Gorge Walking

[joe2012uk]

Hi there,

I am new to the forum I have been gorge walking since I was at school I absolutely love it, after buying my own equipment instead of depending on the activity groups I would like to go out on my own. Can anyone suggest good beginner rivers in the West highlands, I hear there is a cracking waterfall on River Coe.

What rivers could you suggest?

Appreciate all suggestions

Thanks
Joe

[banzer]

The Coe would be ok for gorge walking. The gorge itself is near the Clachaig Inn, more just a walk and a splash. The waterfall much higher up that you can see from the viewpoint on the main road I suppose you could abseil down, but it's not bolted to my knowledge. The bit down from there you could walk along but you'd have to walk around stuff.

Try the Inchree (Glen Righ) Falls, the Nathrach near Kinlochleven, the Cia-Aig in Glen Arkaig, and the Falls of Bruar.

[joe2012uk]

Thanks for your reply man!

This is my first time doing without instructor and stuff and read river guides here,is there any other good resources to get more information about the rivers.

So do you think the Coe could be a lot of time out the river, rather than in it? Inchree falls is that not a commercial gorge walking river? NEed to check out the others :) was also thinking the river falloch would be good but the main fall at the falls of falloch looks a bit scary lol 30 ft drop its definitely an abseiling fall lol.

Thanks Again
Joe

[leedsrob]

Hi Joe

I would say that it is quite tough to find information about gorges as usually they are either not well known or comercially run and therefore the companies want you to pay to go with them rather than go yourself.

I recently gorge walked the Bruar which was great, there is one ~50ft waterfall in the middle of the gorge but the section below it is excellent for sliding, jumping and swimming through! there are companies that canyon it and abseil the waterfall so I imagine the upper section is walkable just take a rope (if you know what you are doing) for the main drop.

Nearby where the river Garry runs through Calvine there are some more gorge like bits which look good for jumping but I havent been in myself.

As for the Falloch the main drop is definitely one to jump if you feel up to it, nice deep pool and a vertical drop so no chance of hitting rocks on the way down, as for the rest of the river I have not got round to paddling it yet so couldn't say whether it would be walkable.

Another place to look might be wild swimming books as they often have ideas of places to visit.

Hope that helps
Rob

[David Martin]

Falloch is good for gorge walking/swimming. Park up a the Falls of Falloch (signposted off the A82 at the top of loch lomond) then head up the river above the falls. There is some good bits to climb up and slide back down, a few holes in the rock that you can swim through if you know where to find them and there are many cliffs to jump off in the gorge and around the falls from 10 to 40 ish feet. I imagine the gorge downstream is also good fun but have only paddled it so far.

[banzer]

Hey Joe

The Coe you can split into two sections, the upper and lower, either side of the lochan that the road runs beside. The lower has only one gorge section, not deep water though so not the sort of thing you can jump into. There's a bit of a waterfall a couple of hundred yards upstream from the Clachaig which you could splash around in but no deep pools.

The upper has more scope for ropework if you like that sort of thing. In fact if you go the the Falls of Coe at the viewpoint ('Meeting of the Waters'), this is on one the the two headwaters of the Coe and you can go another km up here for some tight gorgey / slidey bits. Below the river gets tight and deep in some sections which I suppose you could swim parts of, not really a canyon. There's also a half-submerged tree trunk that you wouldn't want to get stuck under. Again no real deep pools anywhere on the Coe though, I would be tempted to look elsewhere for real canyoning action.

As for the 'commercial' canyons, the companies don't own them any more than you do. However I would suggest going after they finish (at 6pm) out of politeness, not very fair on them or paying clients to see you doing it yourself, plus if you injured yourself no doubt they would end up having to rescue you. And whether or not you think it's ok to use the bolts and abseil points that they've put in, well that's up to you.

Don't forget the Allt Mheuran down Glen Etive which you can slide down most of on your backside / a rubber tube - good fun at quite low levels.

[joe2012uk]

Wow guys, thanks for the great info,

I was thinking of jumping falloch but wasn't sure about the rocks below, so you have definitely made me feel more secure about it :)

Ill need to check out some wild swimming stuff then, if it means more info, wanna be prepared, I need to get some new rope it's a bit frayed done a commercial one in Dunoon, I shoulda used their equipment.

I will need to look into the Allt Mheuran, always follow up recommendations never no what you might find :)

So guys are you all mainly paddlers or are some more walkers, want to make some friends that are interested too, still trying to persuade my pal, she thinks am off my head wanting to jump falls and that, but then again I think shes off her head for throwing herself down a mountain on a bike lol.

Great hearing from you all, if this is the right place I'll keep you posted and if anyones wanting to get in touch pm me can chat on FB Skype or whatever :)

Thanks Guys
Joe