Scotland's Wilderness; Paddling Loch Quoich to Loch Garry

Knoydart is often called 'Scotland's Last Wilderness'. Visiting it this September we would only dip into the edge of this untamed land before turning around and heading back towards civilisation.

The far end of Loch Quoich

We turned off the A87 and travelled 15 miles along the single-track road, past the dam, towards Kinloch Hourn; the end of the road is 7 miles further on. We soon found a large space, close to the loch's edge where We unloaded the canoe and all of our equipment for the next 5 days. Andy drove the 15 miles back down the road, then got on his bike and cycled the 15 miles back up. The road is remote with only a few houses in the first couple of miles. It is infrequently travelled; the postie the only regular visitor making the 44 mile round trip to the end of the road and back each day.

Sailing east along Loch Quoich

I dragged the canoe to the water's edge, soon to be followed, in stages, by the rest of the kit. A pick-up truck stopped and the driver watched me for a while. I was a little nervous, mentally rehearsing getting my machete out of the barrel it was stashed in, should I need it. He approached me once I returned to the road. My heart was beating harder and faster now as I pictured myself running back  from the road, jumping into the boat and being safe on the water.

'Are you allright, would you like a hand?' he asked. 
'I'm fine, thank you'. I replied. 

I felt awful for the thoughts that had been going through my head. As a lone female I felt a little vulnerable and I trust this gents intentions were entirely honourable. I hated it that these  doubts were going through my mind yet I still cannot convince myself that he was definitely not a murderer or rapist. How awful!!

Yay! We can paddle the boat, on the Geart Garry

I packed the canoe up and waited for Andy to return. We stashed the bike and set off into the wilderness. It soon began to drizzle and the cloud came down. We crossed the loch, heading further from the road and into wild country. We searched the shore for suitable camping sites. We sought out a building marked on the map and found it to be a rather grand garage for a James Bond style Argo; an all terrain vehicle used to manage these highland estates. We continued on, getting in sight of the far end of the loch where we were surprised to see another dam.

Camping mid-way through the portage on the Geart Garry

After watching the numerous rainbows, (the sun must have come out), we pitched the tent in the one, tiny spot that was not a bog or bare rock, then settled down to cook and eat dinnner. Disappointingly there was not much to see; the mountains remained in the clouds and there was virtually no wildlife. The creatures were probably hunkering down as we were. We slept well and woke up to continuing drizzle and low cloud. However, once on the water the wind picked up so we set our sail and let the breeze take us effortlessly all the way down the loch to the main dam. 

Where does the river go? Looks like more portaging

I watched the bare rocky shores of this altered loch pass by as we drifted effortlessly further inland under sail. The hillsides were ugly where whole forests have been chopped down and new roads built to accommoate the forestry vehicles required for this work. The huge, invasive pylons that ran parrallel with us supplying power to the remote settlements, again taking away the feeling of remoteness. I struggled to navigate with islands that were now joined to the shore, arms of the dam with no water in and a shoreline that barely resembled the shape on the map.

If this is a wilderness then our wild country is in a sorry state.

The long drag down to Kingie Pool

We dragged the canoe out of the loch just before the huge dam, stopping for lunch beside the road. The river below the dam had little water in it and not much of it was paddleable so we spent the afternoon dragging the boat along the shore, intermittently paddling on short stretches of deeper water. Eventually we found a suitable camping spot, just before the river dropped away in numerous falls, descending finally into the Kingie Pool.

Still dragging...

We were plagued by midges in the evening and the following morning but we had a good display by buzzards flying low past our camp and a couple of curious deer on the hilside opposite.

Sod it, let's paddle this one!

The next day we continued dragging our boat down the bank beside the many waterfalls on the Geart Garry, listening to the landed gentry shooting somewhere nearby. Hopefully they weren't shooting canoeists. The falls were too vertical to paddle without seriously damaging our boat. At Kingie Pool we could finally paddle and we relaxed as we went with the flow through the tiny Loch Poulary. It wasn't long before the view of the river ahead disappeared as we approached the first of a number of rapids. We inspected them and decided we could paddle these without too much bother. The thought of capsizing a fully laden canoe and having to fish out 5 days worth of gear usually makes us err on the cautious side. We paddled through and remained upright. 

Our functional campsite above the rapid

Shortly after there was another rapid under a bridge. This one was far too big to run and whilst inspecting the ongoing rapids below it we came across a perfect place to camp, functional but not aesthetic. Just beside the bridge, (and forestry track), was a perfectly flat space with room for both our tent & shelter. The grass was short, the land well-drained and we were beside a water source. We were relieved to stop for the night; a day of predominantly dragging a fully loaded canoe down beside a beautiful river is tiring and disheartening.

The rapid! Not runnable with full expedition kit

The following day started with more dragging, interspersed with some lining the boat down rapids as we walked on the bank or in the shallows. Not too tiring but very time-consuming. This canoeing trip doesn't actually involve much canoeing! Finally we made it onto Loch Garry where we explored a small arm of the loch and found a suitable campsite on its southern shore. It was quite a trek upstream to find clean water, away from the sheep fields and muddy run-off but other than that it was an ideal spot to spend the night with just a short paddle the following day, back across the loch to the car where we could then return to the start to pick up the bike.

Time for a change; let's line the boat instead

Unfortunately this trip was disappointing. It didn't feel like we were in any kind of wilderness and there wasn't much canoeing to be done!

Lining the boat

Finally paddling on Loch Garry