If you’ve been on holiday to one of the rugged parts of the UK in recent years, for example the Scottish Highlands, you might have seen canyoning and gorge walking tours among the adventurous activities on offer. Now, unless you did A-level geography, you’re probably wondering if a canyon and a gorge aren’t the same thing. The truth is that there’s no clear distinction between the two, and that’s reflected in the similarities between the respective sports. But, despite the overlap, there are a number of characteristics that could tip your decision from one to the other. We’ll tell you all about it below!
The Similarities
The big similarity between the two activities is that they’re found in the same places. We’ve mentioned rugged areas like those that contain the Scottish Bens and Munroes, to which we should add the Snowdonia National Park and its towering mountains. These are the places where there’s enough relief and rainfall to form powerful watercourses that can cut into the landscape, giving us the kinds of terrain we can describe as canyons and gorges.
So, both gorge walking and canyoning take place in, well, gorges and canyons. The activities themselves are fairly similar too. Both involve following the lay of the land, interacting with the extreme environment of rock, water and vegetation. Why, then, are there two names?
The Differences
What does each sport involve?
The answer seems to lie in the intensity of the activities - and the clue is in the name. Gorge scrambling is all about scrambling - going hand over foot through rough terrain and cutting, as much as possible, a straight path. In and around high-altitude streams, that’s going to mean getting your feet wet. It’s certainly intense, but it could be even moreso! Imagine immersing yourself fully in the landscape by taking to the water - this is canyoning. There’s likely to be much more splashing, sliding and swimming on a canyoning expedition, meaning more time in the water and more extreme manoeuvres. Canyoning might also include climbing and abseiling techniques using ropes and other installations that allow you to stick to the path of the water - to the point of crashing down through waterfalls. A good example of this type of canyoning is the Grey Mare’s Tail in Glencoe, which can be combined with an ascent by Via Ferrata.
Who are they aimed at?
For this reason, gorge walking is usually advertised as a more family friendly activity and canyoning can sometimes be reserved for confirmed adventurers. Of course, the intensity of your chosen activity depends on your attitude too - if you want to jump into the river when gorge walking, be our guest! A good example of how a gorge (or a canyon!) can be whatever you want it to be is Bruar Water in Perth and Kinross, where three different expeditions of varying difficulties are run, each one having a different age restriction!
Ghyll Scrambling?!
Time for a bonus round! The waters become muddier when you enter Cumbria, in northwest England, and encounter a third term: ghyll scrambling. Before we get into what that means, we should mention that the Lake District National Park, located entirely within Cumbria, is one of the best places in the British Isles for getting stuck into the steep-sided valleys where today’s activities take place. That’s thanks to the presence of the highest peaks in England and the huge amount of water in the area. In fact, it’s only other contender in English terms is the nearby Yorkshire Dales National Park.
The word ghyll comes from the Vikings who ruled over the lands of the North of England hundreds of years ago. It means something like mountain stream. Combine that with scrambling and you’re forced to picture something like gorge walking or canyoning, which is more or less what it is.
A word of warning
Some people will tell you that gorge walking involves going upstream and canyoning is the opposite - travelling downstream. This opinion appears to be particularly prevalent in Cumbria, with ghyll scrambling being equated with gorge walking by its adherents. Well, we list dozens of activities of both types on our platform and we think we can debunk this theory. At the end of the day, the itinerary of an outdoor activity and its name are decided by the people who run it and we can’t see that our tour operators choose to make any distinction between gorge walking and ghyll scrambling on the one hand and canyoning on the other based on direction of movement.
We hope that our vibe-based definition of the difference between canyoning and gorge walking isn’t enough to put you off trying one of these fantastic activities. Whichever you choose, you’re guaranteed to have a fantastic experience when you book with us. Have you tried these sports already? Let us know in the comments!
