Pelt across river, ripping up land? (7)
I believe the answer is:
croatia
'land?' is the definition.
(I know that Croatia is a European country)
'pelt across river ripping up' is the wordplay.
'pelt' becomes 'coat' (I've seen this in other clues).
'across' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'river' becomes 'r' (abbreviation for river).
'ripping' becomes 'ai' (Ac, term for 'excellent').
'up' says the letters should be written backwards (in down clue: letters go upwards).
'ai' written backwards gives 'ia'.
'coat' going around 'r' is 'croat'.
'croat'+'ia'='CROATIA'
(Other definitions for croatia that I've seen before include "Land in South-East Europe" , "Balkan country, capital Zagreb" , "Adriatic country" , "Balkan state, became independent in 1991" , "Adriatic nation" .)