The Winsome blog has been rather quiet for a few weeks. This is because we loaned two Winsome pedal boats to a group of 4 enthusiastic Scotsman (Mike Byrne, Ross Wood, Allan Wylie and James Glass) who had decided to pedal 60 miles from Fort William to Inverness in aid of Maggie’s Cancer Care Centres.
They drove all the way down from Edinburgh to Pencelli to pick up the boats. Above are the team ready to drive back North with Peter Williams and Nick Newland (far right) who designed and built Winsome.
The Caledonian canal involves numerous locks which are used (as you can see) by boats of varying sizes with Winsome (at 17 feet) featuring at the smaller end.
It also involves traversing the length of Lochs Lochy, Oich and (finally) Loch Ness. Fortunately, the weather for the team was mostly settled and dry.
They overtook a genuine pedalo en route!
At night, the group beached the boats and camped loch side.
They crossed over to the far side of Loch Ness to take a closer look at Urquhart Castle.
3.5 days later, they arrived at Inverness.
An excellent effort and a substantial sum of money raised in aid of a very worthy cause. They are still accepting sponsorship here. They tell us that next year's effort might involve lawnmowers so we assume that it will be a land-based affair.
