Wet West Paddlefest 09

The Wet West Paddle Fest is the biggest annual whitewater kayaking event in Scotland. It's a celebration of whitewater with organised releases on the Rivers Garry, Moriston and Awe, not to mention an evening of ceilidh dancing and kayak films in Fort William. The festival came about as a memorial to the legendary Scottish paddler, Andy Jackson, who died in 2004. 

I had heard a few of the stories from 2008's WWPF and so made sure that I was there for this years festival. It's been an unusually dry September in Ireland and with no whitewater on the cards the lure of the Scottish highlands could not be turned down. After the short hop over to Stranraer we took a detour for a few hours to stretch our legs on the mountain bike trails of Kirroughtree Forest. The fast technical trails through the deserted forest were never ending and we stayed out late into the evening, stopping at one point to watch a golden eagle soar overhead. Magic! Plenty of coffee and cake (served by a hairy old woman) and 4 hours later we were in Fort William.

The river Garry is one of Scotland's best play runs and was the Saturday release. There are several nice play spots on a relatively (I ran it in 7 mins) short stretch and it was great fun paddling this several times with the help of the free shuttle bus. There is one nice move at the very start of the river, a seal launch at the inlet pipe into the full flow and over a short double drop. Unfortunately we had only brought creek boats and this river was meant for play, however there was still plenty to keep those in big boats entertained, as any of the rafters who clobbered a kayaker in the bottom hole will testify. Ouch!

The evenings festivities in The BA Club were nice and chilled out with a great video from the Kayak USSR Team followed by a super buffet and then plenty of good tunes and catching up into the wee hours. There was also the odd mention of the river we would be on in the morning...
(P.S. ~ For the record you can fit 6 adults in the front cab of a Hiace!)

It was an early start again on Sunday morning as we headed up past Loch Ness to the small village of Invermoriston. A quick stop at the bridge for a recce of the Lower Moriston and we were suitably impressed/nervous. The river drops dramatically as it flows under the bridge with lines left and right and it's easy to see why this is reputed to be one of the biggest rapids in the UK. The put on for the Upper Moriston at the dam was very crowded and it was a case of joining the queue to run the first big drop. This was a lovely 3m drop worth running a few times and a great spot to set up the camera.

The rest of the rapids on the Upper Moriston were short and sweet with one or two more small drops into bouldery grade IV. Unfortunately we had a ferry to catch and did not have time to get in the Lower so I'll have to come back for that and to get a taste of some more Scottish creeks again soon! A big thanks to Shane for all the driving and to the SCA and local volunteers who put on an amazing weekend.
(Photos to come soon!)

A portion of the funds raised during the weekend will go to the Andy Jackson fund for access who promote and protect access to waterways in Scotland for the sport of canoeing. More details can be found on their website here.