New Years Day trip to Loch Oich.

A couple of weeks back my Mrs informed me that she would be working over 31st December-1st and 2nd of January. I decided there and then that this would be a fine opportunity for a canoe-camping-pike fishing trip to the Highlands, namely Loch Oich. Madame suggested that I seek some counselling, and scoffed that when the time came I would have surely changed my mind. However, when she arrived home from work on the 31st to find the canoe on top of the car, and the car filled with camping and fishing gear, she wished me well and suggested that I "bundle up", and make sure to have plenty of hot drinks and dont let anything happen to the dogs!. Anyway, next morning I was up at the crack of dawn, well 0730, it was New Year after all. A last minute check to make sure I had'nt forgot anything and we were on our way at 0830. The first pic was taken at Drumochter Pass. A herd of red deer had come down off the mountain in search of food, and were just a couple of hundred yards from the road.

I always stop for a brew at Laggan Dam. Last time I passed this way five of those pipes were scooting out millions of gallons of water every hour because there had been so much rain. Not so today though, as everything is frozen, the rivers, the loch, everything. Next stop is the Little Chef at Spean Bridge for a Olympic Breakfast, toast and a mug of coffee.

We arrive at the loch to find about 14 inches of snow. I must stop at this point to say that my hat goes off to the snow plough crews of Scotland. They're on the go 24/7 right through the holiday period and do a great job. Unsung heroes they are.

Anyway, we find a nice spot to quickly pitch the tent, collect some firewood, unload the boat and off for a paddle. This is Meg, my English Springer Spaniel. Meg loves to come out in the canoe and is happy to sit and watch the birds and enjoy the fresh, highland air. Milly, my Basset Hound also likes to join me in the canoe, but unfortunately, she is not prepared to sit still. On the contrary, she likes to do her bark, howl, fart rendition, at every bird, passing boat, car, truck while running up and down, side to side. She had to wait in the car. In fact, the poor girl had to spend most of the time in the car due to her legs being only four inches or so, and the snow going higher than her head. Also the ice on top of the snow was likely to give her an injury to her lower bits.

No fishing today, just out for a paddle around the gin clear water in flat calm, -8c conditions.

After a couple of hours exploring we notice that the sun is going down rapidly so decide to head for camp, and get a fire going. We are joined by another lone pike fisherman called Stu. Stu has brought a chicken rogan josh and a couple of bottles of red wine, and we have a one pot rustic Boef Bourguignon, a four pack of Italian Moretti beer, and a cheeky wee Laphraoig.

By 2230 the fire is low and no more firewood, so we decide to hit the sack. I'm in a camp bed with a roll mat and my four season sleeping bag, and the dogs are on a roll mat with their own basket liners so hopefully insulated from the snow/ice under the tent.

As I'm dropping off to sleep I can hear the snow landing on the roof of the tent.

Disaster strikes at about 0330. A load of snow has fell from the tree above us directly onto the tent, smashing the poles and the whole thing collapses in a heap around us.

All I can do at this point is gather up the two bewildered, panic stricken dogs, beds and sleeping bags and head for the car. I start the engine and the temp on the dash shows -11. The next thing I knew it was 0730, so pulled my boots on and went to assess the damage. Broken poles, ripped pole pipes, a write off. While waiting for the kettle to boil, I dismantle whats left of the tent, roll it up and dispatch it to the bin in the lay-by. A strong cuppa, three paracetamol and a Zantac and I'm ready for anything. The frying pan goes on with sausages, black pudding, bacon, eggs and tattie scones for all three of us, thats me, Meg and Milly. Out in the field my troops eat at my table. Milly's had breakfast, a pee and a poo so she's off to the car for a few hours while Meg and I paddle to the east end of the loch for hopefully, some serious pike fishing.

Unfortunately, the part of the loch that has produced some nice winter pike to 36lbs for me in the past is frozen solid, and we are stuck with fishing from a featureless bank that I would'nt normally give a second glance. Needless to say, we blanked.
Acres of ice.
My first ever SOTP shot.
Grey Owl Voyageur paddle that I recieved from Santa Claus, well, Sandra Claus. This bay looked pikey but too much ice.
The wee boat belongs to Stuart, who we celebrated the New Year with last night.
Nice upside down shot.
Looking east towards Fort Augustus and Loch Ness.
We've started heading for home now but could'nt resist a shot of Loch Lochy and the nice backdrop of a very cold looking glen.
Laggan Dam again with the Nevis range in the background.
Loch Moy completely frozen over.
Huge icicles hanging from the cliff.
Shot of the mountains above Loch Trieg.
Brew stop.

Above and below are shots of the castle on the banks of the frozen Loch Laggan. This is the are where the series, Monarch of the Glen was filmed.

Nice frozen waterfall, and trees so heavilly laden with snow that they are bowed over.

Stretch the old legs.

More roadside deer at Drumochter. There were hundreds of them all the way to Pitlochry. I stopped at the Chinese takeaway in Pitlochry and had chicken with peppers and black bean sauce with extra chilli, and fried rice.

