Coe trip details

(Loch Achtriochtan to Glencoe Visitor Centre)
Region: Scotland
Discipline: Whitewater
Difficulty: Expert
Grade: 4
Length: 6 km
Average Time: 4 hrs
Start: Put-in where the river leaves Loch Achtriochtan. Or at the turn off for the Clachaig inn. A bit further down form the loch.
Finish: Take out in a large eddy on river left close to the new Glencoe Visitor Centre and campsite.

A fun great trip in a scenic scottish glen. Although a short run this section is on the way to or from the Etive. So it makes an ideal river to combined with others in the area.
     From the Loch, you'll enjoy some fast technical grade 3 with nice surf waves. After the warm up you'll lead straight into the biggest fall on the river, a long steep slide into a rock-infested hole. It's Grade 5- do Avoid the various river left routes on this drop, there are iron stakes and similar nastyness   stuck in the river bed at low water.
          More grade 3 water follows , with a short grade 4 rapid warning you that the Coe gorge is up next. The river soon steepens, whislt narrowing and accelerating towards the mouth of the gorge. At medium levels, there is nothing too worry about inside, but it's a continuous read-runnable grade 4 half a mile of with stoppers and vertical sides. Be careful the gorge ends with a very large mid-stream rock that makes a good tree catcher.

After the gorge, the best of the river is behind you but there are a couple of grade 4 pool-drop rapids to keep you on your toes. The first of these falls becomes a constriction at low/medium levels. The second fall is a rocky, slanting drop into a rock wall on river right normally. This can deal out severe stopper beatings at certain levels!

After this, keep your eyes peeled for a take-out spot which will get you to the road. The river eases to Grade 1-2.

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Accommodation: The Clachaig Inn is a well known pub for good food a warm fire and a good B and B. Also just down the road from Clachaig inn is the Glen Coe Yha. Which has all a paddler could ask for.

Food and Drinks: The Clahaig Inn for a good pub meal or for a big shop Fort William

Canoe Shops: Nevis Canoes

Guidebooks: Scottish Whitewater published by Pesda Press

Useful Websites:
www.metcheck.com
www.syha.org.uk


Kayaking and canoeing are assumed risk sports and you should take every effort to become aware of any dangers involved. These guides are not intended as instruction manuals they are just as the name suggests... guides. They can give you access and egress information and give you a flavour of the water you'll encounter, but water is an ever-changing environment. Rivers change with varying water levels, trees get stuck, and banks can collapse. Never assume a river is safe just because you read it in a guide. You must use your own judgement and experiences to make the decision whether to paddle, or not. And as rivers change so to at sea can the weather conditions and tides change. All information has been checked to the best of our ability, is given in good faith, and we hope will be helpful, but all information should be checked locally and you and you alone are responsible for your decisions to undertake any of the paddling trips contained within it. The authors and publisher can accept no responsibility for any inconvenience, injury or loss sustained by any persons as a result of information given in this guide.


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