| River Spean | |
|---|---|
 Waterfall on the Spean near Achluachrach | |
  Location of the mouth withinLochaber | |
| Location | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Loch Laggan |
| Mouth | |
• location | River Lochy |
• coordinates | 56°54′34″N4°59′05″W / 56.90956°N 4.98479°W /56.90956; -4.98479 |
TheRiver Spean flows fromLoch Laggan in a westerly direction to join theRiver Lochy atGairlochy in theGreat Glen in theWest Highlands ofScotland. Major tributaries of the Spean include the left-bankAbhainn Ghuilbinn andRiver Treig, the right-bankRiver Roy and the left-bank river known asThe Cour.The river is accompanied by theA86 road for almost its entire length, running from (upper)Loch Laggan west toSpean Bridge. The river is spanned by a bridge carrying theA82 road near its junction with the A86 at Spean Bridge. A minor road bridges the Spean just above the falls at Inverlair. Two further road crossings exist - a private estate road across the short stretch of river between upper Loch Laggan and the Laggan reservoir and a road traversing the top ofLaggan Dam.TheWest Highland Line crosses the river near Tulloch Station and follows its north bank before re-crossing one mile (1.5 kilometres) east of Spean Bridge. A branch of the railway formerly continued west beside the river from Spean Bridge, crossing it once again to the west of the village.[1]
At the end of the last ice age, Glen Spean andGlen Roy contained lakes dammed by ice with a surface elevation of 260 metres (850 ft) at one point. Theice dam collapsed catastrophically around 11,500 years ago and five cubic kilometres of floodwater appear to have drained along the line of the Spean gorge occupied by the modern river.[2]
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