River Teith Mega Flush - 3/12/2006

I thought last week was a flush. This weekend, the river was even higher. On the way into Callander, we saw the River Forth well out of its banks and wondered if we would be catching eddies behind cows and sheep on our way down the Teith. The second car park in Callander was totally underwater and the water was rising slowly in the primary car park. Callum drove through it and created a wake that capsized one of the boaters waiting to run the river. Thus began the 3* assessment that wasn't and an assortment of river adventures only half of which I witnessed.

Ali and I were separated from Callum into Derek's group. We thought it a bad idea as Callum was our ride home and he had his keys, but we were assured the groups would never be all that far apart. All of the beginners went to David's group, as well as Callum and Rhian for their 3* assessment. Most of the experienced paddlers went with Derek's group, again not feeling the wisest of plans. We launched from the car park and didn't see the other group again on the river.

The river level was higher than the last flush that I did with Magnus and Dirk. We ran the whole thing in a little over an hour. Normally it takes two to four hours, depending on water level. Wave trains rivaled Stanley and River Awe in size at times. The water was much more chaotic and boily, also like Stanley. I remember thinking I wanted nothing to do with swimming in that water. The boils and the big waves intimidated Kieron. He caught eddies beautifully when he didn't think about what he was doing, but otherwise it was a struggle for him. Primarily for his comfort and also for the cold, we didn't spend a lot of time in eddies. Because of all the debris in the water near the usual get-out, we took the opportunity to get out just below the last rapids, skipping some interesting waves but also skipping some potential swims in not great circumstances. The only downside was a slightly longer walk to the get-out layby.

Ali's and my fears of shivering at the get-out were realised as we waited over two hours for Callum to get back. Most of his group got to the expected get-out about an hour after we did. By this time, we were huddled in Jean's car for warmth. Rhian joined us. Next, we moved to Claire's car when we heard that Callum, Charlie and David were chasing boats and Jean went to see about picking them up farther downstream. Eventually, all three were found. Callum walked to the car with a look on his face that explained it all. There was a story the delay and it wasn't a good one. I walked up to him, hugged him and said, I don't know what happened out there, but you look like you need one of these.

Callum had an epic. The beginners group had a mass swim at the get-out and he went chasing the boat that got away with Charlie and David. Eventually some trees started slowing it down. Callum went in there to get to it and got into trouble himself. He got flipped, rolled up, decided he liked upside down better to avoid one tree limb, attempted to roll and missed. Repeatedly. Callum was then in the water getting washed through the trees with Charlie paddling alongside yelling, Get out of the trees you muppet! Callum then got stuck. In the time it took Charlie to get to the beach to get out of his boat and look again, Callum had freed himself, but I'm sure to Callum it felt like eternity. Callum swam for all his worth and got out on the bank. His boat and paddle were long gone downstream. Charlie found Callum pretty quickly. The two of them found David a good ways downstream with two extra boats and a paddle, as well as a debt for a pint at the pub later.