..:::Orchy, Scotland 2002

(Jon Wright)

Grade 4 (5)

Jon Wright, James Bruton, Chris Stevens, Richard Berry, Richard Cook, Richard Hartley, Jim Wallis, Gary Restall, Mike Young.

The alarm came all too early and I was questioning my motives as I prised myself from the contorted position I woke to find myself in at 07.00 on Friday morning in Paul's Frontera.

After a hearty Little Chef breakfast and a lengthy flask filling session we made the short journey North to the get in at the Bridge of Orchy. The ferry was soon complete and the trip underway. A short grade 2 run-in gave little time for the muscles to get into paddle mode before the fun began, I'd not paddled in a while and a few 'school boy' wobbles on my part during this section didn't fill me with confidence for what was to come. I felt glad I'd gaffer taped up the seals on my ageing cag as I couldn't guarantee that I'd be remaining sunny side up for the whole of the forthcoming 6 miles or so.

The first significant rapid named 'Chicken Chute', as the title suggests, had two routes with the majority of the flow piling down river right and an easier but more technical passage weaving through a narrow arrangement of boulders on the left. The majority of the group opted for the more forgiving route at this early stage in the trip but Rich C, Jim, James and Mike all ran the harder route. All had good passage without bother despite Mike appearing to bust some neat playboating move off the lip of the drop, intentional or not it looked the business!

There was a short respite before 'Sheep Trolley Gorge' was upon us, a long rapid and while there was no sign of any sheep trolleys, there was a plentiful supply of notable waves and holes as it channelled right with some nice playspots. This rapid provided an excellent warm-up for those who were intending to run the intimidating 'Easan Dubha' falls. It's a sharp 3-4 metre drop with a choice of routes but the river left channel looked to have a hidden ledge at the bottom, which served to make the stopper there very grabby as a few of us discovered. Rich B was the first to secom to the falls getting a severe pounding in the stopper. After several revolutions Rich decided that it was his paddles which were holding him back and discarded them, either way it seemed to do the trick as the stopped appeared to have had enough of its fun and released him.... maybe it saw Gary coming and decided to play with him instead. Garry put up an equally valiant fight with the stopper before his paddles gave in and one end snapped clean off. In the interest of fair play, the stopper released him at this point much to everyone's relief. The others who ran these falls took a centre line which seemed to throw them clear of trouble apart from Rich C who went too far left and with a worrying crunch, holed the bottom of his trusty Rota-Bat. Some nifty use of gaffer tape soon rectified the problem, Rich was back afloat and ready to attack 'Sore Tooth Rapid', a multi-line, boulder strewn run with some big stoppers to avoid or enjoy, depending on your taste. Rich B got caught out here and a nasty face / boulder interface earned him 3 points and an impressive black lump adorning the side of his cheek.

Rich C and his boat had survived the rapid but he was filling up rapidly and was now paddling like a marathon sprint paddler possessed in an attempt to cover as much distance as possible between empties. Given the pace Rich was setting, it wasn't long before we came across 'Eas a' Chathaidh'. It's a choice of a river right 4 metre drop or a river left channel leading over a small drop onto a shallow twisting ramp. The consequences of messing up here include coming out looking considerably different to how you went in and possibly in more pieces and with less teeth. A lot of people spent a lot of time looking at this rapid. Not me, it didn't take much persuasion to encourage my legs to take the portage (itself a grade 4 boggy quagmire which planted me on my face on several occasions). Jim, James, Rich C and Mike all decided to risk facial rearrangement and took the falls on. All survived unscathed but Mike took an unfortunate roll in the massively aerated water at the base of the falls and after several attempts at rolling, rightly chose to breath air over water. 3 points.

The get in after 'Eas a' Chathaidh' is just after a 15ft shelf which Rich B assured me was a 'cracking' spot to perform some 'high-board' seal launches. I foolishly agreed, landed on my head and spent the remainder of the trip seeing the world through a green and blue, starry haze.

A fantastic warm up river for what was to come.