We didn’t have to break the ice to get onto the water yesterday but we saw plenty. We paddled against the breeze from Loch Voil into Loch Doine and came back in beautiful flat calm. There was just time to expore a few bends of the River Larig and that was the highlight for me, paddling on deep and clear green water. We’ll go back there in the spring.

  

  The lochs were very quiet but we did see 2 noisy Whooper Swans, 2 sleepy Mute Swans, 6 Goldeneye (4 females and 2 males displaying), a few mallard, one heron, ravens overhead, some crows, a gang of tits in the trees, one grey wagtail and a dipper.  It’s not a proper canoe trip without a dipper.

 

 
I collected a handful of twigs from the woods along the Loch Voil shore, and a tangle of fishing line from the weeds at the water’s edge – next basket.