Rafting 101
Saturday the 10th of May 2008. 18 degrees C’, brilliant sunshine and not a cloud in the smooth azure sky! It sounds more like a Mediterranean Holiday brochure than Highland Perthshire. The good weather must bring all the thrill seekers out of the woodwork! 101 smiling faces greeted the guides for the afternoon rafting session at 13:00 hrs. The staff at the Tully Cafe Bar had their work cut out but rose to the occasion! Churning out endless Bacon sandwiches, full breakfasts, home-made soup and rolls, Chilli, Lattes, Cappuchinos, Double-Mocha-Frappa-Choco-Espressiaatos!!! phew! And of course lashings and lashings of cold beer or chilled white wine (after the rafting, you understand!).
Once everyone had signed on the dotted line and changed into lots of swanky rubber kit everyone was transported by our new bus contractor Bankfoot Busses, to our put-in point on the River Tay by General Wades Bridge. Floating past the historic Black Watch regimental monument, looking back upstream at the stunning backdrop vista provided by Ben Lawers, Meall Garbh and An Stuc it is very easy to see why people decided to ’set up camp’ here originally.
The promise of being able to warm up after a dip in the still ‘refreshing’ water prompted much frivolity and saw plenty of folk jumping in to cool themselves off before heading downstream to take on the grade 2 and 3 rapids. (One of the Gents on a stag weekend was sporting a ‘Mankini’, he got out of the water a little quicker) With names like The Graveyard and The Widowmaker it all sounds a bit scary! Our guides took it all in their stride, however and showed once again that it’s not half as intimidating as the names would suggest, with everyone coming off the river with huge smiles on their faces and a hunger for more adventure with SPLASH.
“The best thing about the trip was going down the ‘fast bits’”.
“Thanks Rod!…for an excellent experience and a great time”!
What was the best thing about your trip?
“It was all absolutely Awesome”.
What was the worst thing about your trip?
“It ended”!
What could we have done better?
“Nothing, even the sun was shining”! thanx.
“Everyone got wet and enjoyed it!! I never thought it would be this good, we would definitely come again”.
All glowing reports then! lets hope the weather holds for next weekend ‘coz it looks like a busy one. The more the merrier we say! the guides refer to the good vibe on these days as “The Big Boat Buzz”.
Remember……….Tummel Season is coming! only 3 weeks now and the first weekend is looking like a good one! hope to see you there!
THE SPLASH TEAM.