LOCH DOWN

The tourists milling round the ruined ramparts of Urquhart Castle don’t quite know what to make of us. It’s still morning, I think, and the sky has darkened to charcoal, turning the waters of Loch Ness an ominous, steely grey. The wind has picked up in the last hour or so and is now barrelling down the lake. We file past in a line of luminous yellow race-bibs, eyes front, plunging our paddles into the growing swell.

We’re 25km into day two of the Great Glen Challenge. Starting in Fort William on the west coast, the route runs for 92km across Scotland, following the Caledonian Canal and traversing several lochs before finishing up in Inverness on the east. Along the way, you paddle through some of the most magnificent scenery the Scottish Highlands have to offer. On Loch Ness, wisps of cotton-budded mist drape the surface at first light