Ladies go packrafting

I’ve been curious to try packrafting for a few months now. I like the idea of being able to walk in to remote places and join up all the blue bits on the map. So, when Caroline pointed me in the direction of Annie’s packraft meet up, I said Yes! 

On a surprisingly bright morning in late September we arrived at Andy’s Backcountry Scot store in Aviemore.  The packraft and paddle probably added about 3kg to my hiking bag, not bad considering my whitewater kayak weights 22kg on its own.

Inflation Time

Fully kitted out, we walked out of Aviemore and up to Loch an Eliein. Time to packraft.  While it was a glorious sunny day it was also rather blowy. I was mindful of Annie’s advice not to let my raft blow away, unfortunately I was so busy holding down my packraft that my buoyancy aid flew away. Some kind SUPers reunited me with it. With all my stuff pinned down against the wind, I began inflating the raft. The process of using a giant dry back to inflate it took a bit of getting used to, but with improved technique relatively efficient.

Ready to go!

We paddled out around the island and over to the other side of the loch. The boat was much more manoeuvrable than I’d expected, going at a reasonable speed even against the wind. My packraft didn’t have a proper spraydeck, but the coverthing kept the splashes out and stayed pretty dry inside the boat.

Around the island

 Getting out of Loch an Eilein we walked the short distance over to Loch Gamhna. It’s too short a walk to be worth packing down the raft, so we carried them. With all the kit in the boat it was impossible to balance it on my shoulder, so Annie and I doubled up. Bec and Caroline, in slightly different models of packrafts simply unhooked their backpacks making it much easier to carry. I think next time, I’d try balancing the backrest on my forehead and shoulders.

Over on Loch Gamnha the wind had picked up further and it was tough work to make progress. We soon made a pit stop for lunch. I realised I had foolishly left my lunch inside my inflated packraft. Oops. After a quick deflate-reflate I was munching on oatcakes and cheese with everyone else in the sunshine. Whilst searching for my food bad I discovered I had suffered a porridge explosion. Fortunately however, the porridge exploded into a plastic bag and not into the packraft or I’d still be in there cleaning it.

Pushing on through the wind we attempted to find the least boggy part of the bank to disembark. With at least semi dry feet, I deflated my packraft disassembled my paddle and tried to remember how it had all fitted on to my backpack. We walked a few miles more through the wood emerging at the main road and a sign pointing towards cake. Cake!

Let there be Cake!

Having devoured a lovely piece of White Lady cake, and earl grey tea, we headed next door to ourcampground. As it turned out the estate we also hosting a wild swimming meet up and a gin launch (!).  We quickly set up camp and wandered back up to the bar, and stage area. I think we looked quite normal in thermals and leggings, compared to the wild swimmers in their Bat cape-like dry robes. Caroline and I shared a cheeky half pizza to supplement our dinners, while Bec located a missing pair of paddles belonging to the hire shop. Returning to camp we cooked our meals (I can confirm, Decathlon’s Apotona dehydrated meals are quite edible), and tried out the composting toilet (better than the portaloos) before turning in for the night.

The next morning we woke up to dry tents but a cloudy sky. After a leisurely breakfast consisting of the remains of my porridge and insta coffee, we packed down while the clouds grew darker. Venturing down to the river Spey, we found it at a decent flow from last weeks rain. This time I felt I knew what I was doing inflating the packraft, and pretty soon we were inflated and ready to go.

Setting off on the Spey

Just as we put on the river it started to rain, and continued intermittently throughout the rest of the day. Continuing down river I instructed the rest of the group in the correct technique for holding a paddle, so that it doesn’t block your face in a photograph. This is possibly the most important thing I’ve learned in all my years boating. On moving water the packrafts are still relatively agile, it is possible to ferry glide catch eddies; I even tried (and failed) to surf a mini-wave.

A short paddle later we found ourselves in Aviemore and after a speedy packdown in the rain, we commenced the short walk back to the Backcounty Scot shop. With boats returned and a quick change we headed down the road for another cake stop in Route 7 café, before hitting the road.

Big thanks to Annie for organising the weekend and Andy Toop for sorting us out with hire packrafts at a bargain price. I had a super time, hope to head out on another packraft adventure soon!