
188 miles by canoe

Finding the end of the Great Glen and Caledonian Canal at Fort William is the end of canoeing for this trip. The final stage will be on foot, the ultimate aim being to reach the summit of Ben Nevis (tallest mountain in the UK – 1344m) no more than fourteen days after leaving the summit of Ben Macdui more than 200 miles ago.

Distance total: 21 miles by foot
188 miles by canoe

The Beginning

We (Oli Marsh and Alex Purser) are two friends from near Sudbury in Suffolk who enjoy, amongst other outdoor things, canoeing. We're not that good at it and haven't been at it very long but are forever fans of a good trip/challenge/adventure.


The Plan:
Climb Ben Macdui in the Cairngorms and then hop in a canoe.
From Loch Insch paddle the Spey to where it meets the sea at Spey Bay.
Head West to Inverness along the coast.
Follow the Great Glen to Fort William.
Abandon the canoe and climb Ben Nevis.
It's mainly a canoeing trip but we thought the two highest mountains in Scotland at beginning and end would tie it up nicely.

A more comprehensive plan, maps and so on, will appear soon.

The whole thing will be done in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). They turn out at all hours in all weathers to save imperilled sea-goers from drowning and do it all voluntarily. They always need money for equipment and are deserving of a few quid from each of us to keep the service going.

Today is Monday 10th August 2009. We're aiming to start the trip very early in October. Between now and then we'll keep updating this blog with all the important stuff as well as the merely interesting.

Stay tuned.