River trips

2.8 metres ........ 02 January 2007

If you are a playboater, forget the river, get yourself down to the wave river right below Thistlebrig - it is superb at this level.

Linn

The main channel and the next one on the right are now one big river - I couldn`t get close enough to say if there is any way down it.

The next channel maybe could be paddled, again, I couldn`t really see if their was a good route down it.

The fourth channel was running very full, and is a major river in its own right. Viewed from the top of the big lump of rock river right of this channnel, it would appear that you could blast through the big stopper if you took a line a bit left of centre. However I am not into this big volume stuff, so not really qualified to give a stronger viewpoint on it.

Linn bypass

The Linn bypass was running well, and provided a fast moving grade 2 river. The trees, were easily avoided, and the bottom end of it didn`t present any problems.

Wall

Water is coming over the wall.

Wave right hand side of wall

This was mostly washed out, but there was a wave further right than normal. It might be surfable, but you would only get one shot at it, by coming down from above.

Weir

The whole of the weir has water coming over it, and there are big stoppers over most of the length of the weir. However the main chute has an asymmetric wedge of smoothish water below it, and is probably the best way down the weir.

I make no apologise for repeating this again - the stoppers below the weir are large and holding - getting the wrong line down the weir will almost certainly result in death. If there is the slightest possibility that someone might get the wrong line down the weir, they should portage the weir.

Rapid down to Hell Hole corner

This section was surprisingly placid, with few problems if you come down the middle. There are some possible playspots below some of the various groins river left.

Hell Hole corner

The main rapid is very far from straightforward - there is about 200 metres of very confused water all down the right hand side and round the bend. Loads of waves, haystacks, and cross currents make for quite a complicated section of river.

I didn`t look at the river left side, but waves below the drop looked quite meaty from a distance.

Thistlebrig

Thistlebrig is almost washed out at this level - there was a significant wave hard river left, For the easiest run down, stay right of centre, and look for the dark channel down past the white water on each side of you. It`s not smooth, but is the least challenging route through.

Wave below Thistlebrig

At this level there are several waves in succession -

the first wave is a playboaters dream - the river right half is smooth and green, and great for straight surfing - not easy, but very possible. The right hand half is steeper, with a foam pile right down to the trough
the second wave is not very well defined, a bit messy, with a bit of a foam pile. It is a bit too short for my boat, which nose dived on it
the third wave is fairly long, smoothish but not green, with a small foam pile. It was also surfable

On this occasion, these waves were the highlight of the day, and I spent more time there than on the run down the river.

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