A full release on the River Gary by Steve Hitchin
On a beautiful sunny morning, 10 paddlers set off from our base at Kinlochleven and headed over to Invergarry, to the river Garry.
It had been described to me as being like the river Tryweryn in Wales.
It’s a dam release and has water and rocks in it. That’s where the similarity ends in the main part.
We ran it as a group of 1o paddlers. One after another through rapids with single of multiple drops. Not knowing what to expect at times, this paddler found this very exciting. A few swimmers along the way were no problem for the well-oiled LLC members collecting paddles, boats and people.
The sun was shining brightly, we could almost have been on a French River in the southern Alps in July it was that nice. Like the Tryweryn the Garry has an upper section and a Lower section. With the upper finished we started the lower. The 1st Feature was a 3 drop rapid with a good line river right. Some opted for the centre of left and swam.
The rest of the lower was smaller rapids and features. All great fun, with waves to play in and conversation to be had with fellow paddlers. But Garry had one more feature left. A small rapid at the end with a wicked eddy on the river right splitting the river in two. This paddler went down last and was greeted by 2 upside-down boats and 2 stranded paddlers. With no option but collision he swam, however another speedy LCC rescue, despite, one swimmer having a second dip in the same feature, got everyone out and lunch was taken back at the top of the river.
The River Garry is the best river I have paddled in the UK. If you’ve not been up to Scotland with LCC, you are missing some amazing scenery, great rivers and a brilliant weekend..
