Despite a late start, a quick look at the Swale Park bridge gauge showed the Upper Swale running at 1.06m, so we dropped a car in West Stonesdale, and headed back up to the top of Stonesdale Beck, to put in higher up than Dave had done on his previous run. This meant we could take out before the tree-infested bit at the bottom, and still have a decent length run with lots of little ledge drops and a few bigger slidey/bumpy drops. By now the Swale was dropping and it was clear that Stonesdale Beck would be better with a tad more water, probably ideal when still raining and the Swale still rising, but then we wouldn’t have had nice sunshine for the video and photos…

A feature of paddling south in the sun is that the tops of drops feature dazzled paddlers, whilst the bottoms lie hidden in deep shade, which makes read-and-run … interesting. Fortunately, there’s nothing really hard and most things can be bounced down.

The Swale was still about 0.9 or so, and the bottom of Whitsundale Beck looked OK, so we dropped a car at Wainwath and shuttled up to the top. This was lower than last time we’d done it, so we were expecting a few more hangups, but somehow the lines seemed better defined and we had fewer capsizes than last time (none, in fact:) and hit the Swale just 22 minutes after putting in.

We ran on down to Wainwath where I got slowed down by a bit of a hole and rather pencilled the drop (but stayed upright). Dave, on the other hand, got a particularly good boof.

We then left Anthony to run Rainby while we nipped back for my car. Time was now pressing, so I rushed off to unload/load boats for the pool session in the evening. Fortunately, Dave spotted that my helmet had dropped out of the cockpit whilst I was dragging the boat over the fence and brought it along. Cheap helmet would not be much loss, but the GoPro3 would have been sorely missed !

Video from both these runs features in the “Ditches compilation”:

Today’s trip was programmed as the Keswick Greta, but the west had had less rain than us, so the gauge was only showing 0.75m and dropping very early morning. Penny and the Durham group ran it, at 0.7m and found the level OK, though well below the white line. However, the SOC group, meeting at Bowes, decided it was not worth crossing the A66 for – and besides, the local Greta seemed to be running, which is a nicer river, though a bit harder than the grade on the SOC meets list. As our only new paddler didn’t appear, we headed for Rutherford bridge, where the weir was showing 0.51m – low but runnable. A Roker group had put on just before we started the shuttle, and we caught up with them later on. It’s all fairly benign until the first little gorge, where there is a drop which is a bit of a slot when it’s low, so we all went deep and popped up with more or less frantic bracing, but no upsets.

The river is nowhere pushy at this level, and we bimbled down quietly as the weather cleared up. The sun even came out as we were passing the old Brignall church ruins on the left bank – about the only place where you would actually notice. I decided to check out the right hand side of the island which was blocked by a huge fallen tree until a year ago, and found it perhaps a bit rocky at this level, but clear of hazards. I emerged to find Don just rolling up below the outlet from the left channel.

Soon after, at the last island, the channel is completely blocked by a fallen tree composed of several thin trunks. This might be a