Distant Memories of Fort William

December 16, 2007 on 8:27 pm | In Whitewater Kayaking |

I have just opened my e-mail and be transported back over 15 years by the time machine of a photograph.

Jez is converting his slides to digital and he ‘discovered’ these two pictures of paddling at the outflow. The outflow is the tail race for the alumminium works hydro station in Fort William. The water comes round from various lochs above Fort William and through the turbines and then down a gully before dropping into the river Lochy just by Old Inverlochy Castle. If you have ever driven north out of the Fort just before the Road to the Isles you have driven over it.

When we worked for Outward Bound it used to be our evening stomping ground, particularly during the summer with long evenings and no water in the rivers.

It used to create a fantastic wave which was very fast and allowed us to practice our paddling in ‘huge’ flow.

To see a recent piece of footage of it at high water (when the tide is high in Loch Lochy the river backs up and creates nice wave just under the bridge) http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=6SaIBizTuvs

There was talk of creating an white water facility there but I have no idea what happened to this idea. when I searched round there is mention of it in some of Highland Council’s paperwork but I couldn’t find much else, sad as it would be a fantastic facility and as it flows 365 days a year guaranteed water !

Tim Pickering
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