Bounce and Slap!

Today was supposed to be easy...

As soon as we are out on the open loch, the strong tail wind catches the rear end of the boat and spins us sideways. We are now side on to the waves and about to be engulfed by an incoming white capped swell. Our boat shakes violently from side to side, though fortunately we are able to stay in the boat. Shaken, but not stirred, Alistair and I continue to paddle in a northeasterly direction.

Loch Ness is awesome in any weather conditions, but today is extra special. The gusting south-westerly winds, strong tides and currents, may be easy by a seasoned paddler’s standards, but they are at the edge of our limits. We keep tight to the coast the first few miles, taking shelter in the shallowest of bays to the amused audience of day trippers as more civilisation begins to encroach on our adventure.

Urquhart Castle guards the bay into which we plan to paddle for our lunch. As we land on the pebbly shore, Neil the Security Guard appears to explain the rules (strictly speaking, we should pay the entrance fee). As Neil is explaining this, he looks out to the squalls on the loch, takes pity on us and allows us to stay, without paying, on the condition that we do not wander around the grounds. We duly oblige and take advantage of his generosity by eating what food we have left under the shelter of a tree.

From Urquhart Bay to Lochend is over a mile wide but before too long the rocky headland that marks the end of the loch is in sight. We are out in the open loch once more as we contemplate crossing the loch directly to Dores. The peaks are four feet high and there is strong currents to contend with. The waves broadside the boat and the alarming lateral motion threatens to tip us into the loch again. I find myself constantly stabilising with the paddle and we are making slow progress. It is nerve-wracking and I feel certain we will pitch in. We continue to paddle hard, correcting the drift and finally we give in to the wind-driven waves and land on the headland. We portage along the spit of land to paddle across the exit of the loch and begin the arduous journey upwind. Crossing the loch in these conditions is simply too much for us, so we paddle upwind using the shore as shelter.

Paddling into the fierce winds is hard work. I keep an eye on the shore to gauge our progress. Two strokes forward and then Mother Nature, reminding us who is boss, send us half the distance backwards. Eventually, we tip around the small headland to face the southern shore of Loch Ness. In the distance is the pristine white building of The Dores Inn, our eatery for this evening, draws us closer, giving us an ounce of extra power for each stroke. We must paddle hard through these choppy waters and, with the extra effort, our boat bounces and slaps its way closer to the shoreline. Only a few hundred metres to go, and our energy levels dwindling, so we turn the boat to face the beach and ride the powerful surf in, inching our way ever closer to the soft and sandy shore.

We finally land on the beach with simple brute force to overcome the backwash and then make our way to the B&B for a quick turnaround. After a belly full of fantastic food, beer and whisky the trauma of the day seems like a distant memory and distracts us from the fact that tomorrow we must go out there to do it all again...