The advance party left Edinburgh on Friday afternoon and made it as far as Ballachulish before realising they were missing a drysuit. Frantic phone calls to the Saturday Early Bird Team enabled Mags to be richly rewarded with Jam Tarts for her mercy dash across town and ensured that Christina's wedding fund was not used to buy a new dry suit.
On Saturday morning we all met in Roybridge to discover the Roy was surprisingly high and that the Roy gorge was not suitable so the plan was hatched to paddle the Upper Roy. Only 1 boat decided it would rather paddle the river without its owner and dispatched it's owner into the tropical snowmelt at an early opportunity. All kit was retrieved for the afternoon run down the lower Roy which gave several km's of continuous bouncy grade 2/3 fun which was enjoyed by all.
On Sunday we were joined by Tom for a run down the middle Spean which had enough G2 and G3 rapids to keep the interest up all the way to Spean Bridge for a quick lunch stop before we ran the Spean gorge in the afternoon. A misidentification of the Fairy Steps rapid allowed us to conclude that Mags has either grown gills or her small frame hides an extraordinary pair of lungs as she rolled her way to the end of the rapid. A small amount of carnage followed however everyone was quickly reunited with their boats. Headbanger rapid was capably run by Graham, Mags and Alec although everyone portaged Constriction as it was looking particularly munchy due to the high water levels.
Thanks to Graham for organising, Christina, Mags and Tom for driving, Charles for being the most improved paddler of the weekend and the weather for warming up, melting the snow and filling up the rivers. Warm water is too much to wish for in Scotland.
Top weekend of boating. Hope to see lots of people on the water next weekend.