The 2011 Summer paddle tour brought together Simon Frost, Kevin Dudley and Gordon Barker for an enjoyable three days of paddling on 5 different river sections.
For a first morning warm up we paddled the Middle Spean grade 2(3).
Above Simon tries the main drop and Gordon below enjoys a more successful outcome.
Afternoon of day one was a descent of Spean Gorge at a nice flow. Grade 3 (4-/5)
Kevin showing his prowess in the Topolino, increasingly rare these days!
On day two we went to the Tummel 3/4 and then in the afternoon ran the Garry gorge through
Killiecrankie and Soldier's Leap, a grade 2/3(5P).
The Tummel is a small release from the Clunie dam, down to Linn of Tummel.
The Tummel sports a number of interesting chutes and drops.
This fast chute towards a picket fence of sharp rocks caught Simon out a wee bit.
He did well, and extricated himself to the river bank.
Final event of the Tummel run is Linn of Tummel a tricky double drop. Here one of the commercial rafts takes a run down.
The Garry was high when we got there with floodwater from the Tilt and made for a challenging run with two portages for the team. Dog Leg falls was probably a 5. Chris ran and got pretty well thumped before rolling up downstream.
The final day was spent on the River Awe where a fun time was had polishing skills and surfing before meeting a cousin of Nessie near the takeout!!
Ran a BCU AWWSR course at North Esk over weekend. First day the river rose 4 feet in just a few hours, making "scenarios" difficult to pose and somewhat exciting. By Sunday morning the river had returned to more normal levels and a fine trip illustrating safe paddling was had.
Daryn runs first on the fall near end of the first gorge.
Mike on the same fall.
Harry enjoying his time as a resuer!!
Daryn exiting the narrows after the triple step rapid.
Eddie heads towards another narrows watched by Harry.
