Scotland - Caledonian Canal - Sea Kayak Part 1

That's one off my tick list and I would totally do it again! If you are in to adventure and getting away from build up towns and cities this is the trip for you. There are many ways to execute this trip but first question is do you rent boats? go with a guided company? or take your own? I'm in to Kayaking and was totally interested in taking my own boat being use to it and wanted to fully load it out for a 5 day trip. I would say that the canoe trail is more setup for Canadian canoes though as the pontoons had a sharp crystal coating for a non slip surface and I managed to cut my hand on it! Its also not good for dry suits as it could damage them, we ended up using the steep banks to slide our boats straight up and out for portages.

Also worth mentioning is that the canal has a £10 key that you can obtain at the start of the trail to get access to toilets, hot showers and water by some of the locks. There's wild camping spots along the way where you might find wood has been provided in the form of drift wood or a large branch off a tree, take a saw to manage this and don't go looking for trees to cut down!

I made a video of some of the water refill points using my mobile, I decided not to include this as quality was low. The water points are black posts with two short pipes sticking out of either side at waist height and close to the canal at the locks. You use the key to unlock the stiff hinged door and access the tap lever, you turn it to the direction you want the water to come out.

I hope that you enjoy this video, just a heads up the photography is in part 2!