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GUIDE TO THE RIVER PATTACK NAME OF RIVER: Pattack. WHERE IS IT?: Head up Glen Spean past the Laggan Dam and Loch Laggan. The Pattack is visible from the road on the right where it comes into view flowing over a 2-3 metre fall. PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Put-in is tricky...use an OS map to find the forest track up to the Falls of Pattack. Where the track is barred by a gate, carry down to put in BELOW the impressive Falls. Finding them won't be hard, you can often see clouds of spray rising up above the trees from a mile away. Take-out at the road below the above mentioned fall. APPROX LENGTH: 4 miles. TIME NEEDED: 1-2 hours. ACCESS SITUATION: Dave Alldritt, SCA river advisor for the Pattack...'The access situation there is not an easy free-for-all. Access to the Falls of Pattack is by private road. If you want to paddle just the gorge you are welcome to walk up the river right bank. However if you want to go up to the falls then please contact the SCA river advisor in the first instance - that is Dave Alldritt who can be reached by phone 01479 810116 (daytime), or email dave@highlandcanoes.co.uk. The 'road' is single track and unhardened. There is limited space to turn round and only room for two cars at the top. During winter 98/99 the estate twice pulled out cars of canoeists who got bogged down in mud/ snow. The track is used by the estate for working traffic and if you block it do not expect any sympathy. The estate owners actually want to see people enjoying themselves on the river - but paddlers need to act responsibly to maintain good relations. A non-paddling shuttle driver is a good idea because then you don't have to leave a vehicle at the top. A quick call to the river advisor a few days before you want to paddle will help all of us to have a good time without unnecessary hassle - driving up without clearing it through the estate office will not help the long-term access situation. One final thing - don't bother with the Pattack in mid-summer unless there has been a torrential downpour, it is no fun at bump and scrape levels.' Chris Fawcett (November 2004)...'As long as you stick to the access arrangement as previously mentioned eg ring or call in at the estate office I would suggest you'll have no problem. The gate mentioned is in fact an electric barrier which is opened by a code (hence needing to contact the estate office). The estate office appeared to be more than welcome for canoeists to paddle the river, a refreshing change! If the gorge section looks runnable (you can view this section by walking up from the car park at the egress) the rest of the river will be ok. We paddled Wed 17.11.04 and found the river at a medium level.' Further essential info from Gordon Miller (11/5/00)...'In late March this year the club (during a one week Scotland trip) went to paddle the Pattack. As advised by Glenmore Lodge staff in previous years (when on courses etc.) we called in at the Ardverikie Estate Office to 'check-in' prior to going onto the estate up the private road to the recognised get-in at the Falls of Pattack. The 'long and short' of the conversation I had with them was that whilst they are happy to let canoeists paddle the river - and have no objections to them doing so - they have had complaints from the people who live on the estate concerning the way that some cars are being driving up and down the estate road. I understand the main concern is that there are several cottages/houses/farmsteadings with families and young children along the length of the estate road and that the amount of traffic from canoeists and the speed that they sometimes drive at is being seen as potentially a danger. I was told that on a few occasions last year (1999) there were several near misses (with cars/children) which could have ended in a tragedy. I think that we, as paddlers, must bear in mind is that we are dramatically increasing the number of traffic 'movements' along this private road which hitherto had only a few slow moving estate/farm vehicles a day. Bearing in mind that this is a private road then I feel we should try to ensure that we take into consideration the wishes of the estate and those The Estate office asked if I would pass on their request that canoeists forewarn the estate office of their intent to paddle on the river (in effect use the estate road - see later comment) either by letter, fax or e-mail (addresses below). They did not say if they would refuse access - however, my feeling is that this may be an attempt to control numbers in busy periods. Bearing in mind that the estate office is concerned with the number of vehicles on the private road rather than the number of paddlers on the river I think they have a very good arguement. Again my 'feelings', but a telephone call may suffice in the less busy periods - or even a visit to the office before getting on to the river. When are the busy periods - who knows? Certainly the weekends during the autumn, winter and spring when the river is up. In discussion with the estate office it became apparent that the 'estate' does not 'own' the land along the whole length of the river. The land at the bottom end of the river - which includes the grade 3/4 'gorge' section is owned by the Forestry Commission. Thus, to park at the bottom car park (the recognised get-out) and to carry boats up to the top of the gorge section (~400m) does not involve the Ardverikie Estate - only the Forestry Commission. Given that there are footpaths open to the public along this section then there should not be any problems whatsoever. However, I must admit - I don't know where the Forestry Commission's land stops and the Estate's lands begins.' Addresses.... The following are the details of the contact with the Ardverikie Estate... Duncan Leslie WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Stays up quite well a few days after rain. We paddled it in lowish levels and it is graded accordingly. GRADING: 3-4. Apparently becomes much harder in high water, see below. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: The Falls of Pattack have been done, but most will want to start BELOW them! Richard Repper (August 2005)...'We scouted the river on wednesday the 24th of August after heavy rain the previous day. At the bottom of the final 'gorge' section, just above the final drop, we discovered that the river right channel of the final rapid (where the river drops either side of a large rock), which I presume to be the usual line, obstructed by a fallen tree at water level. This left only the river left line, which would have involved a rock slide to avoid a rather large cushion wave against the left hand wall. If the line was botched (eg if the paddler didn't hit the slide with enough speed and dropped back into the flow), the paddler would certainly flip and be rapidly propelled towards the heavily scoured out wall at the apex of the bend on river right with potentially extremely unpleasant consequences. Essentially, due to the tree, this short section, at least at these levels, has been made a significantly more serious undertaking than anything else we saw on the run. Unfortunately we didn't see a SEPA guage to give an accurate level.' Mark Rainsley (October 2005)...'I paddled this line last week, but did not spot the tree (highish water levels)...not clear if it is still there or not.' Jonathan Swale (Nov 2005)...'We paddled the Pattack last week and the tree that was blocking the right side of the boulder in the gorge has gone (at least we saw no sign of it at medium water levels and took the right-hand route with no problem).' GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A short trip for intermediate paddlers. From the Falls, there are various small rapids but the only notable rapids are, in order....a two metre ledge (big stopper in high water levels??), a narrow Grade 3 gorge, and then a narrow Grade 4 gorge at the end, leading into the final drop you saw at the take-out. This river has been paddled right from the Loch at the head of the valley, but I haven't done this. You would need to figure out how to get an estate key to take the roundabout road to get there. You can't drive straight up the valley (even if you had the appropriate key), the bridges are too weak. Anybody done this section? OTHER NOTES: The full trip from the top of the valley would probably be an interesting 'expedition'? Ian Thom offers some advice on paddling the section described here...'We arrived early on in the day and found the gate locked on the road, and with no sign of the landowner we drove back down to the carpark by the bottom fall. The river was pumping down with heavy rain from the previous night visibly filling the river up. We decided to carry our boats up the path on river right inspecting on the way. We put on about one kilometre up. The run was fast and continuous, with one inspection about 150 metres above the bottom drop. The last rapid ending in the bottom drop (Visible from the road) was approaching grade 5. This only took around 1 hour all in all, so we had plenty time to paddle another two rivers that day. I would recommend this as it means: CONTRIBUTED BY: Mark Rainsley, Gordon Miller, Ian Thom, Richard Repper, Jonathan Swale, Chris Fawcett and Dave Aldritt. |
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