WORDS and photos: EMY MCLEOD

An open canoe classic – the Rannoch crossing

A rare opportune weather window in winter, tailwinds, little rain forecasted, and a lack of snow provided the ideal conditions for a canoe expedition in January. Kicking off the 2025 paddling season with an open boat classic, this is The Rannoch Crossing, bringing a combination of traditional skills, river paddling, open water journeying, and the odd portage.

The Rannoch Crossing is a west-to-east journey originating at the Black Mount south of Glencoe. It links up bodies of water through lochs and rivers, following the watershed and joining the River Tay system.  Certainly, it is a trip that should be on the radar for open boaters.

After an early start from Strathspey, we headed west to our put-in at Loch Ba. The wind was picking up, and we were keen to get the sails up and take advantage of it early on. It was also a great early season trip to test out some new kit we both had with us. For myself, a new canoe – the Phoenix by Hou Canoes, having only been outfitted a few days prior, I was keen to get it on the water in various conditions. For Liam, time to put the new Palm Gradient shoes through their paces with paddling and portaging!

Loch Ba
As we paddled into the expanse of Loch Ba, the remoteness of Rannoch entrances. You soon lose the sound of traffic on the road. Views around are barren mountains, heathland and the odd few deer and stags on the horizon. For me, wild and remote is what I love about expeditions. Wild was also a good way to describe the weather, with the wind becoming a strong crosswind gusting through the mountain pass and pushing us across the loch away from our small gap where the Abhainn Ba started. Tactics were implemented, and a quick box tow setup allowed us to sail swiftly across Loch Ba.

This trip is challenging because it requires mastering all the environmental factors of wind directions, water levels, and temperatures. In the first section of moving water, there was a game of dodgems with boulders and avoiding rocks just under the surface. The occasional ‘get out of the boat and shoe’ method was used. Eddy hopping to scout the lines, avoiding the rocks with a bit of read and run, was our technique to meander shallow waters to then be rewarded with a few rapids that took us down into Loch Laidon.

The winds provided a rapid sail for us on Loch Laidon with views back towards the iconic Buachaille Etive Mor and across vast nothingness, but to me, without sounding cliche, the nothingness was everything. As we reached the east end of Loch Laidon, the Garbh Ghaoir was the next section of moving water – at this point, we were hoping there would be enough water to paddle the whole section as the previous rock dodging was not appealing enough to be repeated.

In luck! There was enough water to paddle most of the Garbh Ghaoir. Getting out to scout and choose lines was needed, especially the last rapid into Loch Eigheach, steep with a few drops due to the levels.  Ideally, there would have been more snow melt as there was an increase in temperatures in the lead-up to the trip, but this was not present due to the lack of snow. A cheeky line of the boats and a small portage down one rocky drop had us paddling into the loch in white water!

Low water levels
Having rapidly sailed the open water sections, we were making decent time and decided to push on and aim to camp on Loch Rannoch. A quick paddle, wind assisted being the common theme for us, we made it to the weir at Loch Eigheach, where we portaged and dropped down to the River Gaur. Sadly, the water levels were not there for us to paddle the Gaur. I am gutted, but having read up on the river, I think running it would have been great. However, the portage was an easy tarmac trolley, and we launched lower down on the river. Paddling into the evening, we pitched up on the south shore of Loch Rannoch on a stony inlet; not the most picturesque, but it worked! After a 32km paddle and an early start, dinner was cooked the next morning, and we headed into the tents.

Day two kicked off relatively relaxed 
We had hoped again for some wind to push us down Loch Rannoch, although it wasn’t as gusty as the previous day a good sail was still had. As we came to the end of Loch Rannoch, there was a small portage from the loch that went onto the river to get past the dam. It was a brief return to civilisation with a few people walking dogs and the odd look as we walked the canoes down to the next section onto the River Tummel and back to moving water. Next is a 3km paddle of read and run river, with storm damage still evident in the area.

