Man excited to ‘immerse himself’ in Scotland trek on homemade ‘bicycle canoe’

A man says he is excited to trek across Scotland in a homemade “bicycle canoe” contraption.

Ben Kilner has created a unique amphibious machine which can transform between a road-going bike and wooden boat.

Now, Ben wants to test his pedal-powered machine with a nine-day adventure across the width of Scotland.

Having already paddled down the River Thames on a homemade canoe, the adventurer said the idea for his new machine came about when he was left unable to walk for several days after a camping trip.

The 36-year-old, from Forest Row, near East Grinstead, said: “It was deeply upsetting and highlighted how much I rely on my mobility and how much we take it for granted.

Ben, 36, in his pedal-powered canoe (Image: SWNS)

“One of the great things about Scotland is that you’re actually allowed to wild camp, whereas in the rest of the UK you’re not, so I’ll be wild camping the whole way.

“I’m excited to see the grand magnitude of Loch Ness and the Great Glen and to immerse myself in that.”

Ben set off on his epic trek on Saturday and is expecting the journey to last nine days.

He plans to cross Scotland by boat in five days via the Caledonian Canal starting from Fort William, near Ben Nevis in the West of Scotland, and ending at Inverness in the East.

He will then switch the boat into bike mode, cycling back via the Great Glen Way in the space of four days.

Ben’s boat is homemade of steam-bent green oak and Douglas fir with a ballistic nylon skin stretched over it.

The materials used make the machine very lightweight, meaning it can still be effectively used on the road.

Ben on the water in his contraption (Image: SWNS)

Ben is also raising money for A Leg To Stand On, a charity providing prosthetic limbs to children in developing countries, and documenting his entire journey on his social media channels.

He said: “I have a combined following of over 700,000 people across my various accounts and the build process had about 50 million views so far.”

“I’ll be doing daily updates on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok as I’m going on the journey, and people can follow along.”