Cold, Cold and more Cold...

Dougie Vipond, Fred MacAulay, and Neil Baxter kayaking on Loch Lochy with the north face of Ben Nevis behind.

As ever, it has been a busy few weeks, hence the enforced radio silence on my blog. I spent a couple of days away working for the BBC on the comic relief project were Dougie Vipond and Fred MacAulay had to kayak the Caledonian Canal. They rather admirably managed this, considering what the Scottish weather threw at them. They had to walk many of the canal stages due to the ice, while coping with temperatures down to -15C. The views in this amazing winter were, as ever in the Highlands, spectacular. I was there for the two 'cold' days, and managed to escape down the A82 in a blizzard that night before the snow gates on the road were closed. The last day was a nightmare for them, kayaking head on into an evil North Easterly, with massive swell on Loch Ness, as well as blizzard conditions. Here is a link to the BBC website for a gallery of pictures: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radioscotland/gallery/upthecreek/

They had to camp out, so here is a picture you won't see on the BBC website. Have a look at the picture of Fred before his first night under canvas on the above link, and here is one of said Fred the morning after...