Duke of Edinburgh: Silver Expedition

1. Practice Expedition:

I started the expedition at Nethy Bridge where we put the canoes and supplies on to the River Spey, We canoed along the Spey. At first it was easy, then we stopped for lunch and after that there was quite a lot of wind and it was hard work.  We had to get out to get around a bridge because the water was low due to the dry weather.  We stopped at a nice campsite, we camped on the bank of the river and the weather was pleasant.

On the second day we packed up our stuff and canoed to Grantown on Spey which was much quicker because the wind had died down.  We took the canoes out and unloaded the stuff from our barrels into our rucksacks.  We had lunch and then set of on a walk through Grantown on Spey, and joined the Speyside way until we reached Cromdale church.  The weather was very hot.

• Qualifying Expedition:

On the first day we started at Bunarkaig and walked with our rucksacks for about two kilometres to Clunes. Then we started on the Great Glen Way for about five and a half kilometres to our campsite near Glas-Dhoire.  It was raining a lot on our walk and camp.

On the second day we packed up our rucksacks and set off from the campsite to Laggan Locks. There was a bit of a climb at first and then we walked through the South Laggan Forest, past a grave yard and some fields towards the canal. The walk was around seven and a half kilometres.  Once at Laggan Locks we unpacked our rucksacks into the barrels and dry bags for the canoes and ate lunch.  We took our canoes to the canal and canoed for about two and a half kilometres towards Loch Oich.  We continued to canoe along Loch Oich for about four kilometres, passing Invergarry castle and a hotel and ended at Leitirfearn campsite.  The campsite was nice and we ate dinner and put up the tents.  It was a warm, sunny day, we passed some rowers on the canal as well as other boats.

On the third day we packed our things into the barrels and dry bags and canoed along the remainder of Loch Oich for about two and a half kilometres to the Caledonian canal. Here there were two sets of lock gates where we took our canoes out of the water and transported them to the other side of the gates. We canoed for about eight kilometres to Fort Augustus where we unloaded the canoes and finished the expedition.

Aim of the Expedition:

The aim of the expedition was to photograph wildlife.  As well as photographing wildlife I also spotted and identified wildlife that I did not photograph.  Here is a list of all the wildlife I saw whilst on this expedition:

Birds:  Robin, Chaffinch, Swallow, Gull, Swan.

Trees:  Willow, Silver birch, Beech, Ash, Rowen, Oak.

Flowers:  Foxglove, Thistle, Buttercup, Cow Parsley, yellow flower.

Other plants:  Fern, Clover, Gorse

I would like to thank the Neil Mackenzie Trust for their support.