I don’t know about you, but I hardly slept a wink last night…that’s because today was my first trip down the Lower Findhorn and I spent the few preceding hours working out how I could suck oxygen out of my bouyancy bags if I got pinned by a tree in some meaty stopper!

As ususal, the mottley crew met at 10am and headed down to Randolph’s Leap to hook up with the others. The sun was in the sky and river levels were reasonably low; which was good for me as I didn’t fancy a flood water run for my first trip down this section of the Findhorn!

River Grade: 3/4
My Boat: WaveSport Diesel 75
Group Size: 12

After lowering our boats down the cliff below Randolp’s, we were ready to set off the river. Just as we were about to head off, Ron & Co. arrived by the bank and decided to follow us down in due course…

The first few kilometres of the paddle was reasonably easy going. A few drops and trickier sections, but a good warm-up for what was to come and no real situations; save me taking someone else’s advice of not eddie-hopping a wee technical section and ending up paddling too fast, missing my line and going down a small drop backwards after narrowly avoiding being pinned!

Anyway, I survived that near miss and woke up to the challenge…and just in time too as the walls of the gorge began to close in and we came upon Tripple Steps…the first of the big rapids…

The first drop was a little tricky, but we all got down without too much trouble and hopped out of our boats to inspect the second drop. This was a lot more technical; begining with a 1.5/2m drop into a grabby stopper, followed by an eddie out round a large rock, a quick break-in and then a second drop into another stopper.

A few of the top guns shot down first and made it look easy. They were then followed by Stewart Young who gently floated down the first chute into the stopper and then spent at least a minute paddling like the duracell bunny on speed trying to avoid being sucked back into the hole!

So, with all that happening before my eyes, I was beginning to brick it big style! I waited for the good-to-go signal, lined up and paddled hard. I managed to punch through the hole and carried on down to the next drop, eventually arriving safely at the bottom.

If it wasn’t for Stewart’s run before, I’d probably have ended up doing the same as him and getting stuck…so the moral of that story is let someone else go down before you and watch their line!

…although this didn’t work for Dave Young, who copied his wee bro by getting stuck…but then paddled like his life depended on it, side-surfed, back-surfed, supported high and low and eventually broke free; all to compliments from the experienced pros…well done Dave!

The next big event was Corkscrew. This rapid is a tricky wee number with a twisting central line and a lot of boiling water, holes and pillow waves. At today’s low level it seemed to be harder than many people in the group thought it normally should be…great!

Ron showed us all how not to do it in style, by taking a left-of-centre line and boofing sideways over a semi-submerged rock. He might not have planned it like that, but it looked spectacular! Needless to say, I decided not to follow this line and headed down the middle without too much of a problem…another biggie struck off my to-do list!

Pete probably provided the best moment of the day by coming down Corkscrew on edge, then performing the world’s slowest capsize followed by a roll with an imploded deck, a semi-pin on a rock and then 5 minutes of bailing out his boat on the bank…classic…but not caught on camera sadly…

A few paddle strokes further, and we arrived at The Slot. It’s an impressive looking narrow gap, through which the river channels with massive force. Looks relatively simple if you get your line right and avoid the recirculations at the foot of the drop; however ever since a girl lost her life in the deep under-cut, most people opt to portage this one…we were no exception…

A few other interesting waves, including a sweet play hole just beyond The Slot, and then we were home and dry; well almost…we still have the monumental cliff-scramble get-out to deal with…it was a cracking day out and a great first experience of the Lower Findhorn for me. Definately one to do again!

Well, after a week of rain, the options for our weekly Sunday paddle were many…with a good turn out, we decided to plump for the Top Findhorn.

By the time we reached the river and checked out the grade 3/4 at Dulsie Bridge we were in high-spirits and so decided to run the Upper section as well as the Top!

River Grade: 3(4)
My Boat: WaveSport Diesel 75
Group Size: 10

After one of the longest and most ‘faffy’ shuttle runs in history, we finally put onto the water and headed down the river. The Top section was at a good level and provided a good warm-up for escapades later on the Upper.

The only bit of bother on the Top was found at the narrow gorge section where most of us capsized on the huge hole. Half rolled up and three of us (myself included) decided it would be a nice day for a swim; there’s only so many rolls you can do in a row before pulling the deck seems like a good option!

[Ed. I have been kindly informed by Dave Young that I have not taken the p!ss out of myself enough for this completely avoidable, novice-style, panic-and-pull swim. Yes, I made a complete t!t of myself!]

As we approached Dulsie, we decided to jump out and check out what lay ahead. A few in the group decided to walk around to the bridge, while the rest of us opted to shoot it. The water was fairly high and hitting the eddie river-left at the top of the gorge was trickier than normal. But, most of us suceeded and we all headed on down to the main fall…

All was going well, until Eddie decided to attempt Dulsie backwards (well, almost upside-down/backwards). After manouvering into a better position, he unfortunately got eaten by the bottom hole and his boat got pinned; Pin No.1 of the day!

The rest of us made it down fine and Bernie did the honours by freeing the boat…on we paddled…

Not much more excitement, save a bit of surfing and playing, until we reached U-Bend. Although the levels were high enough to give us the option of boofing the ledge on river-right, a big tree had decided to lodge itself in the pool below the fall, so we decided to err on the side of caution and portage.

Leven’s Gorge provided a lot of fun; with surf waves, drops and boily eddie lines. One or two capsizes, including Bernie who decided to hit a rooster tail side on (!), but all fun and no real incidents…

Just as fatigue was setting in, we arrived at JCB. Given the water was fairly high, we decided to take a look before running it…as we approached on foot, it all looked fairly easy and we wondered why we’d bothered getting out…but then as we drew level with the hole, what looked tame from above opened-up into a meaty hole with a nasty tow-back followed by another nasty hole on the other side of the river…

Despite this, a line (river-right to river-left) could be made out and most of us decided to give it a shot. The water was pretty pushing and I for one missed the first eddie, but we all made it down safetly. Scrub that, Eddie and Kenny decided to visit the fishes for one last time, roll on Pin No.2!

Out came the throw bags and karabiners and after about 5mins of pulling and pushing, we freed Eddie’s boat for the second time; that’s one solid boat…thumbs up to the boys at Perception kayaks!

So, with only a 1km left til Ardclach, we sauntered on down towards to the old church and the get out. It was a top paddle with plenty of excitement and play opportunities; a lovely sunny day and the first ‘warm’ paddle of the New Year!

What’s next week got in store I wonder?!

Well, it’s only a few days since I last paddled it, but I decided to take the afternoon off work and go for a quick paddle down t’Middle with Pete, Sean and Kenny.

Levels we medium/high with quite a few rapids, like House Rock and Elephant Rock, pouring-over. It was a quick donder down as it was getting on by the time we all reached the river; but a nice trip nonetheless!

No real incidents; just Kenny’s swim on Carnage Corner and a few floating trees to avoid!

Nice day out, though, but no need for a full report as the paddle was all-but the same as last Sunday’s…

Bring on the next river…the Upper Findhorn me hopes!