Earlier this year Claire Cadoux and I chatted about taking a skiff to new waters for a weekend. We knew that others had done this, but didn’t really know how to go about it. The start was of course to speak to those others. This gave us some ideas to pursue a plan. We followed a lead about rowing on Loch Lomond and staying at a chalet park at Rowandennen. I was particularly excited by the prospect of rowing around the islands between Balmaha and Luss.
Our only criteria regarding crew to ask, was that they should be club members who had not had an adventure like this before. So the group was completed by Mary-Ann Wishart, Richard Jones, Carmen Mayo and David Wishart.
Planning was minimal : we each offered to prepare a hot meal, we borrowed charts of the area and we checked the weather forecast.
The weekend was fun, relaxing, and full of rowing!!
We made good shared decisions about how to spend our time and which rowing routes to undertake. The weather was reasonable but damp. As a result we did a short row on our first afternoon to find our bearings, followed by a longer day out on our full day to explore the islands of Inchlonaig, Inchmoan and others I really can’t pronounce.
We took the opportunity to do the Five Miles from Home on our last day and found that Loch Lomond can be much choppier than we had anticipated. As the evenings were mostly rainy we enjoyed good food, word games and plenty of chat. Whilst there were opportunities to swim, cycle, run or hike, only a couple of swims were achieved.
All in all it was a great weekend with new experiences to build on. We all hope to try somewhere new next year.
Best wishes
Saartje Drijver, NBRC
