I might have been spending a bit too much money recently. 

First up, a new camera - replacing my old no-longer-entirely-waterproof with an Olympus TG-620.

Then I went to the canoe shop, and it got really expensive...  I came home with a brand shiny new Dagger Mamba, size medium in lime green.

This is what the hull looks like.  I'm loving the attention to detail, even though it's obviously just going to get scratched:

Just in time for Easter weekend in Scotland!  Distinct lack of water anywhere, but we found enough things to do to keep ourselves amused.

I finally manned up and got myself on the Spean Gorge... then apparently tried to save my new boat from getting scratched by running various bits of the river upside down.  Not a recommended technique! (especially not in Constriction, which is the most horrible swim I've had in some time )

Despite that, I'm loving the boat so far. It's such a bright colour, which is going to take a bit of getting used to - having the water droplets on my glasses reflect neon green is very strange.

I still need to sort various bits of outfitting out to get it properly comfy - mostly the lack of footplate foam, but I also gained a nice bruise from the left thigh brace digging into my leg.  This wasn't helped by Dagger's adjustment instructions being very wrong - for reference, they need an 8mm spanner rather than 10mm, and yes you do have to fully undo the front bolt!  Sorted now though.

just below Headbanger on the Spean Gorge.  photo by Steve

And no, despite what the photo could suggest, I didn't run Headbanger.  Don't be silly.  Seeing the siphon in real life didn't make me feel as panicky as seeing a certain photo of it, so maybe that's a good thing?

Other rivers included the Etive (which I thought I was well up for, but my brain disagreed at the last minute), the Allt a'Chaorainn (which looks like SO MUCH FUN!), the scary grade 5 Leven, and a few did the Coe Gorge on the way home.

I'm now thinking that my next Scotland trip needs to be for more than just a long weekend, and involve more than one day's paddling.  hmm.  Oh, and a bit more water might be nice...

Continuous shooting mode on the new camera is a lot quicker than the old one, so I ended up taking a lot of photos.  A week of editing later, and I've cut that down to 'only' 96, which can be found here.

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Moving house has eaten up far more of my weekends/spare time than I'd have liked.  But spring has appeared and things have settled down, so a gloriously warm sunny Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity to carry on hacking away at the Wye.

So off I went to Builth Wells - armed with a bike, a map, and the NCN8 guidebook.  (not that I used the last two, hurrah for well signed routes).

Plans were fairly fluid, depending on time and how knackering I found the hilly cycling - either get to Newbridge on Wye (13km), or to Llanwrthwl (23km).  And then back again.

I ended up doing something in between.  Getting to Newbridge wasn't too bad - riverside path out of Builth, then cross over the River Irfon to tackle what is accurately described in the book as 'undulating lanes'. I did walk the bike a fair few times when it got too steep for my liking...  Beautiful views though.

To avoid a straight 'there and back' I took a slightly detour from the marked cycle route, instead flying down a bit of the B4358 with a top speed of about 45km/h!

My lunch spot just outside Newbridge.  Beautiful daffodils!

Stopped for lunch in a shady spot under a tree, and decided to continue a bit further.  No 'undulating' here - just up! Managed another 4km, reaching a convenient point where the Wye Valley Walk footpath meets the road, before deciding I was too hot and tired to face any more hills.

31km in total - not a bad afternoon's effort!  Slightly sunburnt arms, which is a new one for March!

This now puts the Wye at 89%.  In theory only about 25km left, although those figures depend on how well I've estimated the total distance.  It does finally feel like there might be an end in sight now, phew.

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