Aborted Awe Weekender - River Tay at Stanley - 14/6/2008-15/6/2008

Derek organised the EKC River Awe weekender and got everything right except the finicky power company not supplying the water. Camping in Oban was lovely -- I'm not sure it ever got really dark. Sadly, we arrived a day late for Amy and tequila, but not too late for Amy in the campground antics. We had a big fire on the barbecue that night.

The River Tay at Stanley became the new paddling venue. At low water, it was almost like seeing a whole new river.

Brian didn't have such a good day. He didn't take to the Inazone 240 so well and got really freaked out. He swapped for my Kendo, which helped. Sort of. While others played and jumped off the rock near Campsie Linn, we spent some time paddling around the less swift current and practicing skills like ferrygliding.

Though he could have bailed, Brian decided to go ahead with running the river. We rafted through the broken weir along with Derek and Kieran. Brian did well navigating the next few rapids mostly following me, though I could tell he was in survival mode.

The first big bend in the river after Stanley saw him in the drink, which took away the confidence he was building. He had no real difficulties with any rapids that followed and he did take some of the harder lines, like the one straight through the hole rather than around it. His nerves and I decided that rafting the last rapids would be good and it was. As a makeshift barge, we blew through the biggest waves with barely a totter.

Though I am sad that my reservations about introducing Brian to Stanley were confirmed, I think he will have another go at it in a few months after some practice on other rivers.

The baby ducks trained Amy and Ciarán well.

The baby ducks, or more likely their mother, had enough.

Camping, Cycling and Not Paddling the Tummel at Spate - 28/7/2007 - 29/7/2007

With my computer safely returned from the not very well trained monkeys at Dell's service department, I can finally catch up on a couple of tardy blog posts. This past weekend, Brian and I headed north despite the not so nice weather forecasts for Sunday and had a great weekend camping and cycling at the Tummel. With work underway at the dam, the popular run of the Tummel was huge. The S-bends and Linn were easily visible from the road, sharp, pointy teeth and all. I was much happier to be on a bike.

After a lazy Saturday morning, we set off toward Pitlochry figuring we could cope with bad weather if it found us. We found a great camping spot beside Loch Tummel, along the road to Foss, and set off for a short cycle. My guess is we did about 10 miles. We cycled from our campsite to the bridge where Amy taught some boys how to jump last year and had a good look at S-bends and the Linn from my preferred dry line. From there, we followed a path along the River Garry, which flows into the Tummel at Loch Faskally just below the Linn. The trail led us for maybe a mile along the Garry before we exited to the road into Pitlochry. The Garry looked like a good canoe camping possibility at the very end, but more scouting is needed to see if upstream would be suitable as well. After a brief stop in Pitlochry for a snack, sit and water pickup, we cycled back to our campsite along the Foss road. The little red book described the route as mostly flat with some hills. I'd call it gently rolling with some good hills, but that's partly my lack of fitness talking. We hit one good hill in between the S-bends and the get-in at the dam. Now that a couple of days have passed, I don't remember if it was my legs, lungs or back that said, "Quit it!" first, but that was the only spot where I walked. Definitely, I needed the walk. I do remember that. After a wee rest, we finished the last stretch of road back to camp.

Our campsite was midgy, not such a surprise considering it was summer and we were camping right beside the loch. I remember now that it was my back that complained first on the nasty hill. While Brian tended to fire ambitions, I took a back resting break away from the midges in the tent. The smoke from the fire eventually convinced the midges there was a better meal elsewhere, potentially our pot-smoking neighbors upwind. I cooked dinner while Brian continued to play with fire. With the daylight nearly gone, we called it a night not long after the meal.

The next morning, we packed up relatively early and set out on a much longer cycle. I'll say more about that later. In the meantime, enjoy the photos, below. It was a great day out.

Our campsite at Loch Tummel was nearly just across from the Queen's View.

Man make fire.