Getting lucky

I've been pretty lucky this past month. So lucky that I even started thinking about luck and what people believe it is. I was always, and still am, a believer in making your own. Someone once said that "luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity". 

I hit a good run of luck in mid October. In the space of two weekends I got the chance to paddle six different rivers in Ireland and Scotland, all at great levels. I had been planning a trip to Kerry, in the south west corner of Ireland, for a few weeks but was doubtful of the rain arriving. It really needs to be raining hard to go kayaking in Kerry as most of the rivers are spate runs. The week beforehand the forecast started to look good and we decided to chance it. Checking the rainfall radar on Friday night I saw a big blob of yellow and pink moving in my direction. That night the sound of the rain bouncing off the roof kept us awake into the small hours.

We paddled two great rivers the following day at perfect levels. The Clydagh is a well known tree lined run with a big slide thrown in the middle. It is also the warm up section for the Flesk, one of the best IV+ runs in the country. The crew I was with had never been paddling in Kerry before so we wanted to make the most of the rain and get in at least two rivers. After running the gates to the Flesk we called it quits, jumped in the car and in less than twenty minutes were at the put in for river number two, the Roughty.

Eamonn on the Clydagh. Photo by Muireann Lynch.

The Roughty is a well known classic run, mostly pool drop in nature. It gets quite tight in places with a few slots and also one or two bigger drops. The level was ideal with plenty of water but not too pushy. We decided to leave the messy drop above the get in for another time. Cathal took a few shots from the first bridge as we paddled the rapid beneath. This was a really fun run with some great moves especially through the slots and the two bigger drops at the end, before the get out bridge appears. We got off just as the sun was setting only to find we had left the cars at the next bridge downstream. Ooops!

Barry on the Middle Roughty. Photo by Cathal Kelly.

A scenic drive on Sunday morning winding over the Gap of Dunloe led us into the Black Valley and to the put in for river number three, the Gearhameen. I had never paddled this before and was looking forward to the buzz of a new river. Unfortunately the level had dropped a lot overnight and it was quite low with lots of very rocky rapids. I will certainly be back here though as in high water this is supposed to be a blast. It's probably one of the most scenic rivers in Ireland, nestled deep in the hills of the MacGillycuddy's Reeks, the only other person we met was an elderly farmer who had come to see who was making all the "noise".

Following a busy week in work I was lucky enough to be able to get away to Scotland on a level 5 skills training weekend with the ICU. The ferry for this was literally booked the night before as again the forecast was a bit hard to guage. Nothing to worry about though as it ended up pouring down all weekend! While over there we ran the Roy Gorge (no. 4) on the first day as a warm up. The level was a touch low but a really super river with a deep gorge section which would be interesting in high water. Beware of the hike up the hill at the get out, its thirsty work!

As part of the course we were lucky enough to get in the Etive (no. 5) in high water, a Scottish classic, although it has also been described as a "ditch"! There was lots of boofing practice and looking at different approaches to running drops. The main drop, Right Angle Falls (20 ft), looked a bit too meaty to run at this level with a huge boily mess at the base.

Having a long look at Right Angle Falls. Photo by Simon Hall.

On the final day of training we paddled the Orchy River (thats the six), a big volume (and in big water!) river with long rapids broken up by flat stretches. There were some big and bouncy wave trains and one rapid I did not run, Easan Dubha, though Benny and Peter cruised down making it look easy. We even got to play with pinned boats and the odd unexpected scenario kept us on our toes. I think the scariest thing though was the coffee fueled night time drive back to catch the last ferry home. Let's just say there are a lot more deer wandering the roads than we expected. I actually was looking forward to work on Monday morning, if just for the chance to have a wee break!