I realised I hadn't blogged anything outdoorsy for an awfully long time. I used to occasionally post about travels and adventures, or my kayaking in general, but I guess I haven't done anything blogworthy in a while.
I've been kayaking (on-and-off) for over twenty years, mostly in the Lake District and North Wales, but also France, Austria, Switzerland and the USA.
I haven't paddled a lot in Scotland. Just the Nith (a long time ago) and more recently the Esk, both just over the Scottish border. I managed to drop my phone in the river on the Esk last year - luckily and bizarrely it was found two weeks later by a fly fisherman who managed to access my emergency contacts on the lock screen. I just happened to be in Scotland at the time, and arranged to pick up my phone from him in Langholm on the way home, before I'd got around to replacing it.
Big shout out to the maker of the waterproof case!
A bunch of us went for a weekend trip to the Scottish Highlands last month. We were especially excited about doing the River Etive in the stunningly beautiful Glen Etive near Glen Coe in the Scottish Highlands. I've been wanting to do it for many years but never had the chance. It's a river that's full of exciting drops with names like "letterbox", "ski jump", "twist and shout", "crack of doom" and "crack of dawn". I've always been envious of the amazing photos I've seen of people running what I now know is called "right angle falls".
We arrived at the Kingshouse Hotel, where we were staying (in the bunkhouse next to the hotel), to find a stag gracefully meandering the hotel car park:
In the morning we woke to this amazing view:
We drove a few minutes to the river in the stunning Glen Etive:
The river starts with three consecutive drops called "triple falls". A great way to warm up! Only one of us in the group had paddled the Etive before, but Connah had read up on all the features, so we stopped to scout everything to make sure we were prepared. Here's a video of me on triple falls: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-pzJEMfXEcw
Finally we arrived at "right angle falls". It's a 20-foot waterfall with a right angle immediately before the drop, so you've got to make sure you don't capsize right above it!
It looked extremely daunting — but the right angle is what worries you. You're expecting it to catch you and send you down the fall backwards or upside-down, which is a little terrifying. Anyway, we all successfully made our way down it without issue!
Here's the video of me doing it:
Another angle:
So far the trip had gone without incident. We went back to the start and did another run of triple falls, and Kelvin managed to send himself down the middle drop backwards: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/JtmX0p4xmfc
A great trip! I can't wait to go back.