Arkaig and Theft of Water

 

Negotiating Rhododendrons to get to the river

 The one and only large rapid on the river

Today Andy, Andy and I went for a hopefull look at The Roy Gorge (which was too low to paddle) so we returned to The Arkaig as we thought it would still be ok as we paddled it a few days ago. The water level had dropped by at least 6 inches if not more. The only explanation for this missing water (other than the lack of rain) is that the locals have been stealing it for their whisky production! We had a quick blast down through the low volume Grade 4 rapid (probably only 3+ today) and were back in the van in under an hour. This afternoon was spent doing rain dances and drinking coffee vaguely hoping some precipitation overnight. This week was ment to be about running big volume Scottish rivers and this hasn't really happened.