Several trees and big stumps in and across the river had us picking lines and trying some tactics to get down safely. In higher water, this section would be a lot trickier to navigate. This section was shadowed with Schiehallion in the foreground – The Hill of the Faeries. A fun fact about Schiehallion is that it was used to help determine the earth’s mean density in an experiment in the 18th century. Its iconic shape is noticeable from all sides of the Glens. The river entered Dunalastair Reservoir, where we had a floating lunch break before a chilled paddle went through to reach the dam.

­This section was different to what we had paddled before. It reminded me a bit of the Aigas Gorge up beyond Beauly with the steeper and more cliff-like sides, a change in vegetation and evidence of beavers now being present.

Portage for the Upper Tummel
A hike, push and shove – easier than we first thought – had all the kit and boats ready to portage for the Upper Tummel. The water levels were not what we wanted, and we were not up for a scrape-and-bump fest, so we opted for a walk with the canoes down to Tummel Bridge, where we put in. The track was an easy portage, however, as usual, getting the proper weight distribution, and I guess you could call it the ‘haulage technique’ of the canoe, is always a balancing game – something we advise to take time to do at the start to get the weight distributed in the canoe and the trolley fastened securely before setting off. It was a 4.3km portage for us, and we were back by the riverside, eager to get some paddle strokes in!

A short paddle took us onto Loch Tummel, looking for a spot to set camp for the night. Keeping to the south shore, as we wanted to keep the remoteness element, we paddled along the loch to get a spot for the two tents and a nice view. The south shore is limited for camp spots, and heading into warmer and sunnier seasons, you may be restricted to where to camp due to easy vehicle access to this area and the weekend campers pitching up for their definition of wild camping – five metres from the car. Settling in for the night after another 30km plus day’s paddle, we again pitched our tents in the dark, cooked dinner, chatted, and then headed to bed.

Waking up to an incredible sunrise, pinks and purples covering the skies, it was an early start. We agreed that we were keen to finish as early as possible to get back up the road. It wasn’t the intention to complete the route as quickly as possible, but the conditions allowed this, and the thought of getting back a day early was appealing. We set off as dawn was still breaking, and nearing the end of Loch Tummel, we encountered a slight sail mast malfunction, but the wind dropped, so it was not too much of a problem.

Exciting rapids
Clunie Dam was a quick portage that took us back on the River Tummel, which was, as expected, relatively low – but still paddleable! If the river is any lower, you have the option of trolleying down to Loch Faskally, which is not something either of us wanted to do. The paddling was straightforward until the exciting rapids came. There was scouting, running the shoots, little drops and a bit of lining to get us to Loch Faskally, portaging the Linn of Tummel.

The Tummel section from Clunie Dam into Loch Faskally was great fun. We had to be switched on more than in previous moving water sections, and line choice was more consequential than before. There was both pin boat potential and swim potential – both of which we were not keen on, more the first than the latter, so with some careful reading and running, and after a portage of Sawmill Rapid, we made our way down what is now one of my favourite technical sections to paddle in an open boat!

We decided to finish our trip in Pitlochry, paddling around, passing under the A9 bridge, and finishing up by the weir/dam, with the plan to continue down to join the Tay system. However, the thought of good coffee and cafe food got the better of us. Our shuttle plan worked well with this decision, and I caught the train back to Kingussie to pick up the van, returning to pick up the boats and Liam a few hours later.

Decision-making is key
When chatting with paddlers, I noticed that the Rannoch Crossing is on their radar.  It is a trip that combines the remoteness of an expedition with a variety of canoe skills. Decision-making was key in this trip, whether to run a rapid, select the best line choice, and implement tactics versus the inner child wanting to push some spicy fun in high winds when sailing. Having that shared confidence with your paddling buddy and knowing each other’s skills and abilities helps on a trip like this. Liam and I have paddled together many times in Scotland and run several commercial trips – this was a great few days to kick-start our 2025 season. We lucked out with the weather window and had the shared motivation to push on over the three days because we were enjoying it, not to make it a quick trip.

The paddling, the traditional open boating skills and being on expeditions are what we both love to do!

“A memorable adventure has to include some suffering carefully balanced with reward!  Suffering and reward balance here was well tipped into the reward side!”
Liam Green

“Remote and wild – everything I want in a paddling expedition. A great combo of open water and white water with a bit of portaging to add to the mix.”
Emy McLeod