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The Canoe Boys

The Canoe Boys

 eBook, Published by Faber Factory   (14 September 2011)

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Book description

It's too late in the year!' they were advised, but they still did it. By canoe from Bowling to Kyle of Lochalsh with numerous stops along the way, Alastair Dunnett and Seamas Adam spent a heady Autumn in the 1934 meandering up the glorious West Coast of Scotland. On their way they sent reports back to the Daily Record informing the readers of their progress and the people they met along the way. Their account makes fascinating reading as they were hailed by onlookers and bystanders wherever they went as 'The Canoe Boys'. Escapades as varied as running the infamous tide-rush of the Dorus Mhor to a balmy harvest working on Calve Island off Mull, quenching their thirst with a mug of drammach (oats and water) are related in superb, lyrical style by Dunnett. This is an adventure story of youthful exuberance and of how life once was lived before the war changed everything for ever. Fully illustrated with archival material and contemporary press cuttings, this cult travelogue will find a new market among the growing number of adventure kayakers taking to Scotland's coastal waters.
Alastair Dunnett was one of the foremost Scots of the 20th century and was a key public figure in the Scottish Office after WWII. He married novelist Dorothy Dunnett in 1946 and later edited The Daily Record and The Scotsman before being instrumental in the evolution of the oil industry in the North Sea in the 1970s. He died, aged 89, in 1998. Ninian Dunnett is Alastair Dunnett's second son. He is a writer and film-maker and was the scriptwriter for the popular film Restless Natives in 1985.