Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin.

Had a brilliant day today, from start to finish. M and I slept quite late for us; getting up at 9am and leisurely heading down for breakfast at the hotel. So nice to have a full cooked breakfast placed in front of you with no effort and without having any washing up afterwards. After demolishing a huge plate of food, we headed out to Cabrich to collect our Canadian canoe from Boots n Paddles. We've hired from the Boots n Paddles guys before and they're excellent; really friendly with loads of top-class equipment you can hire for a very small amount of money. We headed to Loch Ness first, but we were struggling to find a place to launch our canoe. I'd downloaded a map of the area with launch-points but when we investigated they all involved quite a walk, and the canoe is really heavy!

In the end, we decided to drive back out to Glen Affric, where we had paddled before, and launch the canoe at Loch Beinn a' Mheadhoin (we were told it means 'Loch in the mountains'). It was an even more beautiful day than it had been on our last trip, with only the faintest breeze creating patterns on the water surface. We paddled out into the main loch from Coille Ruigh na Cuileige and kept paddling for about half a mile to a tiny island, empty apart from the pine trees. We had lunch lying on a rock in the sun, and watched another kayak paddle past before heading to a different island. The paddle in was a little trickier as a slight wind had come up, although nothing like as strong as the last time we were there. The island we were aiming for was one that we'd seen on our last trip, with piles of bleached tree stumps that M and I had eyed up for the base for a glass-topped table in the new house. Unfortunately when we arrived, a lot of the stumps had been used as fuel for campfires dotted along the beach, but we still found a chunk of pine that would make a lovely stand for a table lamp, and a couple of other bits that I might have a go at crafting into something.
As the wind picked up a little more, we headed back into the sheltered water near the car park, and loaded the canoe back onto the roofracks of the car. As we drove back to Cabrich, we came across a massive slab of rock that had detached itself from the steep rockface at the side of the road and brought a load of soil and heather down with it across the tarmac. It must have come down with such a bang!

We got back to Inverness with time for a hot shower and a drink at the hotel before we headed out for our dinner in town. We ate at Jaipur, a lovely Indian in the centre of Inverness, before wandering over to Hootnanny's to listen to the live music. We were a little early for the bands, and so full of our curry that we ended up walking hotel-ward until we came across another wee pub with heated lamps outside, which was a perfect setting for a nightcap. Home to the hotel with sore shoulders from paddling and full stomachs; perfection.