Some people express surprise that one can cook and sleep in comfort aboard a 12 foot dinghy. What might they think of the redoubtable J MacGregor who accommodated himself on board his single-size canoe? MacGregor was the founder of modern canoeing and around 1855 designed the first 'Rob Roy', giving it his own boyhood nickname, to undertake some lengthy cruises. In the book of his cruises on the Jordan, the Red Sea, Nile, etc., he describes his vessel:-

The new canoe, named Rob Roy, like the other two... was specially built for this voyage (by Mr. Pembery, of London), and is probably the smallest vessel ever launched in which one can travel long and far, and sleep at the end in comfort. Moreover, she is strong and light, portable and safe, a good sailer, and graceful to behold.

The Rob Roy is 14 feet long, 26 inches wide, and one foot deep outside, built of oak below and covered with cedar. A waterproof apron protects me from waves and rain. Her topmast is the second joint of my fishing rod and a third joint is ready in the stern. Her sails are dyed deep blue, an excellent plan, for it tempers the glare of the sun, and is more readily concealed from the Arab's eye. The blue bladed paddle is the same that was wielded in Sweden over many a broad lake, and though an inch of its edge had been split off by an upset of the canoe from a runaway cart in a Norway forest, yet I loved my old paddle best of them all. To sleep in the canoe I always go ashore and work her back and forwards on the beach until the keel is firmly bedded for a good night's rest. Next we form a little cabin less than 3 feet high, and more than 6 feet long, and then having inside the gauze mosquito curtain, and over all a strong white waterproof sheet 6 feet square, and drooping loose upon each side, we are made up snug, and can defy all kinds of weather.

MacGregor was a confirmed single-hander, not only in his canoeing but also in off-shore sailing in his yawl. His approach to cruising was serious:

Long consideration, and a resolve to leave nothing haphazard, are the true secrets of ensuring success, and here comes in one of the great advantages of travelling alone - you have time and silence to consider maturely. You do not mar your plans by feeble compromises. You see, hear, and think a great deal more than if a "pleasant companion" is beside you all day, whose small talk (and your own) must be run dry in a month, and neither of you is free. In these solitary expeditions I have never a sensation of loneliness. Hard work, healthy exercise, plain food and plenty of it, early hours, reading at nights and working, moving, noting, drawing, observing, and considering all day, one's plans are quietly perfected, and there is no more of tedium or solitary dullness than is felt when you read or fish alone, or paint or write in a town - the place one can feel most lonely in, after all.

Yet, although he was always alone when afloat, he usually contrived, as a man of substantial means, to hire a larger, local vessel with a crew to carry the main gear of the expedition and to rendezvous with this each evening or after a few days. Then he would sleep in a bed in a tent set up by his servants. Even so, there could be a modicum of adventure, as on the Nile:-

As evening falls there are thick swarms of very large hornets hurrying to the water. It is wonderful how soon one gets used to these formidable-looking visitors, but when they are not teased, they appear not to do any mischief. In the dark a shot was heard, and a bullet came through my tent. From my bed I asked what was the meaning of this note of emphasis but the only answer was "somebody is firing at the wild boars". They would be as likely to find wild boars in Belgrave Square.