Paul Walker

At the Glasgow University Canoe Club, all through the year strong paddlers give up their time to take out newcomers and take them out on slower, easier, and in some cases what they see as boring rivers in order to further the club and the sport.

The Advanced Fort William Weekend, which is subsidised, is the clubs way of thanking these paddlers.   In my seven years at the club, I have been invited on this trip six times (only in the last three do I actually think I was good enough to go).   Yet due to other commitments, I had never managed to go.

This weekend, held this late on the hopes of getting rain, was dry.   Oh well.

On Saturday, we ran the Pattack (a rather pretty, grade 3/4 river that was mostly (if not entirely) grade 3 due to the levels) and a whole seven of us got on to the Spean Gorge.   Feeling that I was paddling better than average I joined Rupert, Sam and Tom in running the Headbanger, and having ran the flat water of death once in my life I portaged Constriction.

Sunday was more interesting.   Despite protests from some of those who'd been on previous Fort William trips, we went to the Dalness section of the Etive.   I was quite up for this, and planned (after inspecting the run) to paddle everything, as I could see the lines on all of the rapids, thought I could make most of them, and knew I'd be in safe hands should I screw up.   It turned out that a lot of people just gave paddling on Sunday a miss...and given that most of them hadn't paddled the Spean Gorge on Saturday, that meant they'd come on the Advanced weekend to paddle the Pattack... I must admit I did feel slightly sorry for them.

No-one messed up the first drop (though I'm sure my line was not one of the cleaner ones).   Sam, Rupert, Chris, Tom and I were the only ones to attempt the Slot.   Tom and I swam.   Not sure there's much else to say except maybe "sorry!!" to Fraser for using the throwline he was attached to while escaping the churning water.

From what I understand, I got one of the nicest lines on T-Junction, possibly (unlikely) making up for my previous failure on the Slot.   It was here that Euan and Kieran both capsized, with the former picking up a swim and choosing, like Tom, to get off the river.

Dalness Falls.   It may seem a surprise to those reading my blog that I really only have two fears.   My friends, colleagues, and those with whom I paddle are aware of them, but I suppost I can't assume that they are necessarily the only ones who read this blog ("hello", if you fall into one of those categories).   I am both afraid of heights and water.   Kayaking may appear a strange choice, but it means that I can try and control my fears rather than letting them control me.

With a waterfall, particularly one as intimidating as this one, my resolve is always put to the test.   It is telling that the river on which I have racked up the most swims is the Etive, a river famous for it's waterfalls.

I almost didn't do it.   It was close, but I managed to run it and, more surprisingly, not swim.   In fact the only person to swim here was Fraser (though Kieran must have come close when the water pushed his kayak underneath an undercut rock with him still in it).

Overall this was an excellent weekend, and I'm glad I pushed myself to wring every last drop out of it.   Hopefully it will not be my only Fort William Weekend.