Packrafting & Birthday Adventures Cairngorms
What is packrafting? In short, a packraft is an inflatable individual raft that can pack down to such a small size that it can fit inside a pack while backpacking or can be attached to a bike for bikepacking.
Packrafting - Day One
After getting back to Hamish (campervan) from our little night Fat bike adventure sleeping in the woods, we headed to Aviemore to check in with Andy Toop at Backcountry.scot. We were finally going to try out some packrafting. We had wanted to give it a go for such a long time but life was getting in the way. Arriving at what Andy calls "The Cave", his shop and hire centre, we began to draw the packrafting kit. As always I had it in my head that this was going to be more complicated than I thought, actually this couldn't have been further from the truth. Andy demonstrated how to rig up the boat and gave us some very helpful hints and tips. How easy! We stood for a while chatting about all things adventure and a little putting the world to rights waffle, then it was time to head for Loch an Eilein where we were going to put our newly acquired skills into practice, finally!
We arrived at Loch an Eilein, parked Hamish at the carpark and then made the short walk to the edge of the loch. We made sure we couldn't be watched whilst we prepared the boats, just in case we looked like we didn't know what we were doing! Actually, we carried out the preparation drill exactly as Andy had shown us and everything went rather smoothly. The boats were inflated in no time, a little head buzzing top up of the air orally and we were good to go. Lisa was blowing up her boat and heard a squeak which resembled flatulence, I turned around to laugh at her but she was actually finished and had lifted the boat which in turn made the offending sound, honest !
The next few hours were spent paddling around the loch, it was a little windy (no it wasn't Lisa) but on the whole it wasn't too hard going. We pulled into a sheltered area on the northern side of the loch to have a spot of lunch. This little spot was so peaceful and relaxing. Normally we are always trying to squeeze so much into the time we have and often forget to slow everything down and enjoy the moments, today was different! I think the packrafts had made us slow the adventure down. I now realise that we need to take our time in future adventures.
Adventure HQ - Forest Cottage
A birthday surprise for a very special person ! It was Lisa's birthday so as a surprise I had gotten in touch with Judith Thurlow who runs both the Loch an Eilein Cottage and the newly restored Forest Cottage, both on the Rothiemurchus Estate. These cottages are literally lifted from your favourite highland, romantic fairy tail. The first thing I should say is that Judith really pulled out all the stops in order to get the cottage ready on a super quick turn around and it was because of this that I was able to plan the surprise for Lisa. (Brownie points for me!)
We had spent the previous night in the Cairngorms famous and utterly beautiful forest, in a sleeping bag, this was going to be something at the other end of the comfort scale. We headed the cottage after our boating exploits. Lisa was unaware of the plan that was about to unfold. As we drew closer to the cottage she began asking questions, where are we going, what are we doing ? We slowly drove up the track towards the cottage. I pulled over and reversed Hamish into the space next to this idyllic cottage, jumped out and went to the door, "What are you doing, get away from there!" It was then that she clicked, OMG, are we staying here!?! Yip! Normally it would have been Hamish, tent or some other obscure place to spend the night.
I opened the door and was pushed aside as Lisa unceremoniously jumped in front of me. I thought, here it comes, a big hug and the start of the brownie points! Nope, "don't touch anything" she ordered, out came the phone. A full photography tour took place before I could unload the kit. It was stunning I have to say, the interior design is so welcoming, clean and traditionally romantic. The cottage is simply stunning and its location just caps off the perfection of this little But'n'Ben!
Packrafting - Day Two
We woke up to a stunning day, the sun was finding its way through the trees, we were in for a cracking day! Firstly, it was running kit on and a quick 3.5 mile lap of Loch an Eilein before breakfast.
The plan was to hit the River Spey in the packrafts, head to the Boat of Garten on the river and then hop on the Strathspey Steam Railway back to Aviemore.
We parked Hamish in the carpark next to the police station in Aviemore and walked under the bridge towards the Spey, it was only a five minute walk with the kit. A location to put in was found not far away so we rolled out the boats, inflated them, and put them in the water. Not ten seconds after letting the flow of the river take me the boat, I noticed a huge branch just under the water, it was only about 3 meters away, I done my best to steer around it! You know that feeling when you are seeing something unfold in front of you, you know its going to hurt or damage something but you're helpless to stop it, well that was happening now. The boat went straight over the top of the branch, I could feel it under my legs travelling the length of the boat waiting for it to pierce. I was extremely surprised that the boat wasn't damaged in anyway and I wasn't swimming. Note to self, choose where you put in, carefully !
There were a couple of raging white water rapids, you know the kind, Indiana Jones would have been on edge with these! Okay, okay, well it was a little more lively than the previous days flat water paddling but wasn't quite as dangourus as id like to make out. We paddled into the choppy water and out the other side, a quick high five with the birthday girl then it was full speed ahead, we had a steam train to catch!
A thoroughly enjoyable weekend in a very special part of Scotland. Okay, it wasn't the cheapest of adventures but we can't recommend both Backcountry.scot and Forest Cottage highly enough. Both Andy and Judith really helped bring this not so "roughing it" adventure together for us. Lets be honest, there are times you just have to treat yourself to something special.
We made a short film of our little adventure. You have to check out the scenery in this part of Scotland, its simply stunning! Oh, and to see some amazing drone footage of Forest Cottage, click here.