Scotland Easter Holiday at Blackwater Hostel by John Cook (The white-water bit)
It’s been a long time since we were last in Scotland over Easter, after a two-year break and securing the hostel again with new owners it was good to finally be back at the Blackwater Hostel.
People arrived from late afternoon until quite late for those who had travelled up from work, most people ate in the hostel and just chilled and planned for the next day’s paddling.
There were plenty of first-timers, especially on the sea kayaking side and the white-water group was a good mix of different level paddlers.
This write-up is focused on the white-water group and I’m sure there will be daily reports and photographs posted on the website from the sea kayaking group.
After much discussion about river levels and the suitability of rivers, it was decided that on Friday we would head over to the River Spean and run the gorge section, a really scenic section with great geology and some good paddling to boot.
With 17 paddlers on the trip, we split into three groups and headed off down the river. Once in the gorge, there is plenty to keep you on your toes and a couple of features that are either not worth the risk at certain levels or access is not available, so a couple of portages become necessary.
Halfway down the river, we came across a lamb bleating on the bank on a ledge that it had obviously fallen on to with its mother above. Graham, aka not so little Bo-peep was soon on his way up the bank and saved the day by returning the lamb to safety.
After a couple of hours and some great paddling with fantastic scenery, we all emerged out the other end. There had been a few times when people got wet ears but nothing of note and everyone enjoyed the trip.
Day two and we headed over to the River Garry, a dam release river with two sections, a harder but shorter first section and then a longer but easier lower section. We kept the same groups as the day before and after a shuttle from the main car park we all got on the river by the dam.
This is a grade 4 section with some intimidating-looking water, we had a couple of swimmers but again nothing that the groups couldn’t sort out. After a brief stop down by the bridge that signals the end of the upper section, we were off again down the lower. This section has some lovely features including a double drop which are really pretty to look at when you view them from downstream looking back.
The final bend before the get-out has a reputation for claiming the unwary paddler but on this trip, everyone made it safely around the corner.
We all met back up in the main car park for lunch and a break before some went off to run the upper section again, some went off to run the slides on the Alt Chorrain and some just called it a day.
Back at the hostel and the people who ran the upper section again all managed a clean run so all was good there. The group that ran the slides were buzzing, to say the least with one saying the best days paddling he’s ever had!
Sunday saw the group head over to the river Etive which was on a low level, some opted to get changed and get on and run the triple step section a few times. It was here that Harry pulled off what will probably be the roll of the year, after coming over the first drop he capsized and drifted towards the second drop, with literally a second to go before tumbling over the second drop he rolled up and landed the right way up to the cheers of the onlookers.
After a few runs of this section, the group split and some went off to do the awesome river Awe and some went off to the slides on the Alt Chorrain.
https://www.facebook.com/100000131192514/videos/519710589791611
Monday saw a lot of people heading off home early to avoid the bank holiday traffic but we called at the river Orchy hoping to paddle a section or two but the river was just too low to make it worthwhile.
I think it’s fair to say everyone enjoyed the weekend and it was great to be back after an enforced break, thank you to everyone that came and made it a good weekend.
Easter 2023 is a long way off but hopefully; we will return for another LCC Scotland Easter weekend.
