Charity Challenge – Kayaking the Great Glen Canoe Trail!

On Monday the 12th of August 2024, I set off on a challenge to kayak the Great Glen Canoe Trail. This is a ‘coast to coast’ of Scotland, a journey along the Caledonian Canal and a series of Lochs from Fort William all the way to Inverness. It is 60 miles in total and took me 3 days to complete. In the process, I used the challenge to raise some funds for Lochaber Mountain Recuse Team, who are based in Fort William. Carry on reading if you would like to hear more about this adventure!

What is the Great Glen Canoe Trail?

The Great Glen Canoe Trail is a 60 mile journey that goes from one coast of Scotland to the other coast over the Caledonian canal and a series of Lochs (including the mighty Loch Ness). It is usually paddled from Fort William (West coast) to Inverness (East coast) because of wind direction but can be completed either way. Although this is a journey that has been made for a long time, it has become far more popular in recent years and this is in part due to the commitment of Scottish Canals to make it more accessible for paddlers.

As I knew very little about the journey before I started planning for it, I used some sources to help guide me. A ‘Great Glen Canoe Trail‘ guide by Donald Macpherson was extremely helpful. I would recommend getting a copy if you ever want to complete the trail yourself.

Who are Lochaber Mountain Recuse Team?

Lochaber Mountain Rescue Team (LMRT) are the Mountain Rescue team that are based in Fort William and cover the Lochaber area including, the UK’s highest mountain, Ben Nevis! The team is made up of unpaid volunteers and rely on donations to cover the cost of equipment used.

As I was starting in Fort William, I wanted to give back to the area if I could and decided to use the challenge as an opportunity to support LMRT! As an outdoors lover, I know that if I ever found myself in difficulty whilst out adventuring, I could call for help from a mountain rescue team. Supporting our mountain rescue teams so that they can keep doing what they do best is important.

Thank you to everyone who donated during my challenge. If you would like to donate, you can still do so! The fundraising page can be found here.

Why did I choose this challenge?

2024 has been a bit of a strange year for me so far. A lot has happened over the last 6 months and I have been feeling a little lost as of late. I always do better in life when I have goals to work towards and so I started to think about setting myself a Summer paddling challenge.

I was talking this through one morning whilst paddling out on my local river, the Trent, with my good friend Ewan. He had completed the Great Glen Canoe Trail a few years previously and suggested it might be the thing I was looking for. I researched it after we spoke and decided that it absolutely was the thing I was looking for.

Recommended as a challenge that you could complete in 3-5 days, it was long enough that I would have plenty of time out on the water to think and reflect. I was craving some solitude after a period of intense busyness. Whilst I don’t have a huge amount of experience on open water, I am a competent white water paddler and generally quite a fit person. I reasoned that this journey would be well within my capabilities but still present enough of a challenge to keep it interesting! It was also across the Scottish Highlands – one of the most beautiful places in the world! My mind was set and I started planning!

The challenge!

Planning before the trip

I really wanted to paddle this trip solo but knew I would need to make sure I was fully prepared so that I could deal with issues myself as they arose.

The one thing that really struck me from my research is the importance of paying heed to the weather on this trip, especially when paddling the lochs. I am so used to navigating the risks of paddling white water rivers in adverse weather conditions, but I had to think a little more carefully about how to do so on open water. I was reasonably confident that I could complete the trip in 3-4 days but planned in 5 days just in case I needed to pause or slow down due to the weather.

Safety gear! I did not wild camp on this trip but was fully packed in order to do should I need to. My husband had come to Scotland with me but had no interest in joining me on the water. Instead I would meet him at set ‘get out’ points where he picked me up and then dropped me off again the next day. It was lovely to have that chance to chat with him and catch up in between each day.

However, I had packed enough food, water, camping equipment, emergency shelters, extra clothing and safety equipment so that if for whatever reason I needed to stop for a prolonged period of time (overnight for example) I could. I had my phone in my buoyancy aid which I could easily reach and made sure to register my paddle with Scottish Canals at one of their offices beforehand. They in turn provided me with a facilities key so that I could access toilets and other facilities along the way. In the end, I didn’t need most of the things I packed but it was better to be prepared than not!

I was lucky as well to be loaned some essential gear for this trip. A big thank you to P&H Sea Kayaks for loaning me a composite Virgo sea kayak for the week! I initially thought I could do the trip in a white water kayak and I am really glad I didn’t! A big thank you to my friend Dean for loaning me his kayak trolly for the portages – some of which were very long! And finally a big thank you to VE Paddles for offering me a set of touring paddles for the week – much lighter and much more appropriate paddles than my white water blades!

Day 1

Day 1 did not get off to a good start. I woke to the sound of thunder and proceeded to watch anxiously as hours of heavy rain, thunder and lightning followed throughout the morning. Eventually it looked like the storm had passed and I felt confident to get out on the water. I started by registering at the Caledonian Canal Office in Corpach and picking up my facilities key for the week. I was geared up and ready to go just before midday!

It is recommended to start the trail a little further along the canal at the top of Neptune’s staircase locks as this skips out 2 portages. Being stubborn however, I wanted to start at the sea and so the first hour of my trip started with only 1.5km of paddling and the rest of the time being spent mainly walking my kayak along the tow path by the canal.

This was exacerbated by me arriving at the rail bridge just before the second portage to find many boats waiting to go under the bridge. I panicked and although I knew there was a canoe portage ramp on the other side of the rail bridge, I got out earlier to avoid the messy queue of boats and ended up adding another 100m or so to the already long 650m portage. I then had to cross a fairly busy road and pull my loaded sea kayak up Neptune’s staircase. This was fairly sweaty work! Luckily the bemused passers by seemed to find it entertaining!

I arrived to the canal after Neptune’s staircase to find a number of much more sensible groups who were loaded up to start their journey there. After drinking a whole bottle of water and packing away the portage trolly (wheels inside the kayak, frame strapped to the outside), I was ready to get paddling again! This section of the canal (just under 10 km) from Banavie to Gairlochy was stunning! It was warm and sunny (nothing like the morning’s weather) and quickly felt very quiet and secluded. I enjoyed my peaceful paddle and arrived at Gairlochy midafternoon.

The guidebook recommended this as the end of day 1 and in the morning I thought that was all I might achieve because of the weather. As it was such good weather however I decided to keep going and try and paddle Loch Lochy as well. This was going to be my first experience of ‘open water’ on this trip and I was ready to see how I would do!

In a nutshell – it was wonderful but really quite challenging. Loch Lochy was absolutely stunning. It is quite a narrow Loch however and whilst it was very sunny, it was also very windy. I started the Loch at about 3pm in the afternoon and the wind speeds at that point were highs of 35mph. Measuring at just over 16km long, it took me just under 3 hours to paddle this Loch and reach Laggan Locks.

The challenge was getting used to paddling with waves hitting you from multiple directions (depending if they were caused by the wind or larger boats), the constant gusts of wind and the idea that you can’t really stop. I hugged the shoreline for most of it and occasionally could pause to grab some water or a snack. But I only paused in the more sheltered parts and even then I was still quite exposed to the elements.

As I paddled towards the end of the Loch, I could feel myself being watched and looked up to see a number of Ospreys above me! Ospreys are beautiful birds of prey and I was hoping to see them as they are found in this area. One kept circling me as I paddled into Laggan locks and I tried not to overthink that one too much! It probably saw me stuffing my face on a breakfast bar earlier! Laggan locks was busy however and I was too focused on not being run down by a larger craft to try and get a photo of these magnificent birds.

I got out and loaded up my kayak on the trolly before walking over to the carpark to meet Tom. Utterly exhausted from my first day of paddling, I slept well that night!

Day 2

Gearing up at Laggan Locks the next day, the sunshine had gone! It was forecast to be a day of heavy showers and strong winds so I braced myself for a soggy windswept day. I paddled up the canal and came across a little waterfall by the side which brought me lots of joy.

I then came across another swing bridge. These swing bridges can be paddled under by canoes and kayaks but need to be opened up for canal boats. Obviously you shouldn’t paddle under these whilst they are being opened but all have flashing lights and sirens to let you know it’s about to open. As I came under the bridge, the sirens started going off as motorists above were stopped from going over it. It sounds a lot like a school fire alarm. I have never paddled faster than I did then to ensure I was well out the way of the gates opening! It was another few minutes before they actually started to move so I was in no real danger, but it’s not what my body told me at the time!

I then paddled onto Loch Oich which was much shorter than Loch Lochy at just under 7km but I think it was my favourite Loch of the whole trip! It was quiet and much calmer than Loch Lochy. It was still early morning and it felt like the rest of the world hadn’t quite woken up yet when I paddled through. There are a number of islands in Loch Oich as well as a couple of exposed sunken vessels. Being shallower than some of the larger lochs, parts of them were visible and it was interesting (if a little sad) to see as I paddled past.

Once I was out of Loch Oich, it was back onto the canal and a few more portages. Luckily the heavy rain showers all seemed to have missed me and the sunshine started to come out again! I ended up getting into a ‘race’ with a sailing boat called Freyja. They were just about faster than me on the water so would overtake me on the longer paddles but I was much speedier at getting through/round the locks than they were. On the shorter portages I would just carry my boat around as it was quite time consuming to set up the trolly. The longer ones I definitely used the trolly however walking with a loaded sea kayak on your shoulder is hard work!

Just before midday, I made it to Fort Augustus which had quite a large portage to get from the canal to the next Loch – Loch Ness. It was a sunny August afternoon and Fort Augustus was heaving with visitors! There was another canal staircase which took you around 5 locks. Unlike Neptune’s staircase, this one was downhill however! I tootled myself and my kayak down the path and eventually reached the start of Loch Ness!

This was the half way point in my journey and so of course I had to stop for some tourist photos in front of the Loch Ness sign before getting on! Originally I had hoped to finish day 2 here and start at Loch Ness on day 3. However, as it was only 1pm and the weather seemed to be holding, I decided to try and get a couple of hours of Loch Ness under my belt. I agreed on a stopping point with Tom and then set off.

Loch Ness is a monster of a Loch at 37km long and over 1.6km wide! You need to pick a side to paddle up and so I went for North shore. Just as the day before, it was fairly windy again. It had seemed calmer in Fort Augustus, but out on the water, I believed the forecasts that had said lowest gusts would be around 40mph.

I knuckled down and just paddled. Luckily the wind was from behind me and once you got used to it, it was an advantage. It became a game of trying to catch the waves (I’m estimating these at about 1m) and ride them for as long as possible. I was feeling much more comfortable in the sea kayak, and the skeg was really helping me to stay on course. Another fun thing was when the wind would catch my paddles and if you held them in the right way, could use them as sails! I had been advised to use sails on this trip but did not feel confident to do so whilst paddling solo. The paddles sail worked quite well however!

I paddled for a couple of hours and eventually stopped at Alltsigh. Tom was waiting for me on the beach to make sure I got off in the right place. Although the road is quite close to this side of Loch Ness, it is not always accessible and there were not many places (in these winds) I could have easily exited my kayak and reached the road.

I was relieved to see him as paddling in the wind was exhausting and the rain showers had finally caught up with me!

Day 3

Day 3 arrived and my aim of the day was to complete Loch Ness! As I got back in my kayak by the same beach from the day before, I couldn’t believe how different the weather was yet again! Gone were the waves from the day before, gone was the wind and out was the Sun! I decided to make the most of the weather whilst it lasted and so knuckled down and paddled.

I estimated it would take me another 4 hours to complete Loch Ness and so started to measure it in units of an hour. I am not very good at remembering to eat enough on trips like this and so was having to remind myself to eat and drink as my body needed it. Every hour I would pause for a snack and water. My Fitbit estimated I burned about 4000 calories in total on my 2 paddles to tackle Loch Ness so snacks were important!

After 2 hours, I reached Urquhart Castle. Let me tell you, if you are going to visit Urquhart Castle, do it on a day with blue skies and sunshine! It was STUNNING. As I paddled around it, a few tourist boats arrived at the same time as me. The tourists boats will generally go the pier by the castle and so I was trying to time crossing the bay without getting caught in the traffic! Whilst I was waiting to cross, I inevitably ended up in all of the photos being taken of the castle by passengers on those boats! So if you were on a boat cruise on Loch Ness on Wednesday 14th August – do check your photos of Urquhart castle to see if I’m in them!

I then paddled hard to get across the bay so that I would out of the way of the many boats coming in and out. One thing I really noticed with paddling open water is that I just couldn’t estimate timings. A distance that I thought I would cover in 10 minutes would take me 30 minutes and so on. I was trying to guess how much time or how many paddle strokes it would take to get me to certain points but my guesses didn’t get any better over the week!

I carried on paddling and another 2 hours later I was reaching the end of Loch Ness. I had to cut across to the right as the Loch suddenly narrowed and became Loch Dochfour. Whilst it was still relatively calm, the waves at the end of Loch Ness were much bigger than the early morning and I was focused on getting out of the Loch. When I finally looked back up at Loch Ness, having gotten to the end, it was stunning!

I had a nice chat with another paddler in a sea kayak at this point before heading up Loch Dochfour. To go from such a large space of open water to suddenly a really quite sheltered and calm environment was quite something! I worked my way up this short section before arriving at my final portage – Dochgarroch.

I had only wanted to reach the end of Loch Ness by the end of day 3 but suddenly I realised that if I wanted to, I could in fact complete the whole trail this day. I took an actual lunch stop today as 4 hours of non stop paddling requires a break afterwards! Whilst sitting on the bank by the canal, I considered my options and decided to go for it. I estimated I would be done within an hour or two and although I was tired, I had it in me to keep going.

The last section of canal is not long – only about 8km. It was also quite pretty. But my gosh – it was hard work to keep paddling! I am not normally too snobby about paddling – it is joyful to me to be on the water and I take pleasure in the small things – wild flowers on the sides, friendly walkers passing by and so on. I think the effort that had gone into completing Loch Ness combined with the knowledge that the end was in sight however, this last section of canal felt like it went on for a very long time. I started making lists in my end to distract myself. Can I name a river with every letter of the alphabet and so on.

Eventually though I was there! I arrived at Muirtown Lock flight, which is the recommended end of the canoe trail. I strapped my kayak to the trolly and started the portage over the many locks here. I saw Freyja and her crew in the first of these locks who were happy to see me again. I think I won our race – just!

There is a very short bit of canal left after this but it is not recommended to paddle it. I originally planned to do so anyway, as I had at the start. When I crossed the main road to get back to the canal – I realised quite how busy this bit of canal was. There were boats everywhere and seemingly moving in every direction! I decided to end my paddle there, strapped my kayak to the car roof and instead complete the last section by foot.

It was a short walk along the canal path and across the railway to get to Beauly Firth and the end of the Caledonian canal. I ended in beautiful sunshine – absolutely shattered but feeling very fulfilled! What an incredible journey it had been!

Thank You

The Great Glen Canoe Trail is absolutely an adventure that is worth going on! I was lucky with the weather, to have my husband Tom’s support and the support of friends within kayaking who helped me with sourcing the appropriate gear. I just wanted to say thank you to those individuals now.

• P&H Sea Kayaks: Thank you to Pez and the team for the loan of a very beautiful composite Virgo kayak. It made crossing the Lochs so much easier and the stability of the kayak made me feel so confident and reassured when facing the wind and waves!

• VE paddles: Big thank you to Cheesy and Janice and the VE team for the offer of using some of their touring glass paddles for this trip. I couldn’t believe how light they were and paddling with drip rings was amazing! They loaned my a pair of splits which meant I adjust them until I found a fit which worked for me. I had planned to use some white water blades so this was a really nice surprise.

• Friends: Thanks to Dean for the trolly – it was an absolute game changer when it came to the portages! Thanks to all my lovely friends who sent me well wishes and / or donating some money to support LMRT. You can still donate here if you wish to!

• Tom: Finally a massive thank you to my lovely husband Tom. I was prepared to do this completely solo but his offer to meet me at the end of each day made it so much nicer! I really appreciated all the times he would randomly pop up with his camera or an extra snack for me over the 3 days. I might have paddled solo but the overall journey was definitely completed with his support!