The Royal Dee Descent

Introduction

The Royal Dee is a jewel of a river, rising in the Cairngorms and flowing past Balmoral to the sea at Aberdeen. The river’s watershed routinely carries less volume than that of the Tay or the Spey and so in summer conditions is characterised by shallow shingle banks for much of its course. In spring or autumn, especially after rain, the river can provide a hugely pleasant 100 km trip with enough Grade 2-3 interest to make it sufficiently challenging for those wishing to progress from moderate water. The river is closely shadowed by the A93 and an assortment of B and C class roads for most of its paddleable length, making vehicle-based inspection of the key rapids achievable (though, with a well-marked OS map, recce’ing from bank or boat can be safely achieved without the need for a pre-recce by car).

---

Day 1

1. On the morning of Day 1, we came from various directions to meet at Tesco’s Aberdeen South car park at 0830. Tesco’s was where we planned to park for the week, and it was from here that we were transported to the head of the river by the commercial shuttle firm of Highland Yaks. The shuttle upriver gave us a chance to scout the water in general and included a brief stop at one of the smaller rapids that we would tackle on Day 2.
2. We put on at Victoria Bridge at 12 noon. The rains of the previous 24 hrs had, fortunately, swelled the river from ‘low’ to ‘medium’ and we made reasonable progress downstream. The river builds slowly with some areas of shingle and small rapids as it moves down to Braemar.
3. Shortly after Braemar we met a Deer Fence across the river (Grid NO 149925). There was no need to portage as there was a gap near the bank on RL and a gap in the centre; it was relatively easy to negotiate without too much limbo.
4. The river continued in the same vein with shingle banks and small rapids down to the Invercauld Bridge, at which a series of ledges create a Grade 2 rapid for some 400m; this was the site of our first swims (with, among other things, several maps being fished out downstream). The ‘early baths’ encouraged us to start our search for a campsite (which we found some 6 km further downriver).

---

Day 2

We passed Balmoral Castle and negotiated the small and simple rapid beneath the castle’s access bridge (Grid NO 262949) before cruising uneventfully along the 12 km to Ballater, calling at the campsite upstream of the town’s road bridge to take lunch. After Ballater the river quickens as it passes through the relative narrows of Cambus o’ May, the end of which is marked by the Cambus o’ May footbridge (Grid NO 420976). We camped for the night about 1 km after the bridge.

---

Day 3

1. A succession of small rapids led us down to Dinnet Bridge (Grid NO 461983). Here was a more notable rapid, which we inspected, though it proved straight forward enough and was successfully navigated by all. Easy water then followed for the next 7 km down to Aboyne, where we took lunch at a wayside inn (ensuring that we gave a healthy tip in recompense for the melee of squelchy footprints that we left). After Aboyne, there was a further 12 km of relatively benign water but as with most of the river at this level, a paddler needs to pay constant attention to broaching hazards lurking just below the surface; these are frequent and easily can catch out the unwary and the complacent.
2. The signal that things were going to step up again was the appearance of Pontarch Bridge (Grid NO 608973), with a Grade 2+ fall just above it. Another few km downstream and we moved into a succession of easy rapids dispersed along a 4 km stretch of pleasantly wooded valley scenery, though we knew to keep an eye open for the approach of Cairnton Rapid (Grid NO 659956), anticipating it to be the largest water that we had so far tackled. This rapid did not disappoint and was inspected from RR.
3. 800 m after Cairnton, we closed with Invercannie Rapid (at Grid NO 665961, adjacent to the local sewage farm). This was the trickiest rapid on the river. Shorter than Cairnton rapid, Invercannie was more demanding technically as there was a double drop comprising several long wave trains and small stoppers emanating from the right bank. The rapid was inspected in detail from RL and was shot as 2-groups-of-3 to ensure that sufficient cover was available in case rescues were needed (and to ensure that the camera could be rolling at the crucial moment). The water was thunderous here, though its bark proved more ferocious than its bite.
4. From Invercannie, the river continued along towards Banchory with some vengeance and, despite the guidebooks implying that this stretch is devoid of rapids, there seemed to be a small surprise at every turn. One of those surprises was a notable pour-over, which flipped our tandem boat and resulted in the bottled water purchased a few hours earlier in Aboyne becoming permanent tribute to the river gods. This second swim of the day put a halt to further progress, and we camped where we swam, a stone’s thrown from the welcoming lights of Banchory.

---

Day 4

1. From Banchory the river levels out with some small rapids and shingle banks as it slowly broadens towards Aberdeen and the sea. This was about a 5-hour paddle for us, with a lot of flat water the nearer we got to Aberdeen. It was made more tiresome by a quite gruelling head wind in places. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valour, we made rafted pairs of the four solo boats, achieving greater speed for less effort, and putting us back on schedule for a mid-afternoon arrival at Aberdeen. Lucky the wind dropped as we approached Aberdeen and leaving the only one hazard for us to face in the closing mile - sculling singles and coxed fours out for Wednesday afternoon training from the University Rowing Club.
2. The Rowing Club (Grid NJ 944051) was our planned egress point but the plethora of rowing craft pulling in and launching made this an unsavoury prospect and we moved 50 m further downstream to the small playpark adjacent to the club and alighted there on the grass. Tesco’s (where our cars were parked) was a short, 10 min, walk away.

---

You can read the whole trip report here.
If this blog has inspired you to paddle the Dee then the report is a wealth of information.
​

A huge thanks everyone on this trip. 
Mike and Mac for leading.
Tony and Tony for the write up.
John and Tom for the pictures. 

A picture below of the intrepid explorers looking rather happy with themselves.