By Julian Jelfs November 24, 2003
As you may know, Mark and I have recently survived a trip to the Scottish highlands and I thought I’d write a little report of my take on the experience. The trip was arranged through kayakojacko which is a kayaking coaching company run by Andy “Jacko” Jackson.
We had decided to fly to Scotland as it appeared to be the cheapest was to get there. While it is possible to fly with kayaks, I had arranged for Jacko to drive my boat up and Mark’s Full Tilt was ominously deemed to be too small (a borrowed Perception Blaze saw him through the week). We were staying in a sort of chalet in Roy Bridge which is a few miles from Fort William in the Western Highlands and the setting was, needless to say, fairly breathtaking.
So we spent our first evening settling in to the accommodation, finding the local pub and getting to know our fellow paddlers for the week. There were six of us “clients” and two instructors; Jacko and Dennis (a Hull based kayakojacko representative), both of whom are highly trained and very experienced on the rivers we were to be paddling. Dennis was usually our guinea pig, reassuringly being launched down everything first. Finally the nervy subject of actually hitting the rivers had to be raised. The weather was mild, the water was pretty low and we were to start off with a gentle grade 3-4 eye opener in the form of the river Roy.
Getting up in the morning I couldn’t help but notice that my boat looked conspicuously smaller than the others and I began to get the feeling I might be spending a fair bit of time at a 45 degree angle (more of which later). This was a bit of a bump and a scrape in parts, particularly the lower section. One notable section, charmingly called the head slicer due to a nasty looking overhang waiting to trap the unwary, was considered by Mark and I to be a little rich for day one and duly portaged. The only other incident was when Mark’s body, not for the last time was possessed by the spirit of a keyed up freestyler as he took the aerial route over a tricky S bend. He would have got away with it if it weren’t for that massive rock. But then it wouldn’t have been an S bend if it weren’t for that massive rock. A confidence building roll later and we were back on course.
Day two and we paddled the Spean. This was another very enjoyable grade 4 but without the need to leave quite so much plastic behind as yesterday. Another portage here, this one called the headbanger. Can you see a pattern emerging? A number of features combined to make this too nasty to run. A very grippy looking hole at the top would have killed all your speed and set you up very badly for the main drop and put you right in line for a nasty undercut. One to avoid. Some pleasant bouncy drops put everyone in a good mood in time for the constriction which was a little drop with quite a retentive hole followed by a very tight line through a narrow gap to freedom. This caused a few problems, not least of which for me. Pick your line good and early and stick to it, was the advice. Make sure it’s not completely the wrong line should have gone without saying. Suffice to say that my helmet got its first workout and I learned that it doesn’t matter how good your roll is if there isn’t room to move your arms. All’s well that ends well and I emerged coughing and spluttering at the other end still in my boat.
This was a short run and we had time to do the Arkaig in the afternoon. This is a single rapid attraction but well worth it. I think Dennis’ rather more casual approach to picking a line caught us all out (something we were to get used to). Mark was directly behind Dennis as we dropped into a reasonably large sequence of falls. As he received a bit of a kicking I was forced to take evasive action not wishing to complicate matters for him by careering into the bottom of his upturned boat. Unfortunately this entailed sabotaging myself and called for a quick roll and a glancing blow to the head from the flying Swede behind me. It became clear that we were all too close together and a pile up ensued. It was good to learn this lesson on this boisterous but fairly safe rapid, but I think Mark will probably still be kicking himself for conceding what was with hindsight a fairly soft swim. Still, no harm done.
We had a lot of rain over night and as if by magic there was suddenly water streaming off the glens everywhere and we saw first hand how quickly the rivers can go up and down up here. As a result we had a chance to paddle the Gloy which is at its best in higher water. This is grade 3 and 4 river and doesn’t contain much that is really difficult in its own right but it is relentless and it is narrow. This makes it a really fun and adrenalin filled ride, but the ceaseless white water and lack of any sizeable eddies makes it a challenge and would also make a swim unpleasant and a rescue a bit complicated. For these reasons Mark gave this one a miss, not wanting to be the one to cause a problem. The white water skills we had been learning were put to good use here as it was essential to catch those eddies and to keep tight as a group without getting in each others way. In the end, we paddled the river without much incident until we reached a gorge section which became a little steeper though still nothing too ominous. The problem came in the shape of a tree across the river. This comes with the territory of running small rivers in highish water. After consideration of the consequences of getting it wrong the call was made that we had no choice but to climb out of the gorge, boats and all. There is no question that it would have been easier to paddle the remaining couple of hundred metres, but there is also no question that it was right not to take the chance. What followed was quite an epic piece of self rescue. To get six people and all of their equipment out of a hundred foot sheer gorge with not much to hang onto besides moss and mud was quite an undertaking and it was a testament to the composure and professionalism of our guides that it was all accomplished with little fuss and no real sense of danger. I don’t think any of us will forget the need for an ample supply of ropes and carabiners in a hurry.
The next day was a bit of a write off as we struggled to find water at the kind of level we were looking for. First we drove East planning to do the Findhorn but it was clearly too low to paddle so we back tracked across hoping to do the Garry which is a damn release river and as such is touch and go. This day was scheduled as a day off, but we were hoping to get something in as a consolation to those who had to wait while we frolicked about in that mud, moss and failing light the previous day. But it was not to be. Personally I wasn’t too sorry as I was accumulating blisters and small injuries at a greater rate than I could get rid of them.
The rain came down again and we were due to tackle the middle section of the Etive next. This is a classic and one of the most popular rivers in Scotland, but not for the faint hearted. Now Glen Etive is a pretty spectacular place. I can’t think of a better definition of bleak than Glen Etive. It feels a couple of degrees colder because of the freezing granite everywhere and getting changed in the horizontal rain that day was very far from pleasant. Another thing that was very far from pleasant was the first rapid. Called the triple falls, the clue is in the name. The river was a little higher than we would have liked and with the rain falling it was rising rapidly. So who wants to go first? I’ll go, came a tremulous voice. No one was more surprised than me to learn that this voice was my own. I reasoned that as the river was rising at an alarming rate of knots, it was better to get it over with. This was the scariest thing for me and I was having to do some serious positive thinking in the top eddy. The first fall went OK. Bounced off the cushion nicely, feeling good. Then I’m upside down. I don’t know how this happened but I swiftly rectified it only to find myself pointing the wrong way (or rather, one of many wrong ways). There was no option but to take the second fall backwards, which all things considered could have been worse – at least it wasn’t sideways as there was a ferocious looking stopper at the bottom. Having cleared this I was feeling pretty nonchalant about the final fall and in fact got exactly the right line and was able to leap off the lip like a salmon (going to wrong way). The rivers guide describes this as a four metre plunge that really clears the sinuses. I concur.
The majority of the group chose to skip the first two falls which had not been comfortably dealt with by any one. With the river rising a good six inches (honestly) while we were preparing the rescue cover and getting the first couple of people down, I think this was a wise decision. By this stage the third fall was dishing out regular beatings too. Almost everyone (including Jacko) went too far right and got trashed in the stopper at the bottom. I hope there is a photo of Mark’s face as he rounded the corner above the fall, because he seemed to know exactly what was coming, namely a real working over at the bottom. He coped with it though and was eventually spat out coughing and wheezing and yearning for a cigarette.
Perhaps the most spectacular move was made by Miles (one of our group) who simply vanished at the bottom and remained fully submerged for nearly four seconds (according to the video footage) before popping up upside down yards away from the carnage. He so nearly got away with it as well, but was ultimately sucked back in and beaten out of his boat.
After inspecting a couple of upcoming drops I think we were all quite relieved when Dennis and Jacko agreed that this was too high and we should abandon the run and go and do something a bit less hair raising. It was great to get a taste of this river, and I think we both feel the need to go back and finish it, but at that level we were more than happy to call it a day.
We went on to do some pleasant messing about on a section of the Orchy (I think). This was an uneventful but fun wind down after the morning’s tension.
For the final days paddling we did the Pattack. This is a really beautiful river which runs through the estate where Monarch of the Glen is filmed. We put in below the Falls of Pattack. Why anyone in their right minds would put in above it is beyond me. A real back breaker, and mercifully not representative of the rest of the river. This was a really good grade 3 and 4 river with some good challenging rapids and a few larger drops. All the drops were really isolated set pieces and as such not very technical. This made it great fun (apart from Miles who managed to split the nose of his boat pretty terminally on one of those drops – think twice before you buy Riot!). I found my boat a bit squirrelly on this river and got flipped over backwards a few times – no real problems though. Mark was once again invaded by the freestyle spirit in what must be one of the moves of the week. Was it intentional? you can judge for yourself when we get the video clip. He nudged a rock on the lip of a nice little rapid and was spun round and forced to drop into a tight little slot backwards. This was an awkward situation given what was coming up next, so naturally Mark thinks to himself – if I can just dip my stern, pirouette on the tail and hold it all together while the water boils around my ears, I just might be OK. It’s possible that his thought process may have been somewhat less coherent, who can say? Anyway, the end result will soon be available on video.
The last afternoon was spent on another quick blast down the Arkaig. I sat this one out nursing totally numb feet and throbbing arms, but I understand it was a great run at a much higher water level than the first time.
All in all it was a great week. A lot of this stuff sounds pretty hairy, and a lot of it was, but we never felt in any danger and we were not exposed to any risks that we didn’t take on ourselves willingly. I think one of the key educational objectives of the trip was to teach people how to run this kind of water safely and responsibly. We both learned an awful lot about how to read the water, how to communicate and stay aware on the water and what sort of questions you need to ask yourself and others every time you decide to take something on. It isn’t safe to do these sorts of rivers without the right guidance and the right training and I think that this was a great way to get the experience without putting ourselves in danger.
If anyone wants to know more about our adventures or to get details of the arrangements we made to make it happen then Mark and I will both be going on and on about it for the next six months so you needn’t worry. Also we will be getting hold of some pictures and video clips that we can make available so you can see if I’m exaggerating or not.