Here the strata recorded in rock meets the water’s edge to create geometries that crisscross in reflection. There is a wonderful simplicity that comes from taking a trip in the outdoors, a pragmatism gleaned from necessity. Under my head I make a big pillow from my kneeling mat from the canoe, spare clothes and a dry sack. Loch based activities include: Kayaking, Canoeing, Sailing or Loch cruising in the 29ft ‘Affric Workboat’ this sometimes with an 8 wheeler all terrain Argo vehicle on board the boat too. Located on the edge of Cannich Village, our cabins have been recently refurbished to a high standard with comfortable furnishings and … Contact. We caught up with James Middleton to hear about his experience as Host at the Glen Affric Estate in Scotland, and how Cannich Woodland Camping is situated at the gateway to Glen Affric and a short distance from Loch Ness. Our takeaway can store is open Saturdays 12-4pm. The order though, with just two travellers, flexes depending on many factors. The snow falls to the water, as the reflections rise from the depths to meet each perfect flake. I take time to go through with Max the process of setting up the canoe for sleeping underneath, he’ll be helping on our next canoe trip with clients to set up these shelters so we look in detail at the method. The day is late, and our plan to paddle the length of the Loch before nightfall is looking less sensible in the conditions. “Industrious” he calls us, after witnessing our swift labours to sort our traditional camp and we spend most of the evening engaged in conversation of the kind only found when out far from home, as Orion strides across the sky following the Bull. Offering river or garden views, each unit comes with a kitchen, a satellite flat-screen TV and DVD player, wardrobe, a washing machine and a private bathroom with shower and a hairdryer. Convenient rocks keep the bow and stern from moving around, and a tarp pitched over the hull and lofted between two paddles provides our roof, held taut with a central paddle from the middle. Magnificent. In preparing for that night I made a few arrangements to augment my sleeping bag which might be of interest, many little tips I’d picked up over the years from a wide selection of sources. Glen Affric Taproom. A rushing river, the gateway to Glen Affric. That flask of hot water makes a welcome coffee before I leave the comfort of my sleeping bag, and fires me up ready to break camp. Glen Affric Taproom. Along the way you'll pass a series of smaller lochs and majestic towering pine forest. We gathered dead standing and birch bark from our surroundings, everything was saturated including the birch bark. The Glen Affric Estate has a huge range of activities on offer. The mountain air, which had been quietly kissing my cheeks as I fell asleep must have gotten a little frisky in the night, and stuck it’s tongue down my throat...I wake up coarse and unable to speak at first. And so for the second time on Loch Beinn a’ Mheadhoin we get to work setting up camp. The perfect combination of forest, mountain and loch. That’s a place to stop for a while if ever I’ve seen one. What a place! The plan would be this then, the stowed gear in the canoe should be carried to the camp, the canoe herself would be brought up to share the eventual firelight and in her lea we could sit out of the wind. The wind and rain had passed sometime in the night, leaving behind a still and cold atmosphere. This is my favourite means of setting the campfire for cooking while traveling as it’s fast and requires little to no carving work. In high water there’d be little in between the moss and the waters edge, as it was we were left with a broad muddy bank to suck at our feet. Within the bag I wear a merino long-sleeve base-layer and long-johns, thick woolen sock, a warm wooly hat and merino neck buff, following the teachings the legendary Mors Kochanski “sleep with lots under you, lots over you, but little on you”. Numerous trails surround the spellbindingly beautiful lochs and to be explored on foot at any speed, or by mountain bike or aboard one of Affric’s Highland ponies and horses. The crunch as the ice breaks on the bow sets the hairs on my neck on end, it’s haunting and loud in the silence, the sensation of Nature all around watching feels like a Grandparent looking on an errant child testing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. With one strike our Feathers caught and dried the sopping wood out which then caught alight. Then the main tarp comes down: Tarp lines, stiff from the ice, hold fast to the algaed Birch even after the knots are untied; as resistant to move today as I am. By common consent, Glen Affric is the finest of all Scotland's glens. An often overlooked little niche of campcraft, but the steady expedience with which you can learn to pack away your gear goes a long way on trips such as this, it is often here where you most see a difference between a practiced outdoors-person and someone new to wilderness travel. During winter trips the short daylight hours means quite often you’ll need to work into the dark. Taking a quick bearing from the map and assessing the wind direction we start out, paddles to the water and the world seems to expand in front of us. For now though we’re enjoying warm winter sun and still waters, we pass the odd patch of tissue ice as we cut through with the bow. There's also fine views of the mountains of Mullach Fraoch-Choire and Mam Sodhail. 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