A weekend of sea kayaking

The Cairngorms offer a vast expanse of mountainous terrain, and it's easy to always stay on the
Aviemore side without venturing deeper into "Deeside" territory. Glen Ey, Glen Tilt and the other areas accessed from Braemar offer wild and remote munros, yet with the advantage of easy access along estate tracks, cruising, be it on foot or bike.
 The last week has been spent working with groups in this area and given me a chance to explore another side of the Cairngorms, with Glens that could have been custom made for wild camping. A great experience and a reminder of why i love this job so much, although not a great place to discover your sleeping mat has a slow puncture!

 A few days off over the weekend gave me and Greg an opportunity to go sea kayaking. A plan was hatched to paddle out from Port Appin, down Lismore and over to Mull, with a wild camp and pub visit on Mull, returning along the Eastern side of Lismore the following day.
 With a good forcast we spent day one enjoying the scenery and cruising on benign seas. Reaching the southern end of Lismore we faced a ferry across the over falls off Lady's Rock. From there we headed over to the brilliant Duart Castle and camped on the shoreline.

 In true "Luke and Greg adventure" style, i had managed to forget my pants and sleeping bag, spending the night in my Duvet jacket! Luckily the whiskeys bought at the local pub were enough to warm me up.

 

With my finger still not healed, and looking like it may never return to 100%, sea kayaking is becoming more and more of a focus for me this year. With the ability to travel good amount of distances and Scotland providing a lifetimes worth of trips in stunning locations, it's hard to beat.

Sunshine, Sea Kayaking and Single track

Life rarely gets better than the last few weeks!
After a great couple weeks at Bigfoot running D of E bronze training and assessments, it was time to head to the west coast with Wilderness Scotland.

 The west coast of Scotland provides some of the worlds best sea kayaking, with turquoise water, beatiful wildlife and rugged coast line, it's truly a sea kayakers dream.
 Based in Plockton, a beautiful fishing town just north of Kyle of Lochalsh, for three nights, gave us the opportunity to explore the areas around Plockton and journey to Skye. With some amazing days already in the bag, including a circum navigation of Scalpay things only got better!

 A journey up the road en-route to Ullapool gave us a chance to stop past Shieldaig, home of sea eagles. Beautifully benine conditions gave us a great days paddling.
Ullapool was our home for the remainder of the week, providing yet more mind-blowing scenery, not to mention the UK's best fish and chips!

 With the Summer Isles truly living up to their name on Wednesdays paddle, our final day was spent with a paddle around the bird sanctuary of Isle Martin just off Ardmair. With a late spring this year, the island was eerily quiet in comparison to it's usual noise of nesting birds, but the sand stone sea cliffs are stunning none the less.

After working hard the last few weeks i thought it high time to have a day for myself.
Catching up with my good friend and ex-house mate Rob, we decided to have a day on the bikes. Inshriach forest has some of the best biking in the area, with what seems like endless flowing single track, technical climbs and breathtaking views, not to mention a world renowned cake shop!

A swing past the local bike shop had us bumping into another good friend and ex-housemate Graeme, who joined us for a quick blast at High Burnside, Aviemore's most local trails. With some beta from the guys in Bothy we road a new climb that has recently been put in, along with some incredible descents i have not ridden before, all of which in stunning blue-bird sunshine.

Another day off before heading over to Bigfoot again for Silver expeditions, there's alot of good work to look forward to!