CARNAGE ON THE LEVEN

Last weekend saw a huge crowd of us hunting for water up the west coast of Scotland, surprising given all the rain. We ended up at the Leven, which was running at a medium level when we looked from the bottom...

As usual, it rained whilst we got changed. However, it kept raining all the way up the walk-in and whilst we were on the river. The first set of falls, "Three falls to Agrippa" were great: really clean and fast with only a couple of shoddy lines.

The drops continued thick and fast, with a slight carnage moment as our "fashion guru" Mark swam in one big hole, then dropped his boat and watched it style the next drop, the gutter. This was a brilliant rapid, and me and Dave ran this several times.

Next up was End of the World. The levels had now risen, and it was slightly higher than in this video. We all had a careful look and Dave and myself were convinced it would go. First up was Dave. He cleaned the top two falls, and was looking good. The third and fourth falls proved his undoing though, as he pencilled into the hole at the bottom and popped up sidewards in the hole. After a few seconds, I chucked him a line (and was ready with another) but to no avail and he continued to get a caning for another twenty seconds, before bailing, recirculating and swimming through a very nasty hole at the bottom. Needless to say, I was put off and walked!

(Video to come)......

Luckily, we found all his kit on the paddle down to McKays falls, but the carnage wasn't over. Mark slipped on a rock chasing Dave's boat and broke several bones in his hand. However, being a hardened borders lad, he paddled the rest of the river! With his teeth!

An awesome day; a bit carnage filled but great all the same. I love the Leven!

ONE WET WEEKEND...

After one very wet week up here last week, we managed a whole weekend's boating. Strangely, on the saturday we found ourselves heading towards the Invervar again. This trib of the Lyon (see below and here) is a magic wee run, with some very very steep sections. Four of us turned up, but Neil quickly decided that the steep gradient, compounded by his lack of sleep, would give him an excuse as camera-bunny. So myself, Paul and Andy jumped on the top, below the weir (why oh why did I run that!).
The top drops were brilliant, with the second ledge proving a tricky boof to make.

We continued down, and it soon became apparent that the rain was pushing the water levels up rapidly. One drop was portaged, but the rest went sweetly, despite the distinct lack of eddies.

On the Sunday, efforts to make an early start were hampered when Mark got lost in Glasgow. In heavy rain, we headed to the top section of the Falloch. At the top the levels looked bony, but as the rain hammered down, the river rose and things got interesting. Euan took a very nasty swim down a shallow fall, and the rest of the team jumped out to chase the boat. After finding it under a tree, thoughts were turned to the hardest drop, with two big holes and a fence to negotiate (below).

Several of us jumped on and headed down the gnarly lead-in. Out of the three of us, one swam, I got a caning in the biggest hole, and Andy got an even bigger caning and jumped out onto the bank. Confidence-inspiring stuff! Needless to say, both Rich "Jedi" Waterworth and Paul "Balls of" Steel styled it. Most annoying!
More drops came thick and fast, with a distinct lack of time between them. Finally, after a gnarly hard drop which was run by Rich and Paul, we jumped off, and considered where to go next.

After much deliberation, the day was polished off by a run down the awesome Coe gorge, finishing in the dark (as usual).

How I wish every weekend was this wet!