Page 19 - LBV 2024

Dragon Caledonian Blue
From the 11th until the 22nd of August, a joint team of 14 officer cadets and instructors of the OTC and URNU embarked on an expedition into the Scottish highlands, undertaking a programme of adventurous training that included rock climbing at the base of Ben Nevis and canoeing across the Great Glen Canoe Trail. The experience would also expose some of the attendees to their first experience wild camping.
Following a day of training on the
lake in Cambridge and an evening of expedition planning, the team moved
to base camp near Kingussie. During
the first week, one group undertook
the 4-day long expedition from
Neptune’s Staircase (a feat of Victorian engineering), Fort William, to Dores Beach, Loch Ness. The route consisted of canals, locks, and Lochs Lochy, Oich, and Ness in challenging conditions – summer seemed to have already passed by this point in August. The canoeists had to
be self-sustaining for the duration of the expedition, which included carrying all
their camping equipment, clothing, and general means of living – there were only two resupplies along the route for water and food. It also meant that they were wild camping on the edge of the lochs, which created an opportunity for the officer cadets (especially those not used to living outside) to develop their bushcraft skills. The primary benefit of this was building fires in order to fight back against the relentless midges that filled the air throughout the trip.
Meanwhile, the other group took the first week as an opportunity to get some rock climbing experience, especially since it is Major Bevin’s favourite form
of adventurous training because of its demand for active problem-solving.
This took place in Glen Nevis by Fort William, though the inclement weather conditions meant that the activities were sometimes limited to abseiling due to the slipperiness of the rock. This would not be the last time weather affected the second group, as their canoeing expedition would be cut a day short as they reached Fort Augustus,
since storm Lilian was rolling in with
the strongest winds since 2020. Such winds had rendered Loch Ness far too dangerous to tackle with canoes because its vastness means the water behaves more like the sea than a lake, with waves that can reach 2m high. Nevertheless, the team’s spirits weren’t significantly dampened (they were already soaked anyway) and the winds over the course of the expedition had allowed for the use of improvised sails with the canoes all bound together.
Overall, the expedition was a great experience which was both testing and incredibly enjoyable. Everyone agreed that they had developed an understanding and appreciation of the difficulty in planning and executing
an expedition on water, including
Lt Rich Springall, the lead canoe instructor. Without a doubt there was also unanimity in loathing for portage, the slow and cumbersome process of moving the canoes – with everything loaded into them – across the land
past various locks. It was an incredibly enjoyable experience, though there was a request that future canoe expeditions go to somewhere slightly warmer than the Scottish Highlands.
SUO Barraud
THE LIGHT BLUE VOLUNTEER 19