Packrafts on the Spey

MY mate Hamish Telfer came north to visit for a few days and as a wee break from cycling I took him packrafting.

Had a lovely morning on Loch Insh as Hamish adjusted to life afloat then we drove along to Lochan Uvie below Creag Dhubh where we hoped to access the River Spey. The idea was then to float downriver back to Newtonmore or Kingussie, depending largely on how the river was running.

Lochan Uvie is a lovely spot, two small lochs which look as though they may have been part of an ox-bow lake at one time. Both are connected to the Spey by what looks like man-made channels.

We chose to put the rafts in at the further west of the two lochans, deep in the shadow of the Creag Dhubh crags where I've enjoyed some pretty hairy rock-climbing in days gone by.

Today was meant to be more of a relaxation, drifting along in boats in the sun! It didn't quite turn out like that though...

Our channel that connected to the Spey turned out to go through a large pipe which was too small for us to float through so we simply dragged the rafts over the grass to the river and put in beyond the pipe. The River was moving slowly, flat calm and stately. Almost serene.

And the first section was certainly serene, drifting downriver with little effort, enjoying the familiar scenery but from a new angle.

Asd we approached the River Truim confluence the character of the river changed a bit. It was much shallower and we were both getting bruised arses from bumping along over rocks.

It was here that we learned a little technique that was to prove useful further down the river. Whenever we reached a shallow section we braced our feet against the front of the boat, leaned back over the stern and raised our backsides off the bottom - made all the difference.

Several times we had to get out of the boat and push or pull it clear but we soon learned how to read the river and watch out for the deeper channels - mostly to the left of right hand hand bends and vice versa.

There was another reason was seeking out these channels - they were faster and much more fun than simply floating gently.

I would be grossly exaggerating if I described any of this as whitewater rafting and it certainly wasn't white-knuckle or squeaky bum stuff but it was hugely enjoyable, so much so that when we reached sections of flat water it seemed like tremendously hard work to have to paddle through it.

Just beyond the Newtonmore road and rail bridges we enjoyed some of the best sections, fast moving water where we had to watch out for overhanging trees over the faster channels.

By the time we reached Kingussie we were absolutely delighted by how much fun it had been and I think Hamish has become a packrafting convert like me. So much so that we began making plans for an overnight trip to Sutherland where some loch systems and wild remote campsites were calling us.

That's where we'll use the packrafts for what they were designed for - wilderness travel, combining hiking or mountain biking with travel over any intervening waterways - lochs, or bays or rivers - by packraft. Can't wait to load my bike on the front of the raft and float off...