Glen Affric.

When we woke up this morning, the weather was beautiful, so M and I quickly paid our bill at the hotel and packed a lunch for our canoeing trip.

We had originally thought of paddling on Loch Ness, but the canoe-hire shop, Boots 'n Paddles, had suggested we try Glen Affric; a nature reserve about 30 miles from Inverness. The drive up there took a while on the windy roads, but it was well worth it for the stunning scenery - it looked like the wilds of Canada. We launched the boat no problem, and began paddling towards a small island. The breeze was quite brisk, but the sun was out and the sky blue. As we got to the first island, we noticed that the waves looked a little bigger further out in the Loch; but we thought we'd give it a try and paddle for the other side.

Unfortunately as we set out, we realised the waves were definitely big enough to swamp our canoe, so we simply stopped paddling forwards and concentrated on keeping the canoe pointing into the waves, letting them take us backwards into shore. We ended up on the shores of another island, where there was an impressive amount of dried, bleached logs, which would have made excellent ornaments for our flat, if only they hadn't been so heavy. The Loch was dammed years ago, and a lot of the trees around the edge had been cut and the stumps submerged, so they had almost petrified in the still water - it was amazing to see.

We paddled back to the sheltered area and had our lunch in the forest before M had a few casts with the fly rod. We took the canoe further into the sheltered side of the Loch, stopping off at lots of little beaches and islands, and doing some exploring. Definitely one to come back to on a calmer day!

We had a lovely afternoon, and the drive back seemed to go quite quickly. Once in Inverness, we went back to our favourite little campsite, Bught, where we pitched the tent and bought ourselves an Indian takeaway for tea. I even managed to beat M at a few rounds of poker, winning a whole £10! I think he taught me too well. The best day of our weekend yet :)