Issue # 82 - A Breakfast Time Canoe Journey

A photographic and video account of a small early morning adventure

Hello there. How is autumn treating you so far?

A knee injury and bouts of wild weather have kept us out of the mountains of late. We have been busy doing lots of small things however, short hikes in the woods, valleys and lower fells, chilly dips in tarns and rivers and for the first time in a long time we took our canoe out for an early morning paddle on the lake.

I had forgotten how good it feels to leave the land behind, the sensation of floating and of gliding through the surface of the water, as smooth and black as onyx, defying its apparent solidity with each paddle stroke.

We are not the most proficient paddlers, nor can we afford the fanciest kit, but we love being out on the water, taking in the landscape from a different perspective and exploring nooks and crannies that would be otherwise inaccessible to us on foot. Maybe one day we’ll take the canoe on a longer journey - along a river or around the islands of Sweden or the fjords of Norway, but for now a paddle to distant shore of our nearest lake to find an isolated beach on which to cook breakfast will do just fine.

It was not the bright, sunny morning we had been promised but the wind was light - just a gentle ruffle on the water’s surface - with layers of low cloud swirling around the mountains, lifting now and then to reveal glimpses of gold on bracken covered slopes making for a dynamic scene as we left the shore.

On the opposite shore, we skirted the edge of the lake to find a good landing site with a little gravel beach and flat topped rocks for cooking on. The canoe allows us to pack much heavier than we would if we were hiking so we had a couple of gas stoves, pots and pans plus a cooler full of ingredients along for the journey; bacon, sausage and beans never tasted so good.

After breakfast and a brief exploration around our temporary camp, everything was loaded back into the canoe, taking great care to make sure no one would ever know we’d been there and we hit the water again for a slow circuit around the western side of the lake, marvelling at how different the steep sided peaks looked from our watery vantage point.

Being out on the water, seeing the landscape from a different angle reminds me that how we travel through life is mostly a matter of perspective. How we think about things, and how we perceive ourselves in relationship to everything else as we float through time and space is perhaps the most significant power we have in shaping our own lives.

Getting up early and making breakfast outside, whether by canoe, up a mountain, or by a river is wonderful way to start the day - a simple way to claim the day for yourself, to embrace a different perspective on how time should be structured.

Plus, breakfast always tastes better outdoors, so what are you waiting for?

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Well that’s all for this week. We hope your autumn is faring well so far - it has been very dull and gloomy here lately and we are longing for a few cold crisp days. We have lots of news to share but we’ll hold off until next week for that…

Until then, warmest wishes,

Andrew, Emma and Benji

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