Glen Isla is a glen I always drive past on my way somewhere, I’ve never really considered it in it’s own right, as a proper glen with it’s winding river and phalanx of low lying hills.
I was flicking through maps online – searching for lines of blue where I wasn’t going to have to travel for hours to get to somewhere decent.
I was initially looking at a Tay tributary somewhere, but my attention was drawn to the Ericht, then into the Isla, then all the way up to the headwaters.

I couldn’t find any trip reports for anyone floating it and I didn’t know how much would be floatable, but then I guess that’s half the fun.
I had planned the take out for the bridge at Ruthven, but when I got there I couldn’t find a parking space, so I kept driving and ended up parked just beside the Bridge of Crathies.

Out of the boot with the bike, I had a new bike rack, so I had high hopes, but I’d never put my big pack on it and I couldn’t get it secured properly so I ended up with it on my back – I think I’ll be resorting to a bread basket at this rate.

I’m not going to lie – I’m not a huge fan of bikes, or hills on bikes, or hills and rain and wind on bikes, and by god one of those hills was a long one, although on plus side, the downhill on the other side was a flier.

Twenty miles, an inflated packraft, a coffee and a couple of sandwiches later and I was ready to hit the river – for reference on the river flow rate, the closest gauge was on the Ericht and it was reading 0.998.

I’m not sure how accurately this reflects the levels on the Isla, but although the river was pretty low, it floated really well, with no draggy, sticky bits.

I think, looking back that the float from Auchavan to the Bridge at Reekie Linn was my most enjoyable paddle yet – it was raining pretty hard, the wind was blowing up river and the water was bouncing and fast flowing with a couple of little Class II rapids to spice it up, and all could be enjoyed without that numbing fear that you are about to come a cropper over the edge of some fast flowing fall somewhere.

There are a couple of weirs in there too, I inspected from the boat then ran them – great fun.

The second section was a little different, did I mention it was windy? Well a word of caution, when it’s windy be very wary of lifting your raft over barbed wire fences, I wasn’t cautious enough and managed to get a decent sized hole in the side of mine, but the positive takeaway I have from holing my boat is that I was able to affect a decent repair in very short order and be on my way again – that’s the sort of thing that gives you a bit of confidence should it every happen again.

From Reekie Linn all the way back to the car at Bridge of Crathies. The portage past the three waterfalls was a long one, I ended up following the river all the way to the other side of Peel Farm, then out again for another portage at the Slug of Auchrannie, which wasn’t as long, but just as steep, and I got cliffed out and had to backtrack for a bit.
The river from there on down was beautiful, some easily manageable whitewater and parts that you kind of get the feeling that not too many people see.

It was getting on for late afternoon at this point, the rain had dried up and the sun was out and although it was still a little windy the current was flowing the right way and it was a pretty mellow float.

In my short time packrafting there have been a couple of things to watch out for that I have become aware of, the first one is bridges, as they tend to be built at the narrowest section of rivers so can be pretty turbulent, the bridge at Ruthven wasn’t too bad. The other thing I watch out for is big posh houses by the side of the river – beware, they almost always overlook a fascinating water feature.
In this particular instance the late evening sun was low down and blinding, and I seen the “big house” almost at the same time as I heard the maelstrom of water. In the middle of the river and too far from either side to take refuge and scout, I had no option but to pick a route and go for it – I made it, just, but I’m sure who ever was in the conservatory sipping coffee got a good laugh as some eejit in a bright red raft came hurtling over the mini waterfall/weir.

In all fairness I didn’t get a good look back at what I had paddled over, but it got a good chuckle, a lump of self-chastisement and occupied a good portion of my thoughts until I got back to the car.

It was a fairly long day, and I was cold by the end – numb fingered and stiffed legged as I packed my raft away, but it had been what I wanted, a little bit of adventure not too far from home.

Notes

1. A nice run at 0.998 at the closet gauge on the Ericht (http://canoescotland.org/where-go/wheres-water#map), I wouldn’t like to run it much under this as it could be a bit bumpy
2. 14.5 miles from the put in, just above the bridge at Auchavan to just above the waterfall at Reekie Linn – don’t miss the take out!!
3. 1.2 mile portage for the first waterfall – put in just downstream of Peel Farm
4. 2nd portage past the waterfalls at the Slug of Auchrannie is about 750m – best to stick to the edge of the fields – and well worth packing your raft away for both portages.
5. About a 25 mile paddle all in for both sections
6. About a 20 mile cycle from take out to put in.