The Royal Dee: Four Days into the Wild

Day by day

1. Day 1Aboyne to the upper Dee, and our first wild camp08:30 meet · Minibus transfer · Wild camp 1

   We meet in Aboyne at 08:30. This is where you leave your car, because in four days' time the river will bring you back to it. Once the team has met and personal kit is sorted, we board the Alexander Adventures minibus and head upstream towards Braemar, to our launch point on the upper River Dee. The exact launch spot is confirmed on the day according to river conditions.

   At the river the canoes are unloaded and packed with everything we need for the next four days: tents, food, cooking kit, group shelters, safety equipment and dry bags. Joe and the assistant expedition leader take everyone through the equipment, how we travel together on the water and the basics of handling a loaded open canoe. Then we push away from the bank. The first hours are about settling into the rhythm of the river: how a heavy boat responds, reading the water, finding a way of working with your paddling partner, and looking up at the woodland, open hill and mountains around us.

   Lunch is hot soup, fresh rolls, cheese and ham on the bank with plenty of tea and coffee, then we carry on downstream. As the light starts to go in the mid afternoon we find a spot for the first camp. Canoes out, tents up, dry clothes on, and dinner on the go: chicken curry with rice and naan, then cake and hot custard. A small fire if conditions allow, perhaps a dram, certainly some stories, and the first night beside the Dee.

2. Day 2Balmoral, ancient Scots pine and Highland white waterFull river day · White water · Balmoral

   There is something special about waking up in the Highlands, especially when breakfast is already cooking. It is a proper one: bacon, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, fresh bread and freshly brewed coffee. Then camp comes down, the canoes are loaded, and we carry on downstream.

   Today runs through some of the finest scenery on the Dee: ancient Scots pine, open Highland country, wooded banks and, with luck, snow on the hills. The river mixes moving water with proper white water, wave trains, eddies, rocky sections and rapids that make you sit up and paddle. Joe and the team coach throughout, building confidence in manoeuvring a loaded canoe and in working with the river rather than fighting it.

   One of the highlights of the whole journey is paddling down beside the Balmoral Estate, the King's Scottish home. From the water, with no road and no crowds, it is a completely different place. Lunch is somewhere beautiful on the bank, and by late afternoon we are looking for camp two. Dinner is slow-cooked venison stew with potatoes and fresh bread, followed by hot fruit crumble and custard. With clear skies, a Highland river on a cold winter night is a very good place to look at stars.

3. Day 3Ballater, more white water and the final wild campBallater · Moving water · Final camp

   By the third morning something has changed. Everyone knows the routine: how to pack the canoes, how to set up and strike camp, where the warm hat lives. A group that may have arrived as strangers is becoming a proper little expedition team. Another full cooked breakfast and fresh coffee, then camp comes down and we head on downstream.

   The river runs through the heart of Royal Deeside towards Ballater, with stretches of peaceful water, more rapids and plenty of chances to put the skills of the last two days to use. We aim to stop in Ballater, one of the most attractive villages on Deeside, to stretch our legs, wander, take photographs and perhaps find a coffee, before climbing back into the canoes. Within minutes of pushing off we are back among the trees and the hills.

   As the afternoon closes in we set up the third and final camp. It is the last evening together: another substantial expedition dinner with a hot dessert, the fire if conditions allow, and a chance to look back on three days of paddling, camping and eating well beside one of Scotland's great rivers.

4. Day 4One last rapid and the journey homeShorter day · Lunchtime finish

   The last morning begins beside the river with fresh coffee, a proper cooked breakfast and one more chance to wake up in the Scottish Highlands. Tents are packed and the canoes loaded for the final time, and everybody is noticeably quicker at both than they were on the first day.

   Today's paddle is deliberately shorter, so the last sections can be enjoyed rather than rushed. More fine scenery, more moving water and, conditions permitting, some enjoyable white water to finish on. After three days together, everyone handles their canoe with a confidence they did not have on Friday morning.

   We aim to land in Aboyne around lunchtime, unload the canoes, change into dry clothes and share a final riverside lunch, with the cars waiting nearby. Four days earlier we stood here as a group of strangers. Since then we have travelled from the upper Dee near Braemar through Royal Deeside, past Balmoral and Ballater, camped three nights beside the river and eaten very well. Please give yourself some room on onward plans: river timings depend on conditions.