Scotland - Finally

As some of you know we left our breakdown kayak in Scotland four years ago after returning from Iceland. We had been extremely lucky getting it on the plane in Melbourne and we knew there was no way we’d be so lucky on the return journey. We didn’t need it at home and with the range of paddling opportunities in Europe extending from Arctic Norway to the Mediterranean it was a logical decision. 

So a dash up the Motorway from southern England and it was tucked safely behind a shed at Liz and Arthur’s place in Duror north of Oban. 

Our plan was to return in 2017 for an extended trip on the West Coast of Scotland and the Orkneys. That was not to be following our unfortunate meeting with a bombie on the West Coast of Tasmania in March of that year. Lynne spent most of the rest of 2017 in a wheelchair and on crutches with her left leg held together by a fancy stainless and carbon fibre framework nicknamed ‘Rodney’. 

Four years later and we’re back at Liz and Arthur’s with much the same plans as before.

After four years we expected some deterioration or damage, we’d brought with us all sorts of spare parts such as neoprene hatch covers and deck lines but apart from a bit of dirt it was as good as when we left it. The only repair was to replace a fibreglass patch done in the damp and cold of Iceland that had starting to peel off. 

Thank you so much Liz and Arthur for hosting our kayak for so long!!

A few more jobs and a bit of sorting then packing the kayak and we were ready to go. 

We ask a lot of our kayak trolley, home made from plastic plumbing pipe and fittings. The design has improved over the years, the current one is version three and probably can’t be improved substantially. The weak point has always been the wheels as golf cart wheels are not designed to take the weight of a loaded kayak. They’ve all eventually given us trouble and been replaced. 

This time though the trouble started before we’d even got our boat wet. Both lost their tyres on the way to the beach, then rolling on the rims alone destroyed them completely, but they did, just, get us to the beach.