OUT AND ABOUT WITH RALPH: Secret channel is one of Caithness's hidden gems

When the sea seems a bit daunting, there are always the lochs. Of course lochs can be rough, with short-wavelength choppy waves, but you’re never far from the shore and there are no tides to worry about.

My favourite locally is Loch More, easily accessible but with a remote, moorland feel to it. And, when the loch is high, there’s a hidden route which is straight out of some children’s story up to the next loch, Loch Gaineimh.

The wind had dropped to a brief calm interlude, the sea would be rough with big swells but Loch More was mirror-calm first thing in the morning. I rarely paddle in such quiet conditions, the moorland hills and the mountains were perfectly reflected in the water, each paddle stroke leaving a ring of ripples.

I used to be able to stop and hear nothing but perfect silence on such a windless day but in recent years the peace has been interrupted by the regular clicking of my mechanical heart valves!

I crossed the water from the salmon bothy to the inlet where the Sleach Water enters, then under the bridge on the Dalnagleton road. Every year swallows nest under the road on rusty girders just a few feet above the water with, no doubt, a plentiful supply of insects to immediate hand. The birds had flown, though some tardy parents elsewhere in the county were still feeding young in the nest at the end of September.

You can paddle more than a mile up the Sleach if the the loch is high, the first stretch is wide, open water then narrowing to a meandering channel before the slow-moving black water becomes a faster-flowing burn.#

Maybe if you’re allowed to take a kayak on the train you could paddle all the way down from Altnabreac (and even carry on along the main river back to Thurso!) The water level had recently risen, leaving ragwort flowers marooned, just sticking out like a water plant.

It’s easy to miss the spot where the Uidh Ruadh enters the main channel, it looks nothing but a reedy inlet but turn in and find, to your surprise, a narrow, navigable channel. This is the place to practise all your ruddering strokes as the channel twists and turns through countless hairpin bends and tight corners – you will be paddling north, south, east, west and all directions in between at some time or other.

Miraculously, another stretch of channel always opens out round the next corner. To the east are trees at the edge of one of the Flow Country plantations, always you are close to the rushes, reeds, grasses and heather on both sides, likely you’ll come across a family or two of ducks. Keep your eye out, there are rarities you might well spot along here.

Loch Gaineimh is not especially remote, the Altnabreac road is close to the northern shore, but it always feels like you’ve discovered an unknown stretch of water when the channel widens and you suddenly see an expansive loch ahead. It was high after rain, and I could simply paddle straight out into what seemed a huge open space after the confines of the narrow channel.

To paddle alone round this quiet loch, reached by such a secret route, is one of the great experiences of the county. As the name suggests, there are several nice gravelly beaches on which to land. Also worth a visit is an old fishing hut, slowly disintegrating back into the moor, near the southern end. Large trout plopped, one leaping out of the water.

The route back seems to have vanished when seen from the loch, but if you diligently follow the shore you will find the exit and can paddle back the way you came, now helped along by a gentle current.

After a grey morning the sun had come out and, back at Loch More, I couldn’t resist paddling down to near the southern end of the loch. You don’t need to do big, adventurous things in a kayak, you get most of the enjoyment from just being out on the water on a nice day. And anyone can learn to do this in safety.

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