Dark River

Since reading Jamie Whittle's book White River, I've been keen to visit the River Findhorn, especially since realising it lies on the same fault line as the Etive-Taynish gap on my preferred Coast-to-Coast walk. A recent trip to Randolph's Leap enabled me to fulfil this ambition. The first thing that struck me, apart from the beauty of the general situation, was that the river was not so much white as dark. Very dark.

Dark River:


The waters, whilst dark, are simultaneously clean and clear:


As we walked upstream the sun came out, shafting light onto dark pools and illuminating the woodland flowers like wood sorrel.

Shafts of sun on the Findhorn:


Wood Sorrel:


Randolph's Leap is a lovely beauty spot. Why is it not famous? It is little known furth of the local area, but is enchanting in spring light.

At the leap:






It gets its name - like Soldier's Leap on the Garry and MacGregor's Leap on the Lyon - from desperate men sucessfully evading pursuit by jumping across the gorge where the river narrows. This is probably Scotland's oldest named leap, dating from an event in the early 14th century when a brace of Cummings, on a raid into Randolph territory, jumped back onto their own side. It should probably be called Cummings Leap...

The walk upriver is beautiful, glimpses caught through the trees. I half expected a brown bear to appear and start dipping for salmon!

River upstream of the leap:




This is just one small section of the Findhorn. I would love to see more of this beautiful river.