well early Wednesday we set off with the canoe and headed up through the highlands to one of our favourite spots for camping, Loch Shiel!
its a great place and one of Britain's few remaining wildernesses. we took our Tentipi and frontier stove and had a really comfortable trip. I took my fly fishing stuff and, with already having a rod licence, purchased a permit for brown trout fishing. there were plenty rising, and I've nearly had a sea trout from there In previous years, but unfortunately nothing this time, although it was still a great place to cast a fly.
it was a wealth of resources and we found literally hundreds of horses hoofs, and I prepped some amadou, for the second time, by carving off the cuticle, removing the pores then boiling the trama layer in hardwood ash and hammering it with the back of an axe head into nice flat pieces. we also made a cinnamon spiced currant and raisin bannock, which was delicious. we found , pig nuts, violets, wood sorrel and much more- some of which we snacked on, all of which we've eaten before and thoroughly enjoyed. we also found bracken rhizomes, which I've yet to trey but it looks quite nice. we spent the days paddling around to remote locations, collecting wood, walking through ancient oak and beech woodland as well as some remainders of ancient pine forest. the wood we used in our fire and stove was larch and scots pine as smalls and larger kindling, then oak for the logs. we used only gathered materials and fire steel/ flint and steel for the fire lighting, we mainly used old mans beard and birch bark, and even after one night of heavy rain we got one going no problems, there was always dry material to be found.
we had one funny moment, when the wind nearly tipped us out of the boat, thanks to big crested waves, we decided to portage over a headland (my dads idea) only to realise we had carried a canoe across nearly two miles of land and found where we wanted to be was up a near cliff face! which was disappointing to say the least! but we laughed and joked all the way and found the way back no problem, by which time the loch was safe. we only had one night of rain and half a day of heavy wind, the rest of the weather was gorgeous!
we practiced loads of skills and tried loads of things, most of which was honing of current skills, but we had a great time and did loads in the days, it was a jam packed trip!
we also visited one of the small lochs off Shiel, which was brilliant! we tapped a birch and got some delicious sap. we saw loads of deer tracks and scat, I spotted a red doe, and we both witnessed an otter swim up and dive back down literally 12ft from our boat!
we had a fantastic trip, and as always left absolutely no trace
anyway, pictures tell a thousand words, so here's plenty:
its a great place and one of Britain's few remaining wildernesses. we took our Tentipi and frontier stove and had a really comfortable trip. I took my fly fishing stuff and, with already having a rod licence, purchased a permit for brown trout fishing. there were plenty rising, and I've nearly had a sea trout from there In previous years, but unfortunately nothing this time, although it was still a great place to cast a fly.
it was a wealth of resources and we found literally hundreds of horses hoofs, and I prepped some amadou, for the second time, by carving off the cuticle, removing the pores then boiling the trama layer in hardwood ash and hammering it with the back of an axe head into nice flat pieces. we also made a cinnamon spiced currant and raisin bannock, which was delicious. we found , pig nuts, violets, wood sorrel and much more- some of which we snacked on, all of which we've eaten before and thoroughly enjoyed. we also found bracken rhizomes, which I've yet to trey but it looks quite nice. we spent the days paddling around to remote locations, collecting wood, walking through ancient oak and beech woodland as well as some remainders of ancient pine forest. the wood we used in our fire and stove was larch and scots pine as smalls and larger kindling, then oak for the logs. we used only gathered materials and fire steel/ flint and steel for the fire lighting, we mainly used old mans beard and birch bark, and even after one night of heavy rain we got one going no problems, there was always dry material to be found.
we had one funny moment, when the wind nearly tipped us out of the boat, thanks to big crested waves, we decided to portage over a headland (my dads idea) only to realise we had carried a canoe across nearly two miles of land and found where we wanted to be was up a near cliff face! which was disappointing to say the least! but we laughed and joked all the way and found the way back no problem, by which time the loch was safe. we only had one night of rain and half a day of heavy wind, the rest of the weather was gorgeous!
we practiced loads of skills and tried loads of things, most of which was honing of current skills, but we had a great time and did loads in the days, it was a jam packed trip!
we also visited one of the small lochs off Shiel, which was brilliant! we tapped a birch and got some delicious sap. we saw loads of deer tracks and scat, I spotted a red doe, and we both witnessed an otter swim up and dive back down literally 12ft from our boat!
we had a fantastic trip, and as always left absolutely no trace
anyway, pictures tell a thousand words, so here's plenty:
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