INVERVAR
See page 266 of the Scottish Guidebook.
LOCATION
Another tributary of the Lyon, the Invervar Burn flows into (suprisingly!) Invervar, where the landowner of Glen Lyon lives. A footpath leads up through a gate and into woodland. A brisk ten minute walk up the track will bring you to the top of the woods. Cut across to the river and check out the top drops.
WATER LEVELS
We've run it with not much water and with loads: it was far better with loads but it goes up a grade and eddies are pretty tight!
DESCRIPTION/REPORT
One word for this in high water: amazing!
All the rapids on this are bedrock ledges and slabs, and the gradient is suprisingly steep. There are lots and lots of drops: imagine the Allt a Chaoruinn and Allt Mheuran mixed together! In lower water eddies are frequent, but in higher water you are committed to running several rapids at a time, so bank scouting is a must at these levels.
The guidebook recommends getting in below the dam, where a set of three steep falls lead into a pool. I've run the dam (below); I'm not sure if this has been run before or not! There is a very narrow line between bedrock ledges: miss it and kiss your ankles goodbye!
We've recently (November 2006) run the short but very sweet section above the dam. There are three or four relly nice drops, with the highlight being a 3m drop leading straight into another double fall with some tricky roosters. See here for some photos. Well worth it if wet enough! Just keep walking up the track until a small footbridge, then cut across to the river here.
After the dam come four drops in a row. The last one is nastiest and you really want to be on the right: left = wall. A big pool below allows you to collect your thoughts. Below the pool come more drops with small eddies, and then another quadruple drop with a shallow hole at the bottom. Be sure to boof! In lower water an eddy allows a break, but in higher water you get flushed down the next drop, a twisting drop and hard ferry to being swept down the next section.
Below this are some big holes in high water, with some low trees to avoid. Great fun in any water level. Then comes the biggest drop: a fifteen foot chute which tries to propel you into the opposite wall. Yet more drops follow. One, under a rotten fence/bridge, needs a sharp left turn to avoid the rock wall. Try and stay as central as possible as the wall likes to eat cags!
An undercut drops leads down to the road, and a welcome relief. Or walk back up and do it again!
PHOTOS
(click to enlarge)
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