Knoydart Packraft Delight



Some outings that spend years in development do not live up to the expectation. Others do.

This did. Emphatically.

The Knoydart Munros by packraft from Corran has always been the base plan before I had even purchased my first packraft way back in 2019. I say “first” as although it scores quite poorly on my price per trip metric I use to (rightly) justify most purchases, I genuinely feel after this trip it was worth every penny.

The foundation of this trip was inspired from Mountainlove’s Walk Report from 2017 (so thanks for the inspiration). Our plan was to extend from Ladhar Bheinn onto Meall Buidhe, then Luinne Bheinn and all their subsidiary tops with packraft in carry to allow a slightly different return crossing from the boat house at the northeast end of Barrisdale Bay.

At one very early iteration of this route I had an end-to-end trip starting in Corran and finishing in Loch Cuaich; that could have had the potential to turn into a logistical nightmare for cars and was rejected due to severely limiting any bail out options.

Bang in the middle of May 2024 the weather played a blinder and for the first time ever our biggest consideration was low level wind as we had a 3-kilometre sea crossing both directions.

When packing the night before I sent Andrew a picture of my backpack commenting that it would be a squeeze to get the packraft and all the gear in, but as I had managed before I was sure it be fine on the day. He responded with a “are you sure that’s your 44L bag?” …

This was trip number 97 for me – I knew my various backpacks inside out by now, or so I thought!

We met at a layby on the A87 just west from where the A87 and A887 meet – a well-hidden place to hide a car for a couple of days if you’re interested. Finally arriving in Corran near 11am.

As we re-packed before setting off I realised I had taken my 33L backpack instead of the 44L, 11 litres of space makes a lot of different when you’re planning on hiking for two days with a boat, buoyancy aids, paddles, and all the usual stuff.

The sensible decision was we would now packraft across Loch Hourn, abandon the packraft, complete the 3 Munros, bivvy high somewhere, then take a longer walk back to the packraft and return, rather than the aforementioned return from the boat house in Barrisdale Bay.

A tad embarrassing, but the trip could still commence and there are much worse bits of kit to forget.

Arrived at the carpark in Corran


The photo where Andrew had correctly identified my 33L…


Getting ready to cross




Andrew & I




This was the first saltwater crossing in the packraft so that added a sense of adventure, and concern. Most of our kit was stored in drybags within the inner tubes, which makes it heavier than ideal, less rigid, and far less efficient than a traditional kayak or canoe.

The crossing itself was slightly slower and harder physically than I had imagined, but it was hardly a day for complaining.

On the crossing we were treated to a white-tailed eagle hovering overheard, seals on the shore and possibly the highlight of the trip a dolphin (or two) in close proximity, albeit very briefly. If we had turned around and driven home there and then, this would have been a successful trip. Given the camera was in the dry bag, unfortunately no photos, but memories to last a lifetime.

During the crossing we spent a bit of time wondering the depth of Loch Hourn and why on some lochs OS maps state the depth, but not others. Assumption was it was only for landloched (see what I did…) lochs, but that doesn’t stack up either. See Loch Arkaig (depths depicted) vs Loch Cuaich (no depths). I since checked a free marine chart and the answer at time of question was probably about 210ft deep, or as much as +300ft in places. https://fishing-app.gpsnauticalcharts.com/i-boating-fishing-web-app/fishing-marine-charts-navigation.html?title=Scotland+-+West+Coast+-+Loch+Hourn+boating+app#9.87/56.6764/-7.2311

Some phone snaps from the crossing






Landed


The packraft, as the name suggests does pack down reasonably well, but I was far from peak physical fitness, the crossing and drive took a lot more energy than expected and I was disappointingly confident I would have struggled to carry the raft and associated gear for two days up three Munros.

The right decision was to store the kit and make sure we returned to the exact spot for the return journey. If this was always going to be the case a traditional hard kayak and lighter backpack would be the sensible choice.

Setting off from “Inbhir Dhorrcail” on the OS Map, our intention was to follow the fence line through the deer protected forest and try join onto the path that connects Allt Coire Dhorrcail to Barrisdale Bay. This was only about one kilometre in distance and looking back at the map it is hard to believe how difficult, sweaty and slow our progress was.

The ground here is exceptionally uneven, boggy, rocky, slippy, with the bonus of tick infested knee-high ferns for a lot of it.

Some photos in between the pain






The path


Reaching the path, it was already after 3pm. I was beginning to doubt the feasibility of our intended route with the added pressure we HAD to return to the exact spot to be able to packraft back to the car. Didn’t want to be leaving that to later in the day and absolutely not in the dark. The path was a welcome relief and when we reached the Allt Coire Dhorrcail we ditched the trousers for shorts as we were confident we would have passed with the worst of the ticks. Oh dear, how wrong we were…

It was stiflingly warm, which doesn’t come across in the photographs but trust me on that. We stopped at the stream to replenish as much water as possible, knowing that if the maps were to be believed, this would be it for the night.

