The weather for the second half of my Carrbridge week was not as good as the first. My last full day promised showers, particularly in the afternoon so I tried to be up and on it for the drive to Loch Ruthven. I’m not sure why I chose it. Its a narrow loch that’s about 4km long. Maybe that seemed the right length for a there and out trip. Maybe it was the nature reserve and convenient parking. Maybe it was the crannog at one end.

Whatever the reason, it took longer than expected to get down the alternating single track road to get there. And when I got there it didn’t look promising. The supposed gentle breeze was blowing strongly down the loch into my face. When rain coincided with my arrival I started to think I had made a mistake.

Its only a couple of hundred metres from the car park to the loch, so I wandered down. I could see the shower being blown down the loch towards me. I walked through a lovely piece of deciduous woodland with glistening silver birch to a RSPB bird hide. Paddling down the loch into the wind was clearly not on – my very recent experience on Loch Insh told me that would be too much.

Still, it was nice being there. And it didn’t take long for the rain to pass and the sun to come out, even if the breeze kept up.

And then I had an idea.

The paddleboard comes in a rucksack. I could just put whatever I need in it, walk along the loch-side to the other end then paddle back with the wind behind me. Genius!

Hiking with a paddleboard

So I returned to the car, packed my bag and headed off. Now I was aware this might not be ideal. Having got a fairly cheap paddleboard, it didn’t come with a high quality bag. No back pad, no hip belt and shoulder straps that are a little thin. But the load wasn’t too heavy, so I felt it should be fine.

Well, it worked out, but not entirely comfortably. The first kilometre or so was on a reasonable path, which slowly deteriorated as it meandered alongside the loch. I kept switching between flat ground beside the loch with no path, and a broken one through the trees.

About half way along, the trees opened out into a boggy area. The sun was out now, sparkling on the loch beside me. On my back, a hard bit on my paddle board was digging into me through the rucsack and my shoulders were started to ache – I’m not used to this any more.

I almost kept dry feet through the bog, and entered another woodland area. This was on a steeper slope, with sheep tracks the only option. I ducked under trees, unsnagging the handle of my paddle regularly. My ankles strained from my feet being at 45^o to my body and I started to feel a little tired. It was only 15 mins or so to get through it, but felt like longer.

On the other side I bumped into a fisherman. A quick exchange, and a promise to stay clear, and I was following a fence to my starting point. Very conveniently, there was a small dock in the lee of a grassy hummock. Some loose stone piers were separate by a couple of rowing boats. Just the spot for some lunch and a rest.

The paddleboarding adventure starts

Although the launching point was great for lunch and inflating the paddleboard, it was a little downwind of the crannog which was my first objective. Fortunately, I could ferry glide across the wind a little to reach it. A few minutes paddling and I had my first island landing!

The crannog was barely 10m across, with a rocky shore. I pulled my paddleboard onshore, stepped away and then dived back to pull it further onshore before it blew away! There wasn’t much to explore, but with all the effort to get there I was reluctant to leave. Nevertheless, I didn’t dally and managed to get back on my board with dry feet and headed off down the loch.

This was the point that the second flaw in my cunning plan was revealed (the first was the pain from a bruise in my back…) Although the wind was blowing straight down the loch at the other end, there was a kink in the loch and at this end it was blowing about 45^o across it.

At first, I was relaxed in my paddling, but quickly realised there was a problem, and again found myself working hard on one side to stop myself being blown onshore. I fulfilled my promise to steer clear of the fishermen on the other bank, though I don’t think I could have reached them if I wanted to!

As the skies darkened and the wind picked up, I worked harder. Fortunately I had realised the problem early enough and avoided the shore before reaching the bend.

And then joy! The wind was right behind me. I stood up to get extra help, and realised I didn’t need to paddle at all. I held the blade out to give me extra help and enjoyed a kilometre or so of being blown down the loch. All I needed to do was just relax and enjoy the view.

The wind almost blew me to some marshes, but a small diversion right took me to the beach. Just in time, as the rain caught up with me. I may have ended up wet, but was finished happy.