14th-18th April 2020
As our third (and hopefully final) lockdown came to an end Jo, Ali, Hugh and I took two canoes to a corner of North West Scotland called Inverpolly and embarked on a 4 day adventure that connected the lochs and lochans in the area. The weather in the lead up to our trip was dreadful, with temperatures dropping to -9c. We prepared ourselves for a wet, cold, and gritty trip but were instead taken by surprise. We were lucky enough to have sun throughout our journey, and with no midges in April either we decided that it is unlikely we could have had more suitable conditions. As far as ‘microadventures’ go, this goes straight to the top of the list and I couldn’t recommend it to anyone more, just be prepared for some worse weather and tiring portages!
Day 1: The Put In
Jo and I drove from Fife, whilst Ali and Hugh came from Angus. We met at Ullapool where we bought some final supplies before driving off to Elphin where we drove down a track to the south east corner of Loch Veyatie to put in. We unloaded the canoes and all our equipment and Jo and Ali went and dropped off one of the cars at our finish point whilst Hugh and I packed everything into the canoes.
We were in the canoes and setting off by 3pm. This gave us plenty of time to paddle the 8km to our first camp spot at the bottom of Suilven. This meant we could stop off at a beach on the way to get stuck in to our limited supply of beer. At the bottom of Loch Veyatie the water narrows into a slow moving river, and after a couple of meanders we pulled up on a flat bit of land perfect for camping on. With a stone firepit already there we clearly weren’t the first to choose this spot, and after a game of spikeball I cooked a sausage and bean stew. It was a chilly night around a pathetically small camp fire but we were perfectly warm in our tents after a few drams of whisky.
Day 2: The Workout
We woke up relatively ‘early’ so as to make the most of our second day which was to be our longest and most challenging. For breakfast we had our boil in the bag ration packs which were to sustain us for the climb up Suilven. We packed everything up into the canoes, paddled round the corner and up a small burn which got us about 60m closer to Suilven. We then set off for a 3 hr 45 min hike up and down the sheer face of Suilven - a 720m Corbett (a scottish mountain between 2500-3000ft, a bit smaller than a munro) with stunning views of the whole Inverpolly region.
After finishing our hike we had a quick wash in the burn whilst hugh whipped up some steak sandwiches with beef bought from the Queen’s very own butcher near balmoral. We felt like we’d earnt it, and little did we know how much we would need it. The rest of the day was to be spent portaging (canoe language for carrying - don’t ask me why) the canoes about 2km from Fionn Loch, across a lochan, to Loch Sionascaig. Ali had lost our only map climbing Suilven, so we had a lot of discussion over which was the least challenging portage route. Jo convinced us to take the early hit of a steep climb, so that we would be rewarded with a downhill carry the rest of the way. It seemed logical, so we went with it only to realise Jo had slightly misled us on the size of the initial climb.
After a lot of sweating and swearing we eventually made it to Loch Sionascaig as the sun was low in the sky and the loch was flat and calm - a very peaceful and smug moment. It was the most amazing reward for some incredibly hard work. We paddled over to Eilean Mor (Big island) where we found a campspot that not only sat in the setting sunlight, but gave us panoramic views of 4 peaks: Suilven, Cul Mor, Cul Beag, and Stac Pollaidh. Jo was in charge of cooking this time, with chorizo and tomato orzo on the menu. An epic day in the most amazing conditions for a Scottish day in April.
Day 3: Taking Time
On the third morning we woke up to a strong wind blowing in from the sea to the south west. After being spoilt for a blissful 2 days of sun we tried not to be too disappointed and put off, but we didn’t have to worry as the skies eventually cleared and the wind dropped. We didn’t have a lot to accomplish this day, compared to the previous days antics at least. We spent the morning hunting for some non-existent bothies, and the afternoon fishing, before deciding to nip up a short river to another two lochs just for the sake of crossing them off (Lochan Gainmhech & Loch an Doire Dhuibh). Ali defied all expectations (I gave odds of 1000/1) and caught a massive brown trout which Hugh turned into a delicious trout and risotto dinner.
Day 4: To The Sea
We had one mission to complete waking up on the final day - making it to the sea. We did a mixture of paddling, fishing, and sailing up loch Sionascaig. At the end of the loch, we began a long day of navigating weirs and lochans that eventually turned into the River Polly. We were presented with new challenges like rapids too tricky to tackle, or water too shallow to paddle through which meant only one thing - more portages. It was exhausting work and we were all pretty spent by the time we made it to where the river Polly finally pours into the sea. In the final kilometre of river though, the Polly deepens and calms down and we could sit and think back on an epic few days as the sun set in front of us. In the 4 days of our trip we had seen only a few people (all at the summit of Suilven) - the Inverpolly area truly is one of Scotland’s great wildernesses.
At the end of the river polly we set up camp for the fourth and final time. By this point we had no booze left - not to worry we were all too knackered to think too sadly of it, but a celebratory beer wouldn’t have gone amiss. We settled down to a huge bowl of wild garlic pesto and bacon pasta prepared by Ali and then climbed into our tents. The next morning Jo and Ali went to collect the cars whilst Hugh and I packed up the campsite and cooked up breakfast so we could make the journey south again to home with an itch to return… or is that just the tick bites?
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