A day for the Leven…

Had a great day on the Leven yesterday with Rich Waterworth, Dave Martin, Chris Bell and Dave Biggin. Miraculously the day was carnage free, despite good levels and some trib huckage on the walk up to the river which provided a good warm up/slap in the face!

The trib, seen on the left as you walk in to the Leven, has a short but pretty horrendous walk in through thick bracken (should be called the bracken burn!). In hind sight, wearing shorts sucks for this walk but the up shot is that you’re not going to back out of running the drop.

Dave, thinking of his career as a leg model and certainly not about to walk back through the over growth… rumor has it those legs are insured for over £10,000,000.

… and off he goes. This ledge right above the slide adds a bit of spice, although the best solution is to not look at the drop for too long from this angle, instead scramble down the right bank and get a much more appealing view looking down on the whole thing.

The river level view from my ‘carnage cam’ of Mr Biggin completing the warm up routine.

A scared Biggin is a happy Biggin. On the Leven in anticipation of ‘End of the world’ and ‘Mackays falls’.

Yours truly lining up for the second drop of ‘End of the world’ having just resurfaced from the first.

… and heading into the third and fourth drops which form the crux of the rapid.

Dave Martin holding his line through the crux on the fourth drop.

Rich taking a deep breath on the fourth, quickly followed by a sigh of relief!

Biggin on the drop directly below ‘End of the world’, aptly named ‘I’m feeling fine’ while Rich and I collect boats having taken our turn setting safety above.

… Chris keeping it clean through the tricky slot below.

Rich flying down ‘Mackays falls’, staying well away from the cave behind the drop.

… and myself on the same drop, the last of the day. Certainly a highlight of the summer so far, Scotland will have to get flooded to top yesterdays Leven session, although I’m hopeful for some freestyle action soon!

Hope you got out on a wet weekend!

Ed