Noticed the weather forecast this weekend was to be nice with low winds so i thought it would be too good an opportunity to miss and headed over in the canoe to Inchtavannach Isle on Loch Lomond with my 3 year old son Ross and of course, Archie the Westie. Headed out about 10.30am on the Saturday morning with conditions on the loch perfect for a wee paddle over to the islands.
This is us setting out in the Nova Craft canoe, notice wee Ross blowing the rescue whistle in the picture, did he know something i didnt lol
Hugging the coast line of Inchtavannach, with Ben Lomond in the back ground, on the way to our campsite for the weekend, notice hes still blowing that whistle for rescue, your not getting out of canoe/camping with your old man that easy wee man lol
Recently bought the wee man his own tiny wee paddle so he can help his weary old dad paddle those endless miles of water, only problem is, being only 3 years old the wee bugger paddles the wrong direction and actually makes it harder for me lol
Who thinks the wee man has been watching his Uncle Jason (jag009) after a trip to the pub and a few drinks too many haha. Clearly has some learning to go with the art of camp chair balancing after a few too many fruit shoots.
The set up for the weekend, A Bison 6/8 man tipi with Nova Craft Bob Special in front of it, woke up at 5am to find the canoe no longer there (which is a worry when on an island) but 30 feet behind the tent.......
Ross developing a new Canadian Canoe technique known as the Titanic stroke, this is only a prototype and clearly has some way to go in development, i did suggest it might work better with the canoe the right way up, but you know how these 3 year olds are,, such divas lol
You just canny wack a good run around with a stick lol
As i said earlier, i had checked the forecast for the wind conditions this weekend and the highest they said it would get was 8mph, well at 5am this morning i found out that the bbc weather may have been economical with the truth and by 8am the tipi finally surrendered any pretence at holding off the wind gusts and meekly surrendered, with the resulting tear in the fabric and a few guy lines snapping. Having my wee 3 year old with me sure sharpened the senses and i decided that staying in a 3m high tipi in that wind wasnt a good idea, so i dropped it and made a makeshift shelter lower to the ground using the canoe and two trees with the tipi as a tarp until the wind died down and the waves receded to a more manageable level that would allow me to paddle back to the mainland, it was either that or phone Thunderbirds international rescue for help and they have still got me on a black list after me and Lady Penelope spent the weekend in a lean too shelter, so there was nothing for it but to pack up and head home lol. All in all a fantastic weekend with my little boy, not ruined at all by a bit of force 12 wind, they really do get so much more out of a weekend in the wilds than they would sitting at home staring at a tv.
This is us setting out in the Nova Craft canoe, notice wee Ross blowing the rescue whistle in the picture, did he know something i didnt lol
Hugging the coast line of Inchtavannach, with Ben Lomond in the back ground, on the way to our campsite for the weekend, notice hes still blowing that whistle for rescue, your not getting out of canoe/camping with your old man that easy wee man lol
Recently bought the wee man his own tiny wee paddle so he can help his weary old dad paddle those endless miles of water, only problem is, being only 3 years old the wee bugger paddles the wrong direction and actually makes it harder for me lol
Who thinks the wee man has been watching his Uncle Jason (jag009) after a trip to the pub and a few drinks too many haha. Clearly has some learning to go with the art of camp chair balancing after a few too many fruit shoots.
The set up for the weekend, A Bison 6/8 man tipi with Nova Craft Bob Special in front of it, woke up at 5am to find the canoe no longer there (which is a worry when on an island) but 30 feet behind the tent.......
Ross developing a new Canadian Canoe technique known as the Titanic stroke, this is only a prototype and clearly has some way to go in development, i did suggest it might work better with the canoe the right way up, but you know how these 3 year olds are,, such divas lol
You just canny wack a good run around with a stick lol
As i said earlier, i had checked the forecast for the wind conditions this weekend and the highest they said it would get was 8mph, well at 5am this morning i found out that the bbc weather may have been economical with the truth and by 8am the tipi finally surrendered any pretence at holding off the wind gusts and meekly surrendered, with the resulting tear in the fabric and a few guy lines snapping. Having my wee 3 year old with me sure sharpened the senses and i decided that staying in a 3m high tipi in that wind wasnt a good idea, so i dropped it and made a makeshift shelter lower to the ground using the canoe and two trees with the tipi as a tarp until the wind died down and the waves receded to a more manageable level that would allow me to paddle back to the mainland, it was either that or phone Thunderbirds international rescue for help and they have still got me on a black list after me and Lady Penelope spent the weekend in a lean too shelter, so there was nothing for it but to pack up and head home lol. All in all a fantastic weekend with my little boy, not ruined at all by a bit of force 12 wind, they really do get so much more out of a weekend in the wilds than they would sitting at home staring at a tv.
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Saw a 'catamaran' capsize in it once 
.........................ps top pics
