The Great Escape

The morning weather forecast brought nothing but doom and gloom. A very strong Westerly wind is predicted for the next three days meant that our sheltered sheltered bay would become another prison, so we started to dig an escape tunnel...

I hiked along to the nearest road and tried to hitch hike back to our starting point to collect the van and canoe trailer. Meanwhile the rest of the group would transport all the gear to the road.

Thirty-five minutes, and several passing cars, into my hitch hiking cherry and things were not going well. Given that it has been several days since I have seen a mirror, I can only hazard a guess as to why the cars are passing me by ;-) The kind shopkeeper from across the road of my chosen begging spot, came over to offer me condolences, advice and a cup of tea.

Moments later, as if ordered by the shopkeeper, along came Mark and Rachel in their motorhome. Rachel was a kind-faced Health Visitor and Mark was a wirey, ex-military man who was celebrating his retirement with a maiden voyage in their new van. Our conversation made the thirty minute drive fly-by and, before I realised it, I was hopping out of the motorhome on the outskirts of Arisaig.

From here I needed to walk the lonely road across the peninsula to the bay which heralded our arrival. Roughly three-quarters of the way along this single-tracked road, a Campervan pulled along side me to offer me a lift for the final stretch. I said my goodbyes to the family from Leicester, hitched the canoe trailer to the van and went to find my friends.

My arrival could not have been timed better. The van and trailer were quickly filled and we headed off to find more sheltered waters on the North coast of Loch Sunart. Sadly, there was no real access to the Loch and the Westerly wind was ripping up the Loch, causing the sailing boats already on the water to lean at a 45 degree angle. After much discussion, we decided to call it a day and head home.

The drive home gave me time to sit and reflect on our adventure. Time is a valuable commodity. As my work-life balance has become increasingly unbalanced, I am as guilty as the next person of following the sensible, restrictive well-trodden path. My friends and I find it more difficult to justify disappearing on another fool-hardy adventure when formerly we would not have even looked for a justification. With such limited opportunities to get away, we have to choose out trips carefully. Ultimately, I asked myself: would I do this trip again? Every salt encrusted moment, without a doubt.