Would you like ice with that?

Our second attempt at getting on a lake was thwarted yet again by the weather. This time it was the cold - the whole lake was one big sheet of ice! None of fancied canoeing with a pick axe, so instead of honing our limited canoeing skills we challenged the kids to a snowball fight and then once again retreated to the warmth of the pub. Pub training: 2, Canoe training: 1.

Our first time in a canoe

With the help of our friends at Allerthorpe lake we secured the use of some boats one cold Saturday afternoon in January. This would be a little taster to canoeing, but as it turned out the conditions proved to be more demanding (and probably more realistic) than we hoped. The first two boats set off into the lake - Andy and Jim then Simon and Jason. Feeling a little bit cramped up front both Jim and Simon hadn't realised the boats were back to front and therefore their seats were the wrong way round - oops.
With conditions quite choppy we decided to retreat to the santuary of the pub and celebrate our first wetting...

How it all started

If anyone's to blame it's Simon... We were enjoying our usual Thursday night pub quiz last year when Simon mentioned he'd always wanted to canoe the Caledonian Canal (an unusual ambition as we later found out he'd never actually set foot in a canoe before). As the evening wore on the rest of us, me, Shaun, Andy, Jason and Eddy gradually warmed to the idea (unfortunately the beer was now starting to effect our judgement). Simon explained where the Caledonian Canal was - a 60 mile passage of water that connects the west coast of Scotland with the east coast, from Fort William to Inverness. Canoe across Scotland - wow that sounded impressive. Heck, we could even raise some money for charity. The only downside? None of us had any experience of long distance canoeing...

For several weeks we discussed the trip, usually ending with references to 'Deliverance' and 'Squeal like a pig'. But with Christmas fast approaching and the thought that if we didn't start organising something soon we'd miss the boat (pardon the pun) we got our act together. After discovering that we'd have to allow a week to do the trip, we decided our support crew (families) would have to come with us. Breaking this news to them wasn't easy and I'm sure it will cost us dearly at some point. It was decided that our companions would set up a base halfway along the route and a location was duly found and booked. This turned out to be the beginning of August 2009. Unfortunately this clashed with Eddy's holiday and reluctantly (although probably a relief to Alison) he had to pull out. Fortunately Andy's son Jim stepped in to take his place. Research showed that the best way to travel was with two-man Canadian canoes, where we could stow our gear in the boat. The intention being to canoe a distance and then camp at night. With the 'where' and 'why' sorted, it was time to get down to the 'how'.