Middle Doon with Epic water levels.

Epic water levels was what we were greeted with on arrival at the get out. Everything was running well. We quickly changed , dropped our shuttle van off and then off to the get in.

When we got to the get in it didn't look as promising as the first few little weirs were not looking good to paddle. However we could see signs of the water levels going up. We got on and quickly got into the groove with the river loving every minute of this Ayrshire gem.

The middle Doon, Patna to Skeldon Estate section of the river Doon is an unknown river in respect of huge rapids and scarey names. What it does is tick a few other boxes.

It's close to home. I live in Kilmarnock so it's only half an hour away which keeps the fuel costs down. When it's got alot of water in it it's a fantastic strech of river to test your skills.
It's graded at grade 3 but on this day I'd guess it would be running above that at 3+ simply because of the amount of water in it.

After the get in there is a few small weirs that are allways going to be a scrape you've just got to get down through them as best you can without wrecking the underside of your boat.

After these weirs the river settles into an easy flattish paddle for a while then slowly it picks up interest, there is some small drops and rapids which lead into longer boulder gardens and then some more little drops. The largest drop won't be any higher than 5/6 feet but at certain water levels 1 or 2 of the drops have retentive holes that require a look just to make sure your out of the way of them.
After these drops there are a few more boulder gardens which are on a nice slope and then on round the corner into the gorge.
In my view the run down into the gorge and the gorge itself is the crux of the paddle.
There have been problems in the past with trees in this gorge and in the warmer weather when the water is low we have been known to walk into the gorge and set about the four trees with a chainsaw to try to clear them. This hard work came to fruition as there is now a cleanish line through the gorge.
(Not for beginners though).
After the gorge the river settles back to boulder gardens and small drops until the get out at Skeldon Estate.
This was a fantastic paddle today and with lots of water running it's a must do. We found it a little pushy but great fun. g