A wet winter in the old country.

The Glen of Coe

Well, its been a little while coming. Just a few months behind. Look, ive been meaning to write up a little about my winter back home in bonny Scotland for some time but ive been busy. Anyway, after an awesome trip to Chile & Argentina at the end of last year i returned to Scotland to reconfigure my european transport arrangements (we blew up the van coming back from Norway last year and i needed to organise a new bus licence) and get some proper tea. It was to be my first time spending proper time in the UK in 6 years, and luckily enough for me it coincided with the wettest winter in 200+ years. 

 

Mr Callum Strong on the Leny.

After getting back at xmas, i caught up with some good old boys in the backwoods and jumped straight into paddling as much as possible. A few extremely cold missions in various spots were had through the winter but i didnt grab as many photos of things as i wouldve like due to a combination of being bloody freezing, and a tendency to be bombing stuff a bit too fast to bother. Some highlights that didnt get on camera were an extremely high Water of Minnoch in Dumfrieshire (roads closed in and out due to flooding, made it home, just.) and too many Tilt laps to mention. We did also hit up the falls of Lora a couple of times tho sadly this year some storm surges on the Irish sea seemed to keep it from dropping low enough on the ebb tide to get really cranking. Still a fun place to play tho :)

The Bear runs Poll Dubh on the Nevis.

 It was great to get back to the UK, and i had an awesome few months back home catching up with old friends, make some new ones, spending some quality time with family, and even a bit of boating. Ill let a few of the pics i did snap do the talking. 

 

Mr Hamilton putting the Molan through its paces on a very high Orchy. For those of you who know the river, this is Eassain Dubh when its in the trees. 

And this is the Falls of Orchy, Guru Aitken making it look easy. According to SEPA it was the highest its been since 1978. Not sure thats quite right but it was big eh. 

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Scott "The Hammer" Robinson Jiving his way into Pinball on the Allt Chaoruinn

Scotty and myself with a slightly ill advised tandem freewheel on the last drop of the Choo Choo. Word of advice, dont go right.

Miss Emmanuelle Belanger everybody! Running Triple Step like a boss :)

Falls of Lora. S.L.T throws down on the ultimate, while Rambo does.... well, not much really.

But there he goes! On the angled hand scale, this is a good blunt. These pics were actually taken last year but its gives you an idea just how good the Falls can be when theyre going.

 In between paddling and working and organising my life i even found time to throw together a wee edit of a very silly day out on the Etive. Enjoy.

https://vimeo.com/90335990

 In the end we made it through to May with some fantastic memories and recharged batteries. Im writing this from our summer haunt of Sjoa in sunny Norway. Its been an awesome season so far and weve got so much more to go, especially with Sjoa Fest just around the corner. Thanks and love to all the people who made it such a great time in Britain, and congratulations once more to Mr & Mrs Von Shanksenham, you really are very special xxx

Extra big shout out to Colorado Kayak Supply once more for all the support, you rock guys. Nearly as much as my Kokatat dry suit. Love it! Thanks thanks thanks! :)