River Arnisdale
The river Arnisdale is just up from Corran, on the north side of Loch Hourn. OS Landranger sheet 33.
It runs from a small loch at NG 885 093, down to Loch Hourn. Unfortunately it is only the upper half of the river which is of interest, the bottom half is flat.
At the exit from the loch there is a broken dam, and a two stage waterfall, which may be paddle-able at some levels, though I`m not sure how deep the bottom pool is.
Below the waterfall there is a short flat bit, then the river flows under a bridge, then there is boulder choke - with some huge boulders. I`m not sure if this section will be paddle-able at any level. At higher levels there might well be a problem with clearance under the bridge, as well as the boulder choke being a problem.
Then the fun starts - for the next 1 km or so the river is a continuous boulder river, with some quite big boulders. There are some steepish bits, and it is mostly fairly continuous, so I reckon it could be graded 4/5 or so. Here`s a long shot view looking down from the track to the bit of the river somewhat below the boulder choke section.
Here`s a fairly typical section of the river, looking upstream.
And finally, there is one waterfall further down - not particularily big, but it could be a different kind of feature at high levels. Not a very successful photograph, I`m afraid.
Eventually the river flattens out completely, and meanders down to the sea. It`s going to need quite a bit of water in it to make it worthwhile, and I`m afraid you`ve got a fair trek to get to the interesting bit.
The Allt Coire Mhalagain
Further up the same track, beyond the two lochs, there is another river which would be a good paddle - the Allt Coire Mhalagain.
It starts up near two of the munros on the south side of Glen Sheil, so it has a small catchment area, but with a fast run-off. The bits of it I saw were mostly grade 2, with a mini gorge section of maybe grade 3. So it is not the most exciting of rivers, but would be a very pleasant paddle, if there was some way to get to it. It would be way too far to walk up to it.
It is quite a small river, but with a large river bed, so that suggests that at times it can grow to quite a significant size. It would need a bit of water to make it runnable.
The track
A final note - the track up to the loch is mostly a fairly typical land rover track, however about halfway up it, the track climbs away from the river, and climbs a very steep hill, with a loose surface, and several tight bends. There is another similar one further up, but going downhill this time. I was reliably informed that four wheel drive vehicles can`t get up the track - the estate uses an Argocat.
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