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GUIDE TO THE RIVER TILT NAME OF RIVER: River Tilt. WHERE IS IT?: Blair Atholl. PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: APPROX LENGTH: 6-7 km? TIME NEEDED: ACCESS SITUATION: Private road owned by Blair Atholl Estate. Vehicular access has now been stopped but the estates office state that they have no objection to paddlers using the river so broad shoulders are required (but off the record, it is sometimes possible (normally winter - midweek) to negotiate access with the estates office (for a fee!!)). Actual access points and also egress points are very limited due to nature of river - deep gorge. Normal access point is at entrance to farm building along the Glen road. WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: GRADING: Grade 4-5. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Slippy (may 2004)...'Paddled the Tilt on the 3rd May just after the start off the first gorge below Gilberts Bridge, there is a tree lodged accross the river. There is an eddy river right immeadiately above the tree but if you miss it you get intimate with the tree. The portage is entertaining too.' Matt Stockman...'We paddled it (20/03/2004) in low levels. the whole trip was scrapy but fun. At these levels there's a tree strainer about half way down the lower section. It's really hard to avoid, as the main flow pushs right onto it and the rocks above may not let you go around! Speaking from experience, there don't seem to be too many snags under it. It only held me for about a minute anyway. You can see the tree from the path on the walk in, so you'll know it when you get there.' Tom Crow...'We paddled it on Saturday (29/11/03) in huge water, in the gorge
above the bridge at the first get in, there is a tree across the entire river
with no way to portage or get around it. We only spotted it whilst walking the
final 2km to the middle put in and decided to scrap the whole upper section
because we weren't convinced we could get out in time. It may be possible to
limbo under once the river drops but I'm not convinced. GENERAL DESCRIPTION: From above access point the initial section is very continuous and depending on water levels will be grade 3+ - 4. About 400m the river goes under a high road bridge- the last chance to egress. If you 've found this section pushy - DO NOT CONTINUE!! Shortly afterwards the river enters a tight gorge - the first drop is easy to cover and portage - but past here - there are several drops which although they can be inspected are virtually impossible to cover or WALK around. The gorge opens out slightly to give an excellent section of Grade 3- 4+ before entering into another tight gorge. On normal levels the whole river drops through a very small undercut entrance - just wide enough for a boat to get through, again very difficult to cover or portage although the gorge below this doesn't normally hide any nasty surprises!! (we ran it in flood and this drop was about 3m wide!!). Past here is another road bridge (alternative access/ egress point). The river again flattens out before disappearing around a broad left hand bend (Often has fallen trees across) and then drops severely into Chain Bridge Falls- a series of rocky drops/ stoppers around a steep tight "S " bend. Can be inspected from a rocky outcrop on lefthand side and portaged (with good seal launch potential). The river continues down to the Old Bridge of Tilt with one more big drop just before the egress point - a layby on river Left. This last drop, known as the Slot, can be easily inspected from the road and gives a good indication of water level. We've run this river 6 or 7 times on varying levels. In Flood several of the gorges "wash out" - but other parts of the river form horrendous river wide stoppers and becomes continual Grade 5- (similar to Upper Dart in flood!!). OTHER NOTES: One of my personal favourites in the UK. Frazer Pearce (http://www.thepoly.co.uk/kayak) adds...'We often use the Tilt for taking beginners down (on their first gorge trip - not the upper section). It really breaks into 3 sections, the top gorge is grade 4, the middle gorge (down to chain bridge which makes an easy if difficult to spot take out as well as put in) is grade 2/3 and the lower section is 3. You can run it all boat scouting if you have a bit of nerve. The hardest drop is probably chain bridge falls but this is portageable quite easily at normal levels. The lower gorge washes out at really high levels, I've run it up to limbo under chain bridge, probably 15+ feet up on usual and it was not hard (apart from the final rapid at the end which was quite chewy). The upper gorge makes a tricky 4 and would probably be lots of fun when honking. Undercut in places and quite continuous with some water.' Jim Wallis adds: 'You have a photo of the last rapid on the Tilt, named the slot. It appears that at least some Scottish people know it as the Sting in the Tail. I'm not really bothered what its called, I ran it quite low, backlooped on the first drop and had to run it backwards - into the undercut river left which gave me whiplash. My neck still isn't right and that was back in February! I'll definitely not forget the rapid!' CONTRIBUTED BY: Dave Francis, also Tom Crow, Jim Wallis, Matt Stockman, Slippy and Frazer Pearce. |
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