Open canoeing across Scotland pt3

(Mark at our shared bivvy on the banks of Loch Rannoch)

Loch Rannoch near Kinloch Rannoch and the surrounding area is dominated by the dome of Schiehallion (in Gaelic ‘The Fairy Hill of the Caledonians’). The loch has a silvian feel, with pine covered hills on either side. Day 3 saw us paddle the remainder of Loch Rannoch and portage the dam at Kinloch Rannoch.  From Loch Rannoch there was more water, we enjoyed the paddle along the river into Dunalister Water and the next Dam in the Rannoch - Tummel hydroelectric scheme.

(Tenboats Tony on a section of the upper Tummel)

The Dam at Dunalister Water indicates the start of the Upper Tummel, the river contained some great grade 2 - 3 paddling. Dave elected to portage along the road whilst Mark, Tenboats and I decided to paddle. The first rapid at the get in was a technical grade 3 indicating the type of paddling we could expect for the rest of the river. We negotiated the river in about 2.5 hours by paddling, lining and poling. We portaged one rapid which looked about grade 4. Eventually we met up with Dave at Tummel Bridge and began the paddle on Loch Tummel.

The wind was quite strong (F4 - 5), and almost directly down the loch. The sail down the loch was probably the most exhilerating sail we’d had and we covered the length of the loch in about 1.5 hours! We portaged the dam on the left and found a bivvy site high above the Middle Tummel.

more of our story later!