Not many people about this week as the school holidays are in mid-flow, but five of us (David, Stewart, Pete, Steph & John) nonetheless managed to pull together and run the Lower Findhorn.

Levels were high-low to medium and nice. Randolph’s was run by Pete and John (with Pete showing us a textbook roll at the exit to The Cauldron!) and the rest of us join just below.

Tripple Steps was at a lovely level with a good run-in to the middle drop and a boof-able rock at the bottom. All faired well here and even managed to watch a few rafts getting stuck halfdown; class!

Some good surf waves at various points at this level and Corkscrew (which could finally be run mid-line after a somewhat dry summer so far) proved an awesome rollercoaster with much power and speed!

Both Stewart and I even managed to get in so leading practice for our Four Star Leader assessment; although they all thought it would be funny to do an all-in capasize for my last section…thanks guys!

All fun though…

Well, after an aborted trip to the Upper Findhorn given it was MASSIVE and in spate, Jo Young, Stewart Young and myself decided to take a wee bimble down the Middle Findhorn.

Yes, we’ve done it before, but today was different given the all-but flood levels. It was much higher than I’ve paddled it before, with only one brick showing at Logie Bridge. While many of the normal features were simply washed out, they pace of the river was extremely fast, there were few eddies and a fair few ‘new’ stoppers thrown in our way…mostly hidden and quite unexpected!

No real incidents. Stewart rolled a couple of times and sawn at Carnage, while Jo and I only had a few wobbles…but it was extremely pushy, so no lost kudos for Stew-pot!

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After a busy few months in the office, it was time to take a break. The destination: Slovenia…not really a kayaking trip, more of a chill-out holiday, but a bit of paddling was squeezed in on the beautiful Soča River in any case!

And how could it not be?

The hot sun, the fabulous Julian Alps, waterfalls cascading out of the side of mountains, the magical blue waters of the Soča, some classic white water sections…and great beer too…it all makes the Bovec area of Slovenia a top-notch place to paddle!

Now, according to the guidebook, the Soča River ranges from an easy grade 1/2 right up to grade 6; there are certainly a variety of grades to be experienced. However, I paddled grade 2 through to grade 4/5 and, certainly at the levels in late June, I would say that our Slovenian friends may slightly over-egg their grading…but only just…

For example, the grade 4/5 section at the slalom course was more like a solid grade 4 than a 4/5…and the grade 2/3 section shortly prior to that was more like grade 2; it was a bite-sized section certainly no harder than the Ardclach to Logie Bridge section of the Middle Findhorn…although it did have a lovely, yet easily avoided, playhole about half way down!

On this basis, I’d probably guesstimate that, from a Scottish perspective at least, the grades may be a little less than advertsied…but still, it’s an awesome river to run…and caution should still be taken as there are plenty of tricky sections…oh, and the Grade 6 (Siphon Gorge) is most certainly a place to be avoided!

So, on the day trip were myself, my other half Cerian and Iain and Sarah Roe. Iain and Sarah are also from Inverness Canoe Club and as sheer luck would have it, they were spending a week in Bovec as we were passing through; so thanks big time to them both (and their lovely friends) for keeping us company and lending us some gear!

Anyhow…onto the photos…sadly, because only Iain and myself ran the trickier sections, there are no action photos of anything above a grade 2/3 (too busy staying upright!), but the pictures still set the scene!

Oh, and finally, for anyone thinking about a trip to Bovec, Slovenia to paddle on the Soča; a) do it, you know it makes sense, and b) check out this link for some really good info on the river and paddling in the Bovec area: UKRG Soča River Report.

Enjoy…

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