Packrafting Assynt - A New Chapter

A few weeks ago, as winter finally released its grip, I headed to the Highlands for the beginning of a new chapter in my wanderings. This trip was much anticipated. A run of office bound time in London as spring burst in to life around me had me itching to get out. Relish to that was a brand new packraft and a head full of dreams of a new way of travelling the wild. A prolonged winter had left my local reservoir too cold to venture in without an expensive dry suit and I was desperate for some much needed time on the water.

I didn't take long to settle on a location for this inaugural trip. Assynt boasts not only iconic mountains but a loch system that makes travel by water for extended periods not only feasible but incredibly joyful. Excellent preparation, I thought, for my first trip with the raft to Sweden in June.

A new way to getting to Scotland as I fly to Inverness after work as well adds to the sense of a new chapter. Whilst I had to grind through Gatwick the plus was being able to make the connecting bus to Lochinver via Ullapool the following morning which would have been unachievable on the Sleeper. By lunchtime I'm heading out of Lochinver and into that iconic landscape. As I climb along the banks of the River Kirkaig and ascend towards Fionh Loch the bulk of Suilven greets me, the fulcrum of this trip and one of Scotland's finest mountains.

This is certainly a new venture for me but the basics are easy to grasp. Camp set that first evening on Fionh Loch I prepare the raft. It's fairly straightforward and with a bit of practice you can be ready in about fifteen minutes or so. I launch into the choppy waters of the loch but it doesn't take long to get a sense of the boat. I begin to enjoy myself as I paddle a few hundred meters from my camp, out into the midst of the loch and quickly gaining an entirely different perspective on my surroundings.

Next morning and I feel I am doing this for real. I break camp, pack away and make sure everything is secure as I fasten my pack to the bow. I head east along the loch with Suilven to my side for several kilometres through the course of the morning. The next phase of my training is a portage as I cross from Fionh Loch to Loch Sionasgaig, a couple of miles across country but amply rewarded as I arrive at this island studded slice of paradise. An isolated loch, encircled by some of Scotland's best hills, and with not a soul in sight.

And as I paddle to a wooded island which will be my home for the night the appeal of packrafting is wholly clear to me. For relatively little weight water is no longer an obstacle, it's a vast opportunity opening up routes through wilderness and the opportunity to access land which few, if any, visit.

In the midst of native forest, on the delightful island of Sgerain Dubha, I make camp. As the wind drops and the loch stills, serenity simply as evening light shades the landscape. It's a memorable night on that sliver of land.

Saturday sees me head north and a rendezvous with Marc. More portage this time as I return to Fionn Loch but in this instance a few miles down from the day before. I spend several hours in the raft that day as I navigate across a connecting loch system to Loch Veyatie before packing the boat away and hiking across the flanks of Suilven.

Camp is a spot I enjoyed four years ago on the start of a ten dayer through Assynt and Sutherland. Loch Na Gainimh offers a sumptuous flat pitch of fresh grass at it's eastern end and I'm quickly settled in.

Not much to do the next day as Marc is to arrive in the evening. A lie in is planned but that is scuppered as I am forced out of the tent by the heat of the morning. nothing for it then but to inflate that raft and paddle the raft before a spot of lunch. A snooze and then more paddling before I begin to anticipate Marc's arrival. There he is at five, making his way along the estate path, bearing beer and steaks. We certainly enjoy the evening.

This has been a hugely successful trip, blessed by the weather but ultimately one in which I've come to grips with the very basics of packrafting. I'm under no illusions though, this is the start of a very long journey and whitewater is a world away from a benign windless loch. But as I fly south I'm optimistic and begin to really relish the prospect of two trips to Sweden and Finland later in the year. This is the start of something.

Ill post a little more with my thoughts on the beginning of my packraft journey before I head to Sjaunja at the end of June. There's some key differences in preparing for this type of trip and I've some thoughts too on how to modify the boat. The prospect of those big watercourses in Sweden is simply delicious, I can't wait!