Couple days canoeing on/camping by a lake?

Hi all,

Mate had the idea for a couple days canoeing about a lake (was originally a river but then problem with getting back to the top..), and then rough camping on the shore for a night or too, which sounds pretty awesome to me.

First lake to jump to mind was Windemere, simply cos it’s big. But it’s also rather touristy (we’d be doing this end of August or start of September), so might not be ideal if wild camping etc?

So, any suggestions? Decent sized lake would be good, random islands etc to wander about would be great, or big hills to hike up (Scafell Pike?). And with spots where we can camp without getting bothered..

Oh and we’re in North Wales, so the nearer the better 🙂

Any thoughts would be great 🙂

Duane.

Id make the effort to get to Scotland for this, then the worlds your lobster. Loch Quoich is one of my favourite places in the world, but there are plenty of others.
The furthest south i’d go is loch Ba, theres a lovely little island to camp on, and if you can run a shuttle you can cross rannoch moor by going down the river into Loch Laidon.

Maybe worth a look @ Songofthepaddle.co.uk

I’d say Scotland too, I did some survival training with the army on the west coast not too far from Fort William, it put the wild into wild camping.
Why not mess around the coast?

If you arent experienced then the coast adds a whole new bunch of ways to get into trouble, especially in an open canoe. I’d start on an inland loch. Loch Lomond, or anywhere south of it will be mobbed tho

Scottish coast requires a bit of care picking your spots – some fierce tides in places. NOt that I know much about canoeing

I’d go for one of the large freshwater lochs – lomond has plenty of islands but has a camping ban on the shores now – although if you are on the bits with no road it wouldn’t be an issue.

a loch / lake without roads both sides would be good. Loch ericht is nice and remote but one end meets the a9 for ease of access. Loch Morar might be good as well

I’d say Scotland too

+1

If you canoe/kayak the Caledonian Canal, there are campsites at a lot of the lochs – ok, so not wild camping, but the sites don’t feel too managed. 🙂

Cheers for the replies.

As it happens, I live in Scotland most of the time (at uni in Edinburgh there). However, the mate I plan to do this with, as well as the canoe, is at home in Wales, and dont fancy driving all the way up north for 2 days, then back home to drop them off, then back up for uni :/

Hence Wales/North England being more desirable locations..

It’s gotta be a girl right? 🙂

Nope haha

🙂

If you hire canoes on the river wye, the hire companies will come pick you up from wherever you get to. Making your way along the river is a lot more interesting than around a lake.

we’ve hired boats from wye valley canoe centre[/url] before did 4 day going down river and they picked us up and took us and the boats back to the cars which were parked on their site.

As well as Song of the Paddle, this is also a useful resource: Canoe&Kayak

We did the Balquhidder route with two cars, one at the top one and at the end, and ended up wild camping on the river section in the middle. We heard the stags rutting at night which was cool (we camped end of September). Although you say you don’t want to go to Scotland, Loch Ken and the River Dee is only an hour extra drive compared with going to the Lakes, it’s a relatively long lake with fishing and you won’t get bothered for wild camping.

If you’re intent on avoiding going that far north, Song of the Paddle is the best resource for wild camping spots: Ullswater has some cheeky camping spots on the east shore; Derwent Water has plenty of islands, but people try and camp there relatively often so you might struggle to get a spot to yourselves.

Have fun whatever you decide!

We did two days on the river Wye two weeks ago with tipi adventures who supplied everything including big tipis, bbqs, wat, cooking utensils, wood, charcoal…. Everything other than food and booze.
We had a group of 4 families (all mates) and it was fab!