A contrast (to start)

Day 4: Invermoriston to Drumnadrochit. 12 Miles.

We awoke (hungover) to a hugely changed scene. The entire loch as far as the eye could see was mirror calm, not even the tiniest ripple spoiled the surface.

We got packed up and sailed off into an absolutely beatiful scene. For the first couple of hours we seamed to skim over the surface of the water. It was roasting hot with not a breath of air.

We had a 20 miute stop and then headed out again, the wind gradually got up and a few miles from Urquart Castle were in the midst of very similar conditions to the day before. We knew that we would have to abort the trip at Drumnadrochit and had hoped to breeze into the bay just after the castle. This is the widest part of the loch at almost 2 miles across and we were subject to the worst conditions of the trip. We managed to get to shore just past the castle. Our relief was tempered by the realisation that we would have to carry the loaded kayaks up 200 metre, 35 degree slope to get to the road then carry the canoes a further 300 metres to our pick up point. A real sting in the tail.

So ultimately we didn't manage the full trip and were about 15 miles short of Inverness. We had however put in a huge effort over the 4 days to get as far as we did so we were not downhearted.

A real adventure from start to end.