Adventures with a paddleboard (3)

Having recovered somewhat over the summer, I eventually felt fit enough to try a holiday. I booked a nice chalet in Carrbridge for a week and packed my bike, walking boots and, of course, my paddleboard.

The aim was to have a balanced week of gently exercise to aid my recovery. The first day I went cycling and, after a couple of hours, crossed my exercise tolerance half way back to Boat of Garten. I got home exhausted and rested up all afternoon. So failed on the first day!

Having overdone it on day one, I thought an easy day was in order. Time for the paddleboard! Being on my own, and having failed to find a bouyancy aid to buy, a bit of conservatism crept in. Although I haven’t fallen in yet, I can hardly class myself as experienced. Knowing Loch Insh has a watersports centre, there would probably be others on the water. Just in case.

Loch Insh had a second appeal too. Part of the idea of getting a paddleboard was to visit interesting places. I’ve had a longstanding ambition to visit the castle in the middle of Loch An Eilein, it did occur to me that visiting islands in lochs might be interesting. And Loch Insh has a big island.

Paddling on Loch Insh

The car park wasn’t quiet, but it still had a few spaces. Down on the beach, I could see a few paddleboarders out on the Loch, as well as a few dingies up towards the other end and a windsurfer zipping around. I inflated my board and changed into my new kit. Since my last trip, I had bought a long-sleeved rash top and 1mm neoprene leggings. I kind of felt the part a bit more now!

I pushed off and decided to head into the gentle breeze, keeping the bank on my left with the plan of a clockwise circuit. It was three weeks since Whiteadder Reservoir and I needed to build confidence so stayed on my knees. A couple of other paddlers seemed to be doing something similar ahead of me.

Out of the shelter of the trees, the wind was a bit gustier, but fortunately wasn’t that difficult to paddle into. I made good progress along the loch-side. The ducks avoided me, gently manoeuvring away. A fallow deer appeared briefly on the bank, nibbled, and was gone. The dingies at one point set a line directly across my path, so I paused to let them by. They were clearly a class out for training and I had no idea how much control they did or didn’t have. I cut through with one straggler still to come, watching carefully.

I approached the inflow of the Spey River. The water wasn’t low and I expecting a strong current. Instead it was shallows that caused me problems as my paddle hit the bottom. I’d got onto my feet now. Inspired by the paddlers ahead of me, I decided to head up the river a little against the current. This was definitely harder work, but I made satisfactory progress for maybe 200m or 300m.

Wary after getting tired yesterday, I decided to turn round. I negotiated the combination of shallow water and water plants to get back onto the loch. My plan had been to follow round the edges, but the wind had picked enough to make going across it hard work. I decided just to set my nose down the loch and to the island at the far end.

On open water the breeze felt stronger, but it was at my back and the paddling was good. I almost got a surfing feeling from catching the little waves, but they weren’t big enough to catch. I cruised down towards the island, getting back on my knees as I approached.

Difficulties start

Sadly, my island landing was not to be. Once I got close enough to its sign to read it, I was told that landings were banned due to osprey nesting until the September. It was the last day of August. I did think about cheating but, knowing how precious these birds are, I decided to wait until another day.

Instead I did a circuit of the island, hugging its coastline closely. It wasn’t very big, maybe three or four hundred metres across, but was densely forested and had a relatively sizeable hill. I ignored a couple of landing points beckoning amongst the reeds, and I came round to a small channel between the island and the main shore. This was where my problems started.

The channel was maybe 50m wide at the narrowest point. However, it funnelled both the wind, which had continued to strengthen, and the water, which was heading towards the river outflow, so now I was fighting both. On top of this, it became shallow too, stopping me getting a full paddle stroke. I fought for several minutes, making spectacularly slow progress for the amount of effort, before admitting defeat. Fortunately in this case, that only meant stepping into the shallow water with bare feet. The stones underneath were water rounded, but still uncomfortable as I pushed my paddleboard back into the open loch.

While getting there was a relief, it wasn’t the end of my work. To get back to the centre, I now had to cut diagonally across the wind which tried to push me onto the shore. A lot of one-sided paddling told me ferry gliding with a paddleboard was not easy! I did consider giving up and walking back, but fortified my resolve and kept going. After what felt like a long paddle, but was probably only 15 minutes or so, I made it back to the centre. So much for a more restful day! But at least I could get a cup of tea 😀

Coda

I have been paddling on Loch Insh before, when I was a school boy. I got a little overconfident in my canoe and fell in. Maybe it will be be third time lucky for a smooth trip!