Lochs & Beyond

[Donuts]

Evening all,

Great forum & have gathered a lot of information from browsing around. Have an F-Rb 360 & Mariner 20hp & a share of an e-Propulsion 3 HP for pottering around.

Heading to Loch Lomond and then maybe Loch Fyne for a bit of a shake down & to get used to the boat after using it a bit on rivers around York. Aim is to be able to build skills and then take on a bit of coastal stuff and do a bit of fishing.

Looks like as a first timer to Loch Lomond and as staying down the road a bit that the best bet is to register for Loch Lomond and then use the Duncan whatsit slipway first time out. Boat, engine & stuff in car/box trailer so can get to a few different places to launch.

Hope to see a few people out there and learn a bit and share a bit.

Cheers

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Donuts

Heading to Loch Lomond and then maybe Loch Fyne for a bit of a shake down & to get used to the boat after using it a bit on rivers around York. Aim is to be able to build skills and then take on a bit of coastal stuff and do a bit of fishing.

just to be 100% clear - you do realise Loch Fyne is coastal?

Looks like as a first timer to Loch Lomond and as staying down the road a bit that the best bet is to register for Loch Lomond and then use the Duncan whatsit slipway first time out. Boat, engine & stuff in car/box trailer so can get to a few different places to launch.

Your ONLY option as a member of the public coming from the south is Duncan Mills slipway. At the very north there is Ardlui marina. Any other slipways are (AFAIK) private for use only be caravan residents etc.

Couple of things to beware of:
1. Loch Lomond is really busy (at least by Scottish standards) - its particularly busy with people who don't really know what they are doing but think its a loch so its ok to get on a paddleboard and make it up as they go.
2. Its not cheap to launch on Loch Lomond
3. The Loch itself is bloody cold
4. There are speed restrictions on the loch (mostly well-intentioned and with good reason - see point 1) but because you can only launch in one sensible place now you spend the first 15-20 minutes plodding up the loch, and then when you reach the less restricted bit its busy with people driving fast.
5. The wind funnels down the valley. It whips up quite a chop. I've been on the loch on days where we decided to turn round and go home because of the waves and friends on the clyde were happily water skiing.

I would question if it is worth driving all the way from Yorkshire to Loch Lomond - or if you could divert to somewhere like Largs and launch for free on the public slipway. If you don't think you are ready for the sea - do a course.

[beamishken]

Loch lomond was spoiled when it got national park status for all the reasons listed above. If you want less restrictions & crowds drive a little further to loch tay its worth the extra few miles. Or head straight for loch long & loch goil or loch fyne both are salty but not realy coastal in the true sense as they are so sheltered. They can get rough but so can lomond & tay. You can do many miles before either open up to the sea & even then your down to past the cumbraes & Arran before it opens up properly.

Sent from my SM-G950F using RIB Net mobile app

[Chris Caton]

you will definitely need to register to use loch lomond, but its not too expensive and you can do it before you get there
if you do a bit of research there are a few locations next to the loch where you can park up and launch from, especially with a F-rib

[Donuts]

Good advice on Loch Lomond & surroundings & helpful in getting organised for a first trip in that direction.

Registering for access to Loch Lomond was cheap and no hassle, take some paracord to tie the number plates on with or you could end up using your shoelaces...

Milarochy Bay above Balmaha was a good spot to beach launch, free car park, easy access to beach edge to inflate and not too busy. I imagine weekends it would be too busy if good weather.

Had a good few runs, explored a few of the islands, got in a picnic and watched the wildlife & time for a coffee and a bun in Balmaha.

Scoped out Loch Fyne, on the list for next time.

[Chris Caton]

the camp site at Milarrochy bay is nice and has their own access to the Loch, we used to stay there many moons ago👍
Loch Lomond holiday park is nice too, they have touring pitches or you can hire lodges/statics and they also have their own access to the Loch👍😎

https://argyllholidays.com/stay-icon...caApZUEALw_wcB

[Fenlander]

Glad you had a good time out Donuts. One man's busy/uninteresting/expensive can be another man's idyll.