Scotland

Books Scottish White Water 2nd Edition is what you need. It is excellent, well designed, easy to read, well organised. Written by Andy Jackson and friends. Make sure to get the second edition which contains even more ditches and burns. Careful: Amazon are still selling the 1st edition, so better to order from SCA or direct from Pesda Press.

British White Water, Terry Storry, is getting old now, but is still a classic, very readable, good guides to some scottish rivers, even up in the very north, and good explanations of the geology which has led to such a paddleable place.

Two other books which may be of interest if you have other interests than white water:

Scottish Canoe Touring SCA / Pesda press

Scottish Sea Kayaking Pesda Press

Online Guides

As always, UK riversguide book is king!

Go to the Rivers section

Scottish Canoe Association = Canoe Scotland

They have a good website, plenty of info on:

  • Access (its great! Unlike England, you can pretty much paddle anything, as long as you act responsibly.)
  • Whitewater and river levels (see below)
  • Touring, if you want to do a loch or two.
  • Hydro schemes :-( see below.

Hydro Schemes

Ok, this is in fact, the only bad thing about scotland:

At the moment, due to grants from the government for renewable energy, hydro plants are getting built here there and everywhere.

While it is important to try to be green, most of these hydro plants will provide relatively little power, while messing up some of the most beautiful rivers in Britain. This is an environmental disaster for total change of those rivers, and a paddling disaster for us.

Please take time to visit the campaign parts of the SCA website. If you are going on holiday to Scotland, then write a letter to the environment agency and your MP and the MP of the area that you are visiting. Tell them how much you love holidaying in Scotland, because of the paddling. Explain that you and your friends tend to spend money in the local area where you visit. And that you enjoy the unspoilt countryside. Express your concern about the hydro schemes and explain how they will impact on your sport. Do it Now!

See Hydro Action Campaign for more details

River Levels

Hooray! Scotland have a great “access to info” situation, as well as a great access situation.

Particularly pretty and useful is the “Where’s the water” river level info site, run by the SCA. Click on pic to get up to date info on river levels

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