Andrew enjoying the break


This will be up there with my favourite ever outings, but the next hour the followed could easily have been my least favourite hour of any walk in my entire life.

We both switched to shorts to help with the heat but every single step from the stream at about 350m to the main ridge at 700m we’d each collect tens of ticks. We did consider putting trousers back on but given the previous few hours walking we were confident they would be covered as well. Felt better to see the problem crawling on your skin than hidden under clothes. It’s no exaggeration to say we removed hundreds of ticks each. The only blessing was I don’t think either of us had any that managed to find a way to latch onto the skin.

Looking down to the stream regretting lots of life choices


Stomping up – I would say there are hundreds of thousands, millions maybe, of ticks within this photo


I don’t like to speak for the collective, but when we reached the 700m we were both scunnered with the previous hours of slow progress and near constant tick removal. It was agreed we would need to revisit the planned itinerary. When the midges appeared, it was very nearly game over entirely. Completely raging. Thankfully they were only there for a very small period.

Although we had a lot of daylight remaining it was now nearing 5pm and we still hadn’t reached the summit of Ladhar Bheinn.

We agreed to abandon plans for Meall Buidhe and Luinne Bheinn and instantly that felt like a weight off our shoulders. Reminded ourselves we, mostly, do this for fun not complete physical punishment. This also meant we could now bivvy at the summit of Ladhar Bheinn without having to worry about progress.

View to the east end of Loch Hourn


Making progress up and over Stob a’ Choire Odhair






Ladhar Bheinn now in sight


Some views from the summit




We unrolled our matching bivvies near the summit before deciding to relocate further west, closer to the trig point. Arriving at the summit just after 6pm having already cut the planned route short we had plenty of time to decide where was best to sleep but instantly agreed on not losing any height (anything to avoid the midges!).

Zoomed photo of some campers lower down the northeast side of Stob a Choire Odhair – dreaded to think of their tick situation


Over the sea to Skye


Possibly the Outer Hebrides, Uist? Or too close?


Lovely evening




Bivvy relocation – much easier than the tent equivalent…




This will do




Time to sleep (9pm)


I woke at 5am and this was my view lying in the bivvy – no snooze today!


Stunning sunrise without a breath of wind – half taking from the comfort of my sleeping bag.












Beautiful early morning light making our way back to the summit for breakfast










Sunrises like that, in remote settings like that, with no one else around make it all worthwhile!

Andrew putting away 1000kcal of porridge before 7am – most impressive feat from the trip in my opinion


The quickest route down would have been to retrace our steps or alternatively come down the Stob a’ Chearcaill ridge towards Creag Bheithe. As plans had changed and we had a lot of time on our hands, we decided to head towards the main path connecting Barrisdale to Inverie, descent down to Barrisdale bay and then try and skirt along the side of the loch to avoid the forest section again.

Time would tell if this was the right decision or not.

The early morning joys




Final descent down to the bealach


Warming up again


The path down to Barrisdale was a welcome relief, but no more so than the relief of finding some fresh water sources. We were parched!

On route down


View down Glen Barrisdale


Looking back up towards the bealach


Any hope of a nice hard packed sandy beach along to the packraft were quickly expelled when we reached the loch. Thankfully worst case we were only 1.5km away from where we left the packraft. Although 1.5km feels a lot longer when the vast majority was full hands-on scrambling.

I almost certainly would not recommend this route. It was good fun at the time, but never being 100% sure if it would be passable around the next bend made for some interesting thoughts. Either way we would both swim so I’m sure we’d have been fine…

Start


Easy


Moderate


The majority


Complete


Canada Geese & young


Ready for the return trip




Cormorants (phone zoomed photo)


Harbour seal, I think (phone zoomed photo)


The seal came very unexpectedly as we were paddling around the tiny island of Sgeir Leathan. As soon as we spotted it (very good camouflage) we quickly retreated and commenced our journey the final few meters back to the mainland.

Said seal then decided to inquisitively follow us with its little head bopping along before disappeared and reappearing. Initially cute it quickly became sinister as I imagined this 100kg lump deciding to try and infiltrate our inflatable vessel like a blubbery pirate. That would only end one way. Popped and wet.

Since Googling to confirm the type of seal (turns out there are only two in Scotland; Harbour and the bigger Grey seals), there’s a good chance it was here for birthing as harbour seal pups are born May to July in calm shallow waters – seemed to tick all the boxes.

Out paddled the seal and safely back on dry land




The drive home was horrendously hot, slow and torturous as always. I even had to stop at the McDonalds on the outskirts on Nairn for an emergency coffee and 15-minute power nap.

Cleaned and dried – Eilish must have been working this day…


Our GPS


All in all, one of the most memorable trips. Sea eagles, dolphins, seals, birds, summit bivvies, epic sunrises & good chat. If we ignored the ticks, it would have been close to perfect.

Given Meall Buidhe and Luinne Bheinn were omitted we will be back soon. Not 100% of the method of entry, but it’s hard to argue with the fun of a packraft to walk up a hill!

Thanks for reading
Andy