An 8:30 start is never good: even less so when no-one on the trip shows up, and you don't have a phone to contact them!
Slightly discouraged, I collected the minibus and headed to the shed, and started to sort out the kayaks for the trip. After I'd hoisted all the boats onto the roof, Euan arrived, very upset that I'd abandoned him at the gate (sorry Euan). At about 9:30, we finally got through to Daisy, who thought the trip was off as I hadn't responded to her text (never ever lose your phone if you're organising a trip is the moral I walked away with). However, we three musketeers finally gathered together and set forth for the Tummel!
Upon arrival, we found that the dam was only releasing compensation flow, making the river low but runnable. Soon however, we discovered that this river was not just low: it was Paul Walker low!! By the time we reached Sawmill, much of the riverbed had been repainted orange and two shades of blue.
At the Sawmill, we had our one and only pin of the day, as I found myself precariously perched on a rock halfway down. The only up side to this was, with me blocking the bad route, Daisy and Euan had no choice but to take the clean route straight down the middle. Five minutes of faff later, and I pulled myself off with Euan's paddle - to everyone's great disappointment (including myself), there were no photo's of this truely spectacular pin.
S-bends and the Linn were extremely uneventful. Everyone manages S-bends perfectly. At the Linn, I got the autoboof, Daisy missed out and submarined, and Euan made his own boof.
One short paddle swapping trip to the get-out, and we were off to Tully!
At Tully, we ran the rapid once, and then proceeded to play in the holes at the bottom, before heading for a chippy in the sun at Aberfeldy.
Slightly discouraged, I collected the minibus and headed to the shed, and started to sort out the kayaks for the trip. After I'd hoisted all the boats onto the roof, Euan arrived, very upset that I'd abandoned him at the gate (sorry Euan). At about 9:30, we finally got through to Daisy, who thought the trip was off as I hadn't responded to her text (never ever lose your phone if you're organising a trip is the moral I walked away with). However, we three musketeers finally gathered together and set forth for the Tummel!
Upon arrival, we found that the dam was only releasing compensation flow, making the river low but runnable. Soon however, we discovered that this river was not just low: it was Paul Walker low!! By the time we reached Sawmill, much of the riverbed had been repainted orange and two shades of blue.
At the Sawmill, we had our one and only pin of the day, as I found myself precariously perched on a rock halfway down. The only up side to this was, with me blocking the bad route, Daisy and Euan had no choice but to take the clean route straight down the middle. Five minutes of faff later, and I pulled myself off with Euan's paddle - to everyone's great disappointment (including myself), there were no photo's of this truely spectacular pin.
S-bends and the Linn were extremely uneventful. Everyone manages S-bends perfectly. At the Linn, I got the autoboof, Daisy missed out and submarined, and Euan made his own boof.
One short paddle swapping trip to the get-out, and we were off to Tully!
At Tully, we ran the rapid once, and then proceeded to play in the holes at the bottom, before heading for a chippy in the sun at Aberfeldy.
A montage of the best photos of Tully
The whole day could be summed up in one word: FANTASTIC!!
I don't think you should use the phrase "I pulled myself off" in a post. People might get the wrong idea.
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