Day 4 – Paddle across Scotland Winter 2020
Day 4 – Loch Ness and a day in which I honestly struggled to take photos. Taking the time to pull the camera out of a million dry bags to get frames on this day just wasn’t an option, we had to much distance to cover and sadly but understandably that took priority over photography.
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Another early start saw us launch out into the void of loch Ness in the pitch black, with only the sound of Sams phone playing UB40 to break the eerie silence. It was calm, the skies were clear and it was absolutely beautiful. The initial section of Ness was a dream, paddling in calm conditions with only head torches illuminating the surface of the black water. Cruising along, it was hard not to think about all the tales this vast stretch of water creates and wonder what was lurking in the depths right beneath our boards.
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As we approached the half way mark, the swell began to increase and the wind rocketed to gusts of 30mph.
Taking time to rest was key here and every so often we would raft up, get the kite in the air and let that do the work whilst we had a brew and warmed up again. The temperatures were numbing and it was easy to start going man down if we neglected our rest routine.
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As the end of the Loch came into sight we were riding monster waves and we went form paddle boarding to surfing for the last few km’s, it was exhilarating. We cruised through the final section of Loch Dochfour and into our camp just as the light faded, all of us in high spirits and stoked that we had just completed loch Ness in one day, a huge achievement for us as we had allocated a day and a half the night before.
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A few whiskeys later we were tucked up in our sleeping bags, watching our wet gear slowly freeze on the fence as the temperatures plummeted. Tomorrow morning was going to be emotional. Here’s a shot of Ben’s beautiful face, this pretty much sums up our reaction when we hit the beasty swell half way down nessie
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Another early start saw us launch out into the void of loch Ness in the pitch black, with only the sound of Sams phone playing UB40 to break the eerie silence. It was calm, the skies were clear and it was absolutely beautiful. The initial section of Ness was a dream, paddling in calm conditions with only head torches illuminating the surface of the black water. Cruising along, it was hard not to think about all the tales this vast stretch of water creates and wonder what was lurking in the depths right beneath our boards.
–Â
As we approached the half way mark, the swell began to increase and the wind rocketed to gusts of 30mph.
Taking time to rest was key here and every so often we would raft up, get the kite in the air and let that do the work whilst we had a brew and warmed up again. The temperatures were numbing and it was easy to start going man down if we neglected our rest routine.
–
As the end of the Loch came into sight we were riding monster waves and we went form paddle boarding to surfing for the last few km’s, it was exhilarating. We cruised through the final section of Loch Dochfour and into our camp just as the light faded, all of us in high spirits and stoked that we had just completed loch Ness in one day, a huge achievement for us as we had allocated a day and a half the night before.
–
A few whiskeys later we were tucked up in our sleeping bags, watching our wet gear slowly freeze on the fence as the temperatures plummeted. Tomorrow morning was going to be emotional. Here’s a shot of Ben’s beautiful face, this pretty much sums up our reaction when we hit the beasty swell half way down nessie
