It’s Christmas time and all the guys are back home enjoying the free (and very good) food. A little rain and melting snow means the rivers in the north east have been up high over the last couple of days. I managed a quick blast down the Dee today in borrowed kit and a borrowed boat. Big levels made it a fun bouncy trip but mostly just a good bit of cold fun! I imagine that’s the last boating till Christmas now, Merry Christmas all and I shall see you all in the new year.

BM

Hi Guys!

I’ve had a little spare time of this last weekend and managed to get some photo and video stuffs done! The big result being the creation of a short film showing the highlights form Glasgow Uni Canoe Club’s annual North East Weekend. This year a great bunch of beginners and coaches headed up paddle the river Findhorn and learn some new skills! Thanks to everyone who went for making it a great trip!

Happy boating!
BM

Hi guys!

Had a bit of rain finally, and that meant getting out as much as possible. Along with a few regularly run trips myself and Sean ending up trekking up to do two new runs for us in the North East.

First up the Blackwater, the Perthshire one. A good run, drops you straight in the action, before easing of until the main gorge hits you. Some real nice grade 4 action to be had and a good days boating with Stewart C. On the back of that we decided to stay a night with my folks, then hit a river that’s been on my to do list for a long time.

The Garbh Allt. A great run this. One of the most picturesque rivers you will come across. The action starts with a few rock slides, each 3-4 metres which flow off a tricky lip into a 15 foot drop. All of this set beneath a Victorian cast iron bridge makes for some sweet photos. The rest of the river runs well, if a little low with more slides and drops to be found for the next 1/2 kilometre, before it settles out to a gentle grade 3 run off.

2 days of amazing boating, and two new runs ticked off, happy days! Cheers to Stewart C for keeping us company! Photos to follow (hopefully)

On a side note, i produced a couple of videos for the Glasgow Uni freshers week recently, using some footage from the past year or so. Here’s the final product, for more check out the videos page.

Freshers ’10 from Ben Marshall on Vimeo.

Ben

This was our super secret awesomeness trip that took place yesterday and involved four of the guys, Sean, Ben, Gregor and Fraser doing some super secret stuff. However this wont stay a secret for long and will be released march 2011 along with what should hopefully be one amazing video!

Sean

It’s been a while!

We’ve been busy though, getting out paddling when we can. Sean has been absent due to working away from Glasgow, but the rest of us have been out racking up good trips on the usual suspects, Orchy, Etive, Tummel. Me and Sean managed a brief run of the Upper Tummel section, which i recommend checking out if you’ve never been! Some old video of that run can be found on the vimeo site.

For our latest run Sean returned and we headed off to a local low water creek. Highlights reel below for your viewing pleasure!

Doon – Summer ’10 from Ben Marshall on Vimeo.

Hopefully we will fall upon some heavy rain soon, and ill be able to report something a bit more exotic!

That’s all for now folks,
Ben

A couple of weeks back Scotland was hit by a mass of rain. After a dry winter this was welcomed by all kayakers! I managed to get out boating a loit during this time, hitting up the Etive, Allt a’ Chourain and the Spean Gorge. The most exciting thing i got on though was a little Ayrshire gem, the Carrick Lane. This magic river is hidden at the top end of Loch Doon, and the last 2km give a really nice run. We managed to hit it at peak levels, possibly the highest its been run?? Anyway the run went well with a couple of questionable lines. Thanks to Euan R and Michael T for hitting this one up with me, big thanks to Euan for the video!

Ben