GUIDE TO THE ALLT BREINACH

NAME OF RIVER: Allt Breinach.

WHERE IS IT?: On the south side of Loch Ness. It's under the road directly after you leave the B862, heading for the much bigger River Fechlin.

PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Drive up the lane close to the river until you get to some farm buildings. Negotiate your way to the river discreetly. Or just carry up a little way from the bridge where you first see the river. The takeout is just after the river joins the River Fechlin and becomes the River Foyers, where the B862 crosses the river.

APPROX LENGTH: 2 miles.

TIME NEEDED: An hour at most.

ACCESS HASSLES: Unknown.

WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: We paddled this bank-full after rain. Very high water would make the waterfall very dangerous.

GRADING: Grade 4. The waterfall may be grade 5?

MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: The waterfall.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION: From the putin, the river winds around bends with little whitewater. However, you soon enter the short gorge which consists of a series of enjoyable drops, steeper than it looks from the bridge!

Directly after the bridge is the waterfall, inspectable from either bank. It drops 5 metres through a narrow slot on the lip into a surprisingly vicious stopper, hemmed in by the cliff on river right. Although dropping off it hardly requires expertise, be prepared with bank support. All of our paddlers were caught out by this stopper, with one paddler (er...me!) disappearing from sight for a long while before an unpleasant swim deep below the fall.

Below the fall, grade 3 water with some playwaves leads past the confluence of the River Fechlin to the getout bridge. The river below here is called the River Foyers.

OTHER NOTES: You would really only want to visit this as part of a trip to the River Fechlin.

Also read, Who Needs the Himalayas?

CONTRIBUTED BY: Mark Rainsley.