Friday 25 June 2010

BYOB Boating Holidays, Loch Earn, Lochearnhead, Scotland



BYOB seems obvious on a self catering cottage holiday in Scotland. At Little Briar cottage on Loch Earn it also means "Bring Your Own Boat"!   Recent guests arrived with an impressive inflatable kayak in a bag including a battery charged outboard motor. Even the dog was a well trained sailor sporting its life jacket with pride. Previous guests have brought motorboats and fishing boats on trailers which have been launched from our slipway into Loch Earn and there are a few more booked in for the summer. The advantage of 3 acre ornamental grounds is that there is always plenty of room for parking cars and boat trailers. There are 3 mooring buoys at the front of the 250ft loch garden for those who want to launch and leave the boat for a week and a lockable alarmed garage for those with precious portable products. There is a code of conduct on Loch Earn which is common sense stuff like respecting other loch front properties, having your boat insured to be on the loch, taking your litter home and so on. Loch Earn attracts fishing boats, sailing boats and regatta's, canoe's, kayaks, motor boats and the odd Jet Ski at weekends. The hydrofoil air chairs are impressive to watch too. The person who gets my top vote though is a man who brings a wakeboard with an outboard motor attached. It reminds me of the "Back to the Future" hover board if you have seen the film. The Active Scotland water sports and activities centre is only 150 metres from our gates, within the Clachan Cottage Hotel building - for those who prefer to do waterskiing and wakeboarding with professionals. Drummond Fishing Boat Hire is 2 miles along Loch Earn towards St Fillans where you can hire a fishing boat with an outboard along with fishing equipment, permits and bait. There are additional moorings at the Lochearnhead Cafe for anyone who is tempted to keep their boat here for the summer season. There is nothing quite like messing about on the water here whether fishing, skiing or exploring around the little islands (Crannogs), the north side of the loch or the Eastern end 6.5 miles away at St Fillans.  It is equally pleasurable to "splice the mainbrace" in Briar Cottages loch side garden while watching the boating activities along with sea plane take off and landings and of course the impressive pairs of Ospreys that dive for trout all summer long.  NB: Week of 3rd July still available.