A great wee winter trip for us, and the best part is I dont start back to work until Tuesday so, long lies and chill out tomorrow.....

Santa brought me a canoe trolley and a nice bottle of malt+ the usual chox and sox etc
Merry Christmas........

Loch Oich.

A couple of weekends back, a wee group of SOTPers, that's me William Wallace, Ossianic Tales, Pedrothebairn, and Johnnytheboy accompanied by a wee group of non SOTPers, My son Andy, grandson Josh, Don, Thomas and Ot's buddy Mel, had a weekend fishing and canoeing trip to Loch Oich. We are all members of the Central Branch of a club called the Pike Anglers Alliance for Scotland, and also subscribe to SOTP that's a forum/website called Song of the Paddle.

http://www.songofthepaddle.co.uk/

We arranged to meet at Dalwhinnie for a coffee then head up to the Oich from there.

On the way we stopped at Laggan Dam to look at the awesome spectacle of the overflow spouts as thay had had a lot of rain in the area. This feeds the River Spean, a popular river with kayakers, and you can see why.

After a brief blether and a few piccies we carried on through Spean Bridge to our log cabins at Loch Oich. After sorting out our rooms and gear myself Josh and Andy got stuck into making the supper. Nothing fancy, just a wee starter of Bruschetta, thats toasted hand cut bread rubbed with garlic, squishy tomato and olive oil, topped with Italian meats and cheese.

This was folowed by Lasagne Bolognese, French Fries of Maris Piper, thin cut and twice fried, and a layered salad. OT made a superb Lemon Merangue Pie which was devoured in minutes, then we all headed off to the bar. I cant remember much after that for some reason, must have been the Highland air.

Next morning I was up before all but Don, who was out fishing at first light, and got stuck into making a healthy breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs, black pudding and a muesli skirly, toast and a pot or two of real Italian coffee.

After breakfast we heard that Don had already had a pike so got our fishing heads on.

Andy, Josh and I decided to head up the eastern part of the loch as there are some good pike holding features up there.

First thing we did was get a wee fire going. Josh paddled over to the island to try for some dry wood, but it wasnt any drier than that on the bank. The canoe is quite an old Pyranha made from royalex. My mate Phil kindly lent it to us for the weekend. Nice boat, very light and turns on a sixpence.

Lots o reek but no much heat but he eventually managed to get it lit, and soon we had a brew on.

This is my boat with a rod either side.


Pedrothebairn and Johnnytheboy in Pedro's Mobile Adventure, chucking lures around to no avail.

This is Meggy, my English Springer Spaniel, happiest when she's covered in mud and shivering with the cold.

This is a view of Loch Oich at sunset, with 40 minutes of paddling left.

Getting ready to head back to the cabin for a sauna and a shower.

Josh in his usual position, picking his nose when he should be paddling.

So we headed back to the cabin for a sauna and a swim. Meanwhile, Johnnytheboy had been busy making a huge pot of Chilli con Carne which we had with loaded potato skins, wraps, garlic bread, guacamole, salsa and soured cream. It was so good that I went back three times.

Then we went off the the bar. I have a recollection of a bottle of Havana Club in the wee small hours but its rather vague.

Next morning was horrible with rain, snow, sleet and avery other kind of weather thrown at us so no-one seemed very keen to get out fish except Don. Don is a man of the mountains, lochs and streams, and was totally unperturbed, and very well prepared for this. He had 3 pike for the weekend and was the only one to catch.

After a huge fry up, Andy, Josh and I decided to head for home, while the others were staying for another night.

A great weekend with top scran and the best company, hope we can do it again next year...

Scotch Bonnets in Scotland?

I planted 18 of these back in March of this year, never expecting much of a result. 2 months later in May I saw the first seedlings appear, 5 to be exact.
I gave 1 to a buddy, and kept the rest for myself. This one has about a dozen fruits, and once they go red/yellow I'll make chilli con carne calliente.

Milly and Meg have a canoe picnic.

Sandra and I have been on holiday for the last week. It's been spent mainly cutting firewood for our winter supply of fuel for the wood burning stove, tidying up our half acre garden, getting the chicken coop winterised etc etc.
Monday was such a nice day though, that we had go for a paddle, and maybe I could try for a pike....

This is a wee loch near Dunkeld. There's a small island in the south west corner so this seemed the best place to take the dogs, as they would'nt be able to wander off. Meg is our 10 year old English Springer Spaniel. Meg is very well behaved, unlike Milly, our 2 year old Basset Hound, she's absolutely bonkers.

I stood watching my rods/floats/baits not catching any pike while Sandra got a wee fire going.


Nothing like burger and onions cooked over an open fire in a proper old fashioned black iron frying pan.

Milly decides to patrol the shoreline and bark/howl/fart at anything that moves.

Well, I never caught a pike but it was a great day just the same.

I do catch the occasional pike though