"James Drury has now completed his epic adventure of canoeing the Lochs of Bonnie Scotland in aid of Essex M.B.F. 2030 Festival.
Below is his diary from his adventure.
To date the total that James has raised stands at £3,647.00 and is expected to exceed £5,000.00"
Below is his diary from his adventure.
To date the total that James has raised stands at £3,647.00 and is expected to exceed £5,000.00"
Congratulations to James on this fantastic achievement , especially as he can't swim, and had a bad case of Man flu.
*** DIARY ***
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I left Chelmsford 0930 on Friday, to travel to Newcastle, 273 miles. I only witnessed one accident, and it was in the services, so no excitement there.
Arrived in Newcastle at 1510, and checked into Premier Inn and dashed straight out for ice cream on the beach at Blyth with some old friends.
Couple drinks in the evening and an early night!
Breakfast with friends and a fond farewell, Newcastle to Fort William.... 5 hours driving with no stops, started raining at Glasgow and didn't stop till Fort William, if you are wondering where all the camper vans and motor homes go, they are on the A82 in Scotland, hundreds of them!
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Day one on the water, windy and rainy!!
Camped on the banks of Loch Lochy, lemon chicken with rice for dinner. The midges had us for dinner AND breakfast!!
Pain au chocolate for us, very continental
Forecast today is good... looks like the best day of the week, it’s all downhill weather wise from here
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Note to self... do not sneeze inside a midge net.
1230 ish, day two.... capsized in Loch Lochy its very cold and not recommended!! nothing quite like having to strip down to your skin, half drowned, at the side of a Loch, in strong winds.... bits of me disappeared!!
Very windy on Loch Lochy, the 4–5-foot swells which caused us to capsize forced us to tie canoes together in pairs for stability and safety. Serious battles against waves and wind, with some swift bailing out of the waves of water coming over the sides!!
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Short portage at the end of the Loch onto the canal and blissful serene calm waters, what a difference a few hundred meters can make!!
Along the canal for around 2km and onto Loch Oich, much smaller than Lochy and calmer, so much so that we were able to stop and watch planes going directly overhead as they flew along the valley.
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Set up camp for the night about half way along Loch Oich, hung clothes out to dry after the unplanned 'swim' earlier and put up tent, weather forecast is still looking bad, wet and windy night ahead!!
Forecast also shows even stronger winds tomorrow heading towards Loch Ness so we may have to lose an afternoon in fort Augustus while we wait for the weather to break.
Pasta and meatballs for dinner, and snacks 😋
Day 3, woke up 0630 full of cold..
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As predicted a very windy and rainy night, managed to get my tent and gear packed up just before more rain started which was very lucky, unlikely to stop much the rest of the day.
Managed to wear yesterday's mostly dried out clothes keeping the definitely dry clothes dry for just in case another unexpected swimming session occurs.
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Day 3 was a hard day mentally after the unexpected rapid boat exit of day two, finished Loch Oich and along the canal which was thankfully calm to Fort Augustus and the shores of Loch Ness.
Set up camp and went into the very small town centre, pub lunch and a beer helped the mindset greatly!
Winds on Loch Ness are too strong for us to proceed so I spent the afternoon building and tending a nice fire for the camp which was appreciated by all. I’m a pyrotechnician by trade and I am good at making fires!
Camp curry for dinner and then to bed for a very wet and stormy night there was even some thunder!
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Day four
Lorne sausage for breakfast! The cold I got before I left is still giving me hell in the mornings.
Loch Ness is still off limits due to the wind so we are travelling by road to a river nearby where we will paddle some "playful water" as our guide puts it.
Our guide has run this trip over 70 times and this is the first time ever that Loch Ness has been so bad.
Hopefully we will get onto it tomorrow, even if we end up having to tie canoes together for stability.
The river paddle was amazing, saw ospreys and some great scenery we went a very long way today to just north of Inverness, before being recovered by trailer back to Fort Augustus where we arrived late in the evening, good job the sun doesn’t set till half ten this far north! We had pizza for dinner, making the most of being near civilisation!!
Day five
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Onto Loch Ness finally!! Our canoes tied together in pairs for safety! We managed just over a third of the Loch, before having to drag the canoes up the banks to the road and be recovered by van trailer. By this point we’ve now paddled well over 100km over the 5 days and are exhausted but haven't reached the official end point because of the weather.
It’s just over an hour back to Fort William where we left our cars at the beginning of the expedition.
I got to my car, but the trip isn't over for me, I must get to the end point, cue a four and a half hour drive, jumped in the car and drove all the way back to inverness for the completion! Pictures taken and back in the car all the way back past fort William and beyond to my hotel and a shower and a night’s rest IN A BED before the 9.5 hour drive back to Essex.
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Photo Gallery
Posted on 18/06/25
