(m) Other pleasant voyages may be suggested for the holiday of the canoist. One of these might begin with the Thames, and then down the Severn, along the north coast of Devon, and so by the river Dart to Plymouth. Another on the Solent, and round the Isle of Wight. The Dee might be descended by the canoe, and then to the left through the Menai Straits. Or a longer trip may be made through the Cumberland lakes by Windermere and the Derwent, or from Edinburgh by the Forth, into the Clyde, and through the Kyles of Bute to Oban; then along the Caledonian Canal, until the voyager can get into the Tay for a swift run eastward.
But why not begin at Gothenburg and pass through the pretty lakes of Sweden to Stockholm, and then skirt the lovely archipelago of green isles in the Gulf of Bothnia, until you get to Petersburg?
For one or other of such tours a fishing-rod and an air rifle, and for all of them a little dog, would be a great addition to the outfit.
In some breezy lake of these perhaps, or on some rushing river, the little Rob Roy may hope to meet the reader's canoe; and when the sun is setting, and the wavelets ripple sleepily, the pleasures of the paddle will be known far better than they have been told by the pen.
C. A. Macintosh, Printer, Great New-street, London.
FOOTNOTES:
[I.] See [Appendix]. Special hints for those who intend to "canoe it" will usually be given in the footnotes, or in the [Appendix].
[II.] At Ostend I found an English gentleman preparing for a voyage on the Danube, for which he was to build a "centre board" boat. Although no doubt a sailing boat could reach the Danube by the Bamberg canal, yet, after four tours on that river from its source as far as Pest, I am convinced that to trust to sailing upon it would entail much tedious delay, useless trouble, and constant anxiety. If the wind is ahead you have all the labour of tacking, and are frequently in slack water near the banks, and often in channels where the only course would be dead to windward. If the wind is aft the danger of "running" is extreme where you have to "broach to" and stop suddenly near a shallow or a barrier. With a strong side wind, indeed, you can sail safely, but this must come from north or south, and the high banks vastly reduce its effect.