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Explorer to paddle across Scotland in collapsible canoe

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An intrepid Scottish explorer and his teenage son will be setting off from Fort William to paddle a collapsible canoe across Scotland later this month.

Craig Mathieson, 45, and 15-year-old Jake will be making the 70-mile journey to Inverness in a canoe that can be folded up into a backpack.

They are expecting it to take them five days of paddling in the 16ft 6in long, PVC canoe for up to eight hours a day while they negotiate the Caledonian Canal and Loch Ness.

The pair, from Bo’ness in West Lothian, who are due to leave Fort William on Saturday June 28, are also planning to camp along the route.

And they are expecting the portable, collapsible Ally canoe, made by Bergan’s of Norway, to attract a lot of attention as it is rarely seen in Scottish waters.

Mr Mathieson, who is the first Explorer in Residence of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 129 years, is using the trip to expose his son to the joy and demands of expeditions.

It will also form part of his own rigorous training as he prepares to lead 10 school pupils from North Lanarkshire on a 10-day ‘Polar Academy’ expedition in Arctic Greenland next spring.

He said: “The water-borne expedition in the Ally canoe across Scotland with Jake is an opportunity for us to share the excitement and challenge of a family expedition and to give my own son further exposure to the mental and physical demands of undertaking an unsupported expedition.

“We can’t wait to get going.”

Mr Mathieson, who is a former military man, has successfully led various expeditions to both the South and North Pole.

He established a registered charity, called the Polar Academy, last year to help inspire Scotland’s youth through exploration.

The spring expedition, which will also involve experts from sportscotland Glenmore Lodge near Aviemore, will demand that each pupil hauls their own 88lb sledge through the unforgiving Arctic wilderness.

Mr Mathieson said: “The Polar Academy is all about giving Scotland’s ‘invisible’ school pupils, those who otherwise just drift aimlessly through their school days, a way to discover the confidence and self-belief to fulfil their true potential both within and beyond the school gates.”