Spean: Mini Uganda in Scotland

Kevin, or host of the last two days, has been pushing us to do the Spean, but with the huge water levels of yesterday we were not to keen on going on this monster.

The night had been chilly especially because the heater in the motor-home wasn't working. In the morning there is some frost on the boats, proving the ordeal we went trough during the night. Kevin arranged a guide for us today, his brother Dave is going to babysit us today. First we inspect the Nevis and the Roy, but because of the cold night they do not have enough water, the Spean on the other hand is fed from the dam and has more than enough water. Normally this baby is already juicy with four pipes, now the dam is releasing 6 pipes of hellish cold water and that's not it, because the dam is even overflowing on the top.


Nice scenery at the loch ... silence before the storm


6 pipes of hell

From the road you can't actually see the river, you can only see a thick mist coming from down the valley. After a slippery decent we arrive at the bottom of the valley, now we can have a look for the first time on what awaits us.


Not easy to get down

This monster will provide us a ride we won't easily forget that is for sure. Just after the put-in there is a big hole on the center left, we scout this hole, but we wisely decide to put in after the hole.


For Peter it is a bit foggy and he is no longer interested in this flat river, so he decides to do the shuttle today.

Me Birdy and Dave we decide to go for it, as soon as we are on the river there is no way back, the wave trains just come one after the other, sometimes we have to give our very best to stay upright as big waves are falling on our deck, but we manage to keep straight-up without rolling. Rolling would be not recommendable in this water, but swimming would just be out of the question, the river banks are a no-go zone as they are completely flooded between the trees, this means that if you swim you will have to continue a couple of miles downstream before getting in calmer water.


River banks, you do not want to end up in here

With crazy pounding heartbeats we arrive at the take-out, I can't say I am sad that we are already at the end of this river. We head back to the car, Peter just arrived


Time to leave to our next river of the day

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Spean, Upper

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