Hands up who has a pack raft.

Just heard mines leaving the factory in the states and on it's way to me on a very slow boat.

I'm already enjoying planning new routes involving water crossings and it's still around 3 weeks away.

Looking for advice and if anyone fancies a trip please let me know.

Me me I do. An Alpacka Explorer 42.

Only done a couple of exploratory trips, one an overnighter with the bike, paddling on the beautiful river Coquet here in Northumberland: https://www.dropbox.com/s/3q79cvgyiswsz ... 7.jpg?dl=0

Keen to get out again, but there's no bloody water left!

Having got the hang of it on a couple of somewhat "contrived" trips, I really need to get up to the highlands with it where you can really make use of it.

thenorthwind wrote:Me me I do. An Alpacka Explorer 42.
I really need to get up to the highlands with it where you can really make use of it.

Sounds like a plan

im not coming as pack rafting looks like hard work and is slower than just ridding round most places around here , but there is presumaby some resonable scope for it in the lakes

Happy to try and arrange a little trip together John. I'm still building up my confidence too (I have next to no previous paddling experience) so simple, non-committing flatwater is fine.

The Lakes provides plenty of places to go for a paddle, but not really any scope to do journeys you couldn't without a packraft - unlike in Scotland where you might be able to skip half a day riding through a bog to get to the other side of a loch with an hour's paddling.

Also access is more of a concern south of the border. In fact, if I was a more serious paddler, I think I would find that a stronger pull towards Scotland than access for biking. The situation is just so much clearer.

Me.

Mostly splashing around the local lochs. My Mrs has one too.

I'd really recommend signing up on a skills course with Andy at backcountry.scot, even just as an intro to river paddling.

I've done a 3-day Spey descent - that includes some faster moving water. Tweed day trip with bike. Aviemore to Boat of Garten, beer and bus back home. Some easy coastal stuff. A fabulous inland loch paddle on North Uist last month....

Piemonster and I were planning a Rannoch Moor trip until I borked myself but that should still happen soon.

Single Speed George wrote:im not coming as pack rafting looks like hard work and is slower than just ridding round most places around here , but there is presumaby some resonable scope for it in the lakes

This is a fair point. I guess you can either look at paddling as an adjunct to bikepacking/biking or as a completely separate activity, though I've managed to mix. And that's before we discuss sails.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAUqKHB-9IQ

I'm hoping my raft arrives at Andy's in 2 or 3 weeks and I've arranged (if Andy is ok ref his cancelled operation) to head up to his and pick it up one weekend with an over nighter trip out with him as well.

Also it will be handy to get the one Grid Ref Stuart normally puts in the middle of the water ;-)

ScotRoutes wrote:Me.
A fabulous inland loch paddle on North Uist last month....

Piemonster and I were planning a Rannoch Moor trip until I borked myself but that should still happen soon.

Would be great to hear about these 2 trips please.
PM is fine

What did you go for then John?

JohnClimber wrote:

ScotRoutes wrote:Me.
A fabulous inland loch paddle on North Uist last month....

Piemonster and I were planning a Rannoch Moor trip until I borked myself but that should still happen soon.

Would be great to hear about these 2 trips please.
PM is fine

Some photos from Loch Obasaraigh on North Uist..

1050128 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

1050134 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

1050137 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

20180616_153852 by Colin Cadden, on Flickr

We had originally intended to paddle in to the foot of the hill called Eabhal, climb it, then paddle out. However, our departure was delayed by poor weather and we found a bit of a headwind as we paddled East. As a result, we arrived at the hill later than planned and decided just to chill out for a while. paddling back West, we found that the wind had (in)conveniently changed direction and we now had a headwind back too

Obasaraigh is very interesting, the normal "walkers" route to the hill involves crossing the outflow by a set of stepping stones that are covered at high tide. As a result, the sea actually flows into the loch and it has both fresh- and salt-water flora and fauna. It's also the largest loch on North Uist, an island that's basically more water than land anyway.

Must send Andy a reminder about August Packraft hire.