Castle Semple Christmas Paddle
The weather forecast for today has been between appalling and awful for the whole week so it was a bit of a surprise to arrive at the loch to see it flat calm.
It was still a bit parky. ChrisH and Chainsaw had called off so it was Jo and myself along with a Ginger Paddler, Bikemec and a few locals making up the numbers.
Despite the lack of wind and rain I was pretty sure it was coming along at some point so was very clear that we were not taking a long paddle up the loch and risk a slog back into the wind and rain. So a gentle paddle round the bottom of the loch first to get our sea legs back.
We got about a third to half of the way up the loch before turning back to head down and explore the river.
Of course as with most of our meet ups the paddling was almost incidental. It was all about the socialising and banter. Much of this not safe for family consumption as we planned to go up Robbie’s passage.
Robbie’s passage conquered we headed into my favourite drainage ditch.
I was horrified to find out Bikemec had never paddled this. It is such a great spot. Always quiet, always sheltered from the wind. A peaceful oasis in a world of chaos. Still he knows where it is now should he need it.
By now some of us were tiring. They don’t make teenagers with the same resilience they used to.
So we headed back to the visitor centre. When we got back to the loch the wind was starting to build and when we got to shore there was a bit of rain in the air too. As is customary we had some cakes and hot drinks at the visitor centre then later headed back to our house for an evening of chat. Another enjoyable meetup. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to arrange another soonish. I was going to arrange one for next week but the weather forecast has improved enough that I may manage an overnight camp on Loch Lomond after all instead.
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Originally Posted by Mal Grey
