In Awe of the Awe? -- 23/10/05

After a good week of on/off raining, the October beginner trip was held on the Awe, a dam release run. It was advertised as a bit more than just a rank beginner run because of the Graveyard, which by descriptions was a longish grade II section at normal flow. Poor Amy had the car full of foreigners: Lucas and me and Matt from New Zealand. With the chilly, cloudy day, and perhaps the intimidation of the Graveyard, not too many beginners turned up for the run. Just a couple of new-to-town foreigners and Amy got stuck with the lot of us. On the drive up, we discovered that New Zealand kit has the same names as American kit, although their on-river maneuvers and such are the same as the British.

There was a crowd forming at the Awe get-in when we arrived. As we were getting changed, an alarm sounded and from the looks of things, the only open sluice was opened to allow more flow. One sluice open makes the whole run grade II. Three sluices open make it much more of a full-on run, pushing into grade III. We had one sluice, but quite a bit of water from that one sluice. We split into three groups. Poor Amy got dragged away with the first group, so she spent the better part of the day feeling scared. Big waves and not a lot of guidance. The other Charlie was leading her group, and she said he kept disappearing before anything important. We paddled with Robin, Matt, a guy whose name I don’t know, Iona and Rory, and two other girls whose names I don’t remember. Rory was brand new to a whitewater kayak that weekend, so he needed some extra attention getting through it all.

The Graveyard was first. Based on the guidebook and the other people talking, I expected a section of class II, but it was just a II+ rapid, maybe fifty yards long. Stay left and follow the wave train or contend with some pretty large rocks in the way. Hence the name graveyard, in the Scottish tradition of rapids with fierce, manly names. The rapids that followed were shorter, but similar in nature. Big, bouncy waves and perhaps the occasional friendly stopper. Occasionally, boaters would disappear in the bigger wave trains. The waves were much bigger than I expected, although there were never any consequences beyond a swim. Although not difficult or technical, it’s not the sort of run where I would take a beginner – no consequences, but plenty of opportunity to flip. One of the big wave trains was a rapid called Magnetic Boulder, but I’m not sure which one it was. The waves bounce along making you feel like you might hit the big pile of rocks on the river bank as the river turned, but I can think of more than one spot like that. I kept wondering what the river might look like, how big the waves might be, with three sluices instead of our “paltry” one. By the end of the day, poor Rory had chalked up five swims in just 6km of paddling. Early on, Callum showed signs of catching up to him, but I’ll attribute those swims to post-Findhorn jitters.

To my Southeastern paddle, the river felt a bit like the Nantahala and Tuck Gorge. It wasn’t as difficult as the Nanny and it wasn’t as technical as the Tuck Gorge, with mostly big waves and boogie water rapids. I needed one low brace and Lucas needed a few high braces in spots. Like the Nanny, the fast water made for some dynamic eddy turns and peel outs, I mean break-ins and break-outs.

In awe of the Awe? Not so much, but it was a pleasant enough paddle. The mini-gorge section was pretty nice, and the grade 4 climbing sheep that we saw grazing in the hills on the drive in were pretty fun. I couldn't help but wonder what the river would look like if Loch Awe's dam wasn't there.

The narrow suspension footbridge marked the get-out, just after Rory’s fifth swim of the day. Like the guidebook said, we had to carry across a cow pasture, although fencing and disinterested cows ensured that our carry was only long, instead of long and eventful. The Inverawe Fisheries and Smokehouse car park was quite full by the time we arrived. Amy was in better spirits than the time we saw her mid-trip. Her group was the first to arrive and her non-tripleader had disappeared (again). We changed out of river clothes, loaded boats and then enjoyed some hot chocolate and tea from the Smokehouse, a great way to end a chilly day on the river.