Canoe Activities
FORK Summer ‘09 Canoe Safari Report
Tuesday 11th August found eight intrepid but mainly inexperienced FORKs meeting up at HBH house or later at the Colquhoun Arms in Luss for an introduction to canoeing, courtesy of Wild by Nature. Our instructors, Cliff Giddings and Alan Shreenan, started us off gently, with coffee in the hotel, but soon had us hard at work (well, not that hard!) unloading the canoes and carrying them plus equipment down to the shore at Luss.
Cliff and Alan were in fact very good at explaining everything, and Cliff especially, our senior instructor, at giving us lots of fascinating background on canoe history and canoe terms into the bargain. We were soon on the water, in five canoes, and finding our feet, or should I say paddles. And what a great feeling this is, just gliding forward in the canoe. But if you’ve never done it before, you do need some guidance. We’d been told how to sit or kneel, and the importance of keeping our centre of gravity low. I actually found this rather difficult in my bow position because I couldn’t get my FORK Canoe Safari 293knees low enough, but it didn’t matter too much until a later stage when the water was quite choppy. Then I had to swap places with my canoe partner Derek, who had to hand over the delicate art of steering to me, and I wasn’t too hot at it – however we remained friends (having only met that morning!). Read more»
FORK Autumn ‘09 Canoe Safari Report
It was such a perfect day, blue sky, light breeze and sunshine all the way. Couldn’t wait to get to Luss, and get the canoes lined up on the beach ready for take-off. After a very good warm up and safety talk by Allan, we set off. Little did we realise that Linda and Derek planned a practical demonstration on the safety talk on ‘what to do when you capsize’ and Allan stepping up quickly to do the procedure! Excellent!
After sorting that out we headed out across the loch, able to make good time with the lovely weather conditions, and the energy giving yummy bacon buttie at the Colqhoun Arms before leaving. My poor partner Tim had to do all the work in our canoe as I was so busy being amazed at the scenery and how far we could see – Ben Lomond looked as though you could touch it. We had a quick stop on the wee beach on Inchtavannach Island, just to stretch out and have a look at the flora and fauna on that island.
Back in the canoes, all the while getting instruction and help ( for those who needed it, like me) from Cliff and Allan. “Knees wide and low”, etc. Easy when you have short legs, like me. We then headed through The Straits, between Inchtavannach and Inchconnachan, which gave us stunning views up and down the loch, and the islands. The trees here are amazing, all very old. Makes you think that this is how it was it years gone by with clans and others living around. Can’t quite remember all the history Cliff gave us! Read more»