STREAM Gorge (Spean Gorge) by Sarah Gille
With bellies full of morning chocolate from the Easter bunny delivery, we arrived at a very, very, very low Spean Gorge, for what only can be described as a team-building exercise.
Of the floating boat to scraping and climbing ratio we were probably hitting 60% in favour of the latter.
We set off with a bump and a scrape and even a drag by some, across shallow gravel beds.
Occasionally we did come across a deeper area for a confidence-building roll or two.
We arrived at fairy steps, where Southampton University looked on as we negotiated the rocky feature MOSTLY successfully.
The rest of the river became more gorge-like and due to very low water levels meant some areas were impassable. In all, we had 4 portages around boulder chokes or trees. This meant climbing, pulling, pushing, dragging, dropping and jumping in to get around the obstacles. Although exhausting and bruise-inducing, we all worked well as a team and kept in high spirits.
Definitely a grade-5 portage.
As we ended the river, light rain began to fall ahead of the heavy forecast rain.
Just in time for the trip home.
