|
|
|
GUIDE TO THE RIVER FESHIE NAME OF RIVER: River Feshie. WHERE IS IT?: Runs North into the River Spey near Aviemore. PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Take the B970 south from Aviemore to Feshiebridge. Here the road goes over a narrow bridge crossing the Feshie. This is the takeout and I think there is a carpark or large layby somewhere nearby. The get in according to the guidebook we used, is a couple of miles upstream. Take a small road off to the left and head upstream until the river comes near to the road again. I don't know if we ever found the right place. APPROX LENGTH: 2-4 miles? TIME NEEDED: 1-2 hours depending on water levels. ACCESS SITUATION: Unknown. See also the SCA notes on Access. WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Look over the bridge at Feshiebridge, if it looks anything other than a scrape it is probably OK. GRADING: 1-3. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: The falls/rapids at Feshiebridge are the hardest we came across. GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Perhaps someone has some more up to date info as it must be four years since my one paddle on this river. When we paddled it, it was a low/medium level and the last 400metres or so were quite good fun. However this was preceded by several miles of shingle banks and flat shallow water, not spud territory.... The guidebook (The SCA one I think?) insisted that there were further rapids upstream of Feshiebridge but after traveling about 4 miles up a single track road we never even saw the river again. Thus when we spotted a small burn that you could just about float a boat in, we decided to paddle down to the main river. This is not to be recommended as it took us a good 30 minutes to get through to the river. We then paddled the whole of the river waiting for this other rapid to appear but there was nothing until Feshiebridge. My recommendation would be to only go there if you have a spare half hour to kill after a day's paddling. Walk up the bank from Feshiebridge and paddle this rapid only. From what I recall the rest of the river is nothing but a case of scraping over shingle beds. Even for those non-whitewater paddlers amongst us I fear this river would seem pretty tedious. If anyone has any other experiences on this river please send them as I fear I may be doing this river an injustice but I just found it boring as hell. Andrew Brindley, Ribble Canoe Club, Preston (July '00)....'We recently paddled this river on our annual Easter trip to Scotland. It is worth having a look at the level at the end by the road bridge as a guide as long as there is plenty of water coming down there then it should not be too much of a scrap 'n' bump. Now it is not going to be the most demanding of paddles, so don't break your neck in trying to get there to paddle it. However it is a good warm up river or useful as something to do at the end of a long week of difficult paddles. Most of it is grade II with one bit of grade III at the end, you know when this starts as the banks close in and you enter a gorge. The last rapid we felt was really a grade III+ or small grade IV. Nothing really to worry about, anyway either way there is a nice pool at the bottom to collect any swimmers. What I would say is that the early parts of the river make for fantastic views of snow capped mountain ranges, while you can bask in glorious sunshine in the riverbed. The scenery is fantastic and we all agreed that is was a nice easy trip not pushing those weary limbs too far at the end of a great paddling holiday. So we did not feel it was a waste of time (as the other paddler intimated), but be prepared if the guide book says grade II for most of the trip then that's what you are going to get. So overall a great little river that's got great views. PS We also had trouble finding the get in and had a bit of a trek across some fields, does anyone know exactly where it is??' Angus Pettit adds (July 2000)...'Too bloody right you're doing it an injustice! Just a quick note to you paddlers that are obviously paddling the Feshie with not enough water in it. The bottom gorge may only be 400m long and a twisty, rocky grade 3 ditch in low/medium water levels, and the upper section may be flat, braided, boring, BUT in high/flood the gorge turns into a great spate run. I'm not sure why I'm telling you this, its obviously the best kept secret of the Cairngorms (or is it?). Maybe I'm worried that some grade 3 paddler is going to come round the corner at the top of the gorge not knowing what's just hit them, an eddyless, undercut, cannonball run down to the bridge, and watch out for those trees (and the best splat rock in Scotland!). Catch this river on the right day and combine it with the Tromie, Calder, Truim and Pattack and you'll have a good day! OTHER NOTES: CONTRIBUTED BY: Kris Waring, Andrew Brindley and Angus Pettit. |
|
|