The River Tay – White Water Rafting to Grandtully
A day.
The route
The run from Aberfeldy down to Grandtully is the Tay's most rafted stretch, and a splashy first go at white water with a guide in the raft.
After lunch, an old kirkyard nearby keeps the iron cages that once guarded its graves from bodysnatchers.
The day
Strathtay
Out on the river in a wetsuit, then lunch in the warm and a short stop in an old kirkyard above the Tay.
About five hours, with lunch
Nae Limits
Nae Limits runs its rafting from its centre at Ballinluig, which has heated changing rooms. After a safety talk you're kitted out in a wetsuit, buoyancy aid and helmet and taken to the river at Aberfeldy, then you paddle about six miles downstream with a guide in the raft. The run ends at Grandtully, whose rapids are a canoe slalom site. In winter the river runs higher and livelier, so rafters must be 12 or over; in summer children can go from six. Rafters need a basic level of fitness and must weigh no more than 18 stone. Bring swimwear, a towel and old trainers that can get wet. Back at the centre, the café is open to everyone, with breakfast until noon, then hand-stretched pizzas and lunches, a log-burning stove in winter and a welcome for dogs. Tables for lunch can be booked on 01796 482600.
Logierait Churchyard
Logierait's old kirkyard lies just below the A827, above the north bank of the Tay. From the lay-by beside the church, steps lead down through the gates. Inside a low walled enclosure near the church's south-east corner stand three iron mortsafes, two for adults and one for a child, set over new graves in the early 1800s to keep the bodysnatchers out. Close by is a Pictish cross-slab from the 700s, its cross still deeply cut on one face, with a horseman and a serpent fainter on the other. Three of the older headstones are carved with Adam and Eve, and others with winged angel heads and skulls. The church itself, built between 1804 and 1806, is listed as open by arrangement.
If it rains
Rain changes little on the river, where you are in a wetsuit; the café is indoors and the kirkyard is open to the weather.
Photographs by Emanuele Manco and Karoly Antal via Google