Lower Roy, Middle Spean and Spean Gorge



There was a lot of rain last night which meant most of the rivers were up all over West of Scotland. Sam, Allen and I started at the Lower Roy which is great fun in big water. We continued onto the Middle Spean and Spean Gorge which was at a brilliant level (it was sitting at 3 on the gauge) and good fun.

Inspecting and running Constriction.

Garry Again

It was just Ron Cameron and me on the Garry this evening, literally. It was much more relaxing compared to the Morriston on Tuesday. However I am having much more fun now that I have a proper play boat.
Unfortunately Ron was still putting me to shame but he has 40 years on me!

Ron Cameron

Morriston

Well I have been working my way up to running this river for sometime and I paddled it rather successfully today. That is after the first attempt didn't go quite to plan. However I am really excited to go back and have another go because I am still buzzing from the first attempt.

There is a video of the Morriston on the Videos page.

Up and Down

Craig and I headed up to the ben to have a look at Carn Dearg Buttress which was dry the a couple of days ago. However after cycling up to the top car park and then some we were sure the cloud wasn't going to disappear so we headed back down the trails towards Glen Nevis.
We headed up to Styx Buttress and Craig climbed Damnation (VS 4c**) and had a look at Kraut (E1 5b*).
The crags were pretty busy pre-midge climbing best kind of climbing there is.

Craig on Damnation

Dave and Lawrence on SW Buttress

Back To the Garry

I was out with Nevis Canoe Club on the Garry with my new (to me) boat, the Dagger Kingpin. It was great to be out on the water again and the river was nice and warm but I am already starting to dread the idea of midgies.

Craig on one of the last rapids

Making Use of the Rain

It's pretty wet in the Fort at the moment, but luckily I was paddling with Nevis Canoe Club today so the rain wasn't a problem for us. I was leading some of the clubs beginners down their very first river which was great fun.
We stuck to the basics and made our way up the canal and then came back down the River Lochy.

The group heading down the river

Chilled Upper Roy

We headed back to the Upper Roy because we didn't have loads of time to get out but we knew we were going to be paddling a different river from two days ago.

Bridget and I had a much more relaxed time on the river even getting the chance to make eddies and have a conversation instead of a passing word.

Spean Gorge

It didn't rain too much overnight but we hoped that there would still be enough water in the rivers to play on. There was enough but he Spean didn't have as much as we expected sitting just under '2' on the gauge.

Still made for a good run but it is surprising how fast the rivers go up and down around here.

Upper Roy in Record Time

With more rain falling overnight there was still plenty of water to play on. So Bridget and I headed up to the Upper Roy this time. The river was absolutely huge, the grade 4 rapid 'rooster tail' was now a grade 2 and looking the easiest part of the river instead of the hardest part.

Once we were on the river it was a case of being pushed down and only having a little say in where you wanted to go. It took us around five minutes to get down because everything was moving so fast.

Great fun! Unfortunately no photo's camera isn't too happy at the moment!

Flash Flood

An overnight spillage of rain meant the rivers were almost overflowing. Henry and I headed over to the Lower Roy, we knew we were going to have a good run because we could hear the river roaring from the car park. With this much water the Roy is easily one of my favourite rivers to run.
However, we didn't stop at the bottom of the Roy, we kept on going into the Spean and found that almost flat until the Railway Bridge Falls which was flowing bigger than I have ever seen it before.
I hope this is the beginning of the paddling season.

Nae Winter

With the lack of winter around the fort I went to kill some time on the Arkaig with Briget. It was at nice level between medium and high and was good fun. Still wanting winter to come along though.

Etive and Allt a' Chaoruinn

While everywhere was showing as a scrape on the water gauges at the moment. Alan and I headed down to meet other paddlers and hit the Etive. It was at a medium flow which meant it was quite trip down.
We took the boats up and hit Allt a' Chaoruinn which is always a laugh. It been a while since I have been on the rivers so it was good to jog the memory.

Plenty of snow and people

With all that snow the river was a bit chilly





Alan on Rock Slide

Bump and Scrape

After looking at the water gauges we thought that Nevis would have enough water. It wasn't as high as we had hoped but we still had a blast on it. We portaged Scimitar Gorge and got back in after the supply bridge. The river was quite technical and hard to spot a line most of the time but good fun.
As there is more and more snow on the hills I think the paddle will have to get put away for a while.



Plenty of snow on the hills

Dead Sheep Falls

Fresh Snow

That will be why the rivers are a tad chilly. I was out with Nevis Canoe Club, the orginal plan was to go to the Orchy, but with so much water around we decided to stay local and head to the Roy. We weren't the only ones to think the Roy would be a good idea, when we arrived we met Edinburgh Kayak Club.

Plenty of Safety

Keith B

Almost

 

Moderate Water Assessment

Today we started at JJ's Cafe (opposite farmfoods) with coffee and bacon rolls alround. All the rivers had emptied over the weekend so Claire chose the Arkaig for Tom and I to do our assessment on.
Roger, Paul and Lewis were our guinea pigs to guide and coach down the river. We were lucky because they turned out to be very capable and rose to every little challenge we set.

Paul trying some surf

After swimming in the main event (Grade 4) and running the rest of the river, I was awarded with my Moderate Water Endorsement.

Back on the Spean

With even more water falling through last night we had to change plans from the Lower Roy back to the Middle Spean. Which was fine because it was like paddling on a different river compared to yesterday. There was plenty of us on the river, from West Highland College. Although I was just working with Keith and Dan going over three star skills.

Middle Spean

On the river again today, this time it was the middle Spean we were on, with students from the West Highland College.
There was plenty of us on the river which was pretty high. We focused on the foundation paddle skills while running the river and did a lot of peer coaching. Just before the day finished this section of the river gives one last piece of excitement which was a good way to end the day.

Mike Martin 

Ben Thomas

Swimming

I was out with some of the West Highland College students and Jim Gibson. We went to the end of the Nevis to practice using throw bags and went over some rescues.

Recuing a pinned paddler

Ben going for a swim

The Nevis empties quick and I didn't want to miss out on the oppotortunity to this when it is nice and high so Dan and I came back and ran it before it got dark.

It went rather well



Nae Water

Keith and I decided to head out and find some water but unfortunenatly there wasn't much to be had. We tried the Roy first but had to head to the Spean which was also low but we managed to find our way down.

Tay Descent 2012

I went to help out at the Tay Descent again this year. As usual lots of wonderful sights, memories and the chance to meet up with some old friends. While enjoying the cold water.

Checkou the link http://www.canoescotland.org/NewsEvents/TayDescent.aspx