On The Bonnie Banks

I hooked up with the guys north of the border for some canoe camping at the weekend, a very chilled out affair, mostly spent under the 'chute dodging the rain and chilly winds. It was good to be back up there and I hope to get a lot more paddling in again this year, some pics ...

Landed at the beach

The view for the weekend, although it wasn't always as sunny as this

Stephen getting his camp sorted out

Josh's bivvy under an old Hennessy tarp I think

Mine up, my quilts are getting some air time after being packed for days

Toasty

I had a nice little paddle out in the setting sun on Friday evening

Looking back to camp, pre 'chute

We had a visitor in camp in the evenings

Stephens' new shiny toy, charging an iphone and nano whilst making a brew at the same time.

Chris away for some sailing on day two

Stephen chilling under the 'chute

Big guy came back on the second night, it was too cold and wet on the third night though

Getting brave, he actually came right under the 'chute after the other guys had gone off to their beds

A nice weekend despite the rain and the chill, Josh caught a nasty bug and spent most of the trip in bed, he mentioned some guys at work had the Norovirus thing so it might have been a touch of that. We had the usual lottery of whether we'd make it back to the mainland again on the last morning, the winds had really picked up over night and the forecast wasn't great. Once we were all up though we made the quick decision to pack and get out of dodge while we still could, there'd been a lull in the wind and we managed to get away in good time, timing it nicely before it got a bit squally again.

I was hoping to get a lot more pics but the prolonged showers made it tricky and unpleasant to explore much, I stumbled across the wallaby in the last pic one morning and there were two others stood with it, by the time I'd got the camera out they'd disappeared.

There's no nicer place than Lomond in winter, it's a shame the minority have to spoil it in the warmer months. I'm not sure how much longer we'll be able to visit the islands, it looks like the park authority might be about to make them inaccessible for paddlers, we're never sure if our last visit is the final one. There was talk at the weekend that the old house is going to be flattened and the site redeveloped, the existing structure is unsafe but the implications of a new tenant doesn't bode well for us. Good luck to them though, I couldn't think of a nicer place to live, just look after the wallabies for us.     

Looking forward to the next one lads.