NAME OF RIVER: Lyon.

WHERE IS IT?: It's hidden up Glen Lyon, a tributary of the River Tay. OS sheet 51.

PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Driving up the Glen Lyon road, where the road is really high on the river left, you can see the last 8' fall.

Get out is where the road comes back to the river, drive further up the Glen and put on at the handy 'no canoeing sign'! Layby and white house on right.

If you don't run MacGregor's Leap, there is one more 1.5 metre drop downstreamm of this.

APPROX LENGTH: 2 miles.

TIME NEEDED: 40 minutes to MacGregor's Leap.

ACCESS SITUATION: Exercise discretion. Unfortunately, there is a resident here who dislikes kayakers.

Michael Meaden...(Dec '01) 'Despite stories of the infamous landowner, we had no problems, but for the Lyon, we did drive out of the glen to get fully dressed, drive back to the "No Canoes" sign and get straight on before anyone had the chance to ask what we were up to.'

WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: It needs rain but not that much.

Rik Hensman (Oct 2005)...'If the water is 6 inches below the concrete base of the bridge at the get out you should not paddle, its too low. In low flows the whole river becomes more of a portage than a paddle.

GRADING: Grade 3/ 4 (5).

MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: MacGregor's Leap.

Ian Grieve, Stonehaven Canoe Club (July 2006)...'We did the river today with the water level quite low, at the bridge the water level was just under the concrete base by a few inches. We came across 2-3 fallen trees that caused problems where some of us thought it would be safer to walk, higher water would more than likely make it possible to not worry about them, but just a heads up to anyone doing it to check any rapids that can't been seen from upriver.'

See also 'OTHER NOTES' below.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Grade 3/4 rapids which are quite good, but they run straight into a grade 5/ 'unrunnable at some levels' section - MacGregor's Leap. Be careful.

Michael Meaden...'Lyon, reminded me a bit of Spean gorge, at times it seemed to disappear round the corner, but there's always an eddy, from where you can see the next eddy etc etc. Check in advance where you want to get out for MacGregor's Leap.'

Iain Bethune, Edinburgh University Canoe Club... (November 2002) 'Having just paddled the River Lyon today, I figured you could use some info from a fresh memory. The river was run at medium-high levels (not in spate, but well covering the concrete bases of the bridge pillars at the get-out. MacGregor's Leap at this level is basically 4 smallish drops in the gorge which is ended by a tight constriction - wide enough to paddle through, but narrow enough to trap a boat if it drifted in sideways. Once you're on you're not getting off till the bottom, and the top get-out is a small shingle beach on river left (again, have a look before you get on). Safety cover can be arranged close to the bank, but the rocks can be slippery, so roping rescuers to the trees further from the bank is a good idea. About 300m below MacGregor's Leap there is a 1.5m drop which becomes fairly retentitive on river right at this level. Fortunately, with enough water the route down the left becomes an option (albeit a bumpy one). All in all, a great fun technical river run - lots of little play waves, and MacGregor's Leap sure gets the adrenaline running!'

OTHER NOTES: If you can put up with the hassle, be polite and agree and nod, its a good run.

An interesting tributary is Invervar Burn. If this is running, take a look at Innerwick Burn also.

Paul Marshall, Stonehaven Canoe Club (July 2006)...'Thought I would drop you an e-mail to warn other paddlers from getting into the trouble I did on the River Lyon.

There are 2 prominent flow slots in the top section of the River Lyon on the section well above MacGregor's Leap. Being used to the Tummel where there are small shoots a paddler can swim through if need be, I decided to try this on the Lyon.

*Background:* Paddling with 4 other kayakers from Stonehaven Canoe Club. We came to the second slot recognised by a dark flat pool above and below and a short 1.5 - 2m long and 1m wide shoot of water straight through between the pools. When looking downstream the slot has a large rock wall on the right and a large block on the left sloping down toward the slot.

River level was reasonably low, but the slot is still noticeable in higher water. Most of the group decided to pull their kayaks out across the sloping slab and into the pool on the other side. The slot looked fairly harmless with deepwater in the pools either side and a reasonable uninterrupted flow straight through. Foolishly I and a fellow paddler decided to just swim through and push our kayaks in front. I went first to try it out.

*Incident:* Swimming into the gap and pushing the boat in front, I quickly became pinned by the strong flow against a submerged rock bar positioned just into the front of the slot. The bar is hidden within the dark water and was just 20 cm beneath the surface at that river level.

The bar stretched across the entrance to the slot and was about 30cm thick, with a much larger scoured and concave undercut beneath. A strong undercurrent seemed to flow into a small hole lower down leading through to the downstream pool.

The moderate flow across the top was powerful when you're pinned by the flow. I had great difficulty in being able to move, and there was a larger dangerous underflow through the deeper funnel beneath the bar.

To cut a long story short, luckily I am fit and have a strong build and managed with great exertion to resist the underflow by hook my arms over the rock bar. But I only managed to escape due to a combination of the help of my fellow paddlers who had looped a rope around my chest and hauled, and my own strength to heave myself with great effort over the bar. I was exhausted afterward.

I may not have survived if: (1) I had been of smaller build and strength, or (2) my fellow paddlers hadn't been so quick to react and throw a rope around my chest and help to finally pull me over the bar, or (3) if the river flow had been stronger. I consider myself very lucky.

*Main point:* Please warn other paddlers from being tempted to swim through the tight slots on the River Lyon, no matter how harmless they may look.

This is just as relevant for those considering a short cut like me, or a paddler capsizing and baling out in the river just upstream and being tempted to swim through the slot to catch up with their boat. Don't do it !!

The concentrated river flow is very strong through the slots even at low-moderate water levels, and there can be a very dangerous hidden rock bar across the slot just below the surface, with an undercut and strong
undercurrent. Also the soil cover on the river banks is thin and a number of trees and their debris litter the river banks. Trapped logs or branches could also be jammed in the slots beneath the surface.

CONTRIBUTED BY: Neil Farmer, also Michael Meaden, Rik Hensman, Paul Marshall, Ian Grieve and Iain Bethune.