Bens by Boat 2009

The results are in, the lines are closed and Bens by Boat 2009 will now gracefully retire. Since its inception in early August the project h...

The talk we did for the more adult audience (anyone over the age of five) went very well indeed. There was always a real danger that nobody ...

Seeing as the talk we did for the local primary school children went so well, we're going to do one for the more mature audience (anyone...

We spent a while this morning at the local primary school. The children have been learning about the lifeboats over the last month and Alex...

Firstly, thanks for your patience waiting for the full account of the trip to arrive. We thought it would be cool to have the route shown on...

We've been working on a full account of the trip for your viewing pleasure and it's nearly ready. It's taken longer than we thou...

We've been back a few days now and are beavering away at getting photos and a proper account of the trip sorted. Hoping to have it done ...

We breakfasted on our last six ginger nut biscuits and started treading the path up Ben Nevis at 08:00. We allowed plenty of time for what w...

Quite an early start and on the canal before 07:00 this morning (after a short portage along the road from Laggan Youth Hostel). We got onto...

Quite a big paddling day today. We got on the water at 07:30 and headed onto a perfect Loch Ness. The sun hadn't yet properly risen but ...

When we got up the wind was a bit lighter than yesterday so we took our chance and struck out across the bay. It was quite choppy for so far...

Early start this morning and the weather looked promising. Alas, this was to change. No sooner had we got on the water the wind (in our face...

Yesterday's rough seas and strong winds had thankfully disappeared by the time we woke up this morning. Not wanting to waste good weathe...

Unfortunately the Met Office got something right for once and the strong westerly they predicted has arrived. No chance of making any progre...

Our initial plan this morning was to launch from Hopeman harbour but as the sea conditions had improved so dramatically we decided to launch...

We got up late today, enjoying the comfort and convenience of the pill box. A nice chap called Keith, a member of the Song of the Paddle web...

Weather was pretty much the same as yesterday. Starting well, then rain (about an hour) and then good for the rest of the day. Progress was ...

Woke up this morning to smooth flowing water, blue skies and brilliant sunshine. We got on the water just before 09:00 and made good time on...

Had a lie in this morning to recover from yesterday's exertions. Got down to Loch Insh, sorted gear and paddled away from the beach at a...

Day 1 was long. Very long. We started walking at 05:45, watched the sun rise from Cairngorm summit at 07:00 and were on top of Ben Macdui fo...

Have been driving today. Weather has been good and we have made good progress. Had a run in with the law at Pitlochry about how the canoe wa...

Alex has just about stuffed the last pack of biscuits and box of matches into the bags and barrels. 03:10 ish is not bad going for him actua...

Despite being the plan all along it's only now, the night before we leave, that Alex has gotten round to checking that updating the blog...

We are now all packed (or at least almost packed) and ready to go. We did some shopping for supplies earlier and bought lots of pasta, tuna ...

Although some may think that 200 miles of canoeing combined with climbing the two highest mountains in Scotland already sounds like quite a ...

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...

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...

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...

A couple of these: arrived at Alex's house this morning. As mentioned here , we thought pumps could make bailing easier (as opposed to u...

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...

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 t...

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 g...

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 a...

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 w...

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 ...

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...

We (Oli Marsh and Alex Purser) are two friends from near Sudbury in Suffolk who enjoy, amongst other outdoor things, canoeing. We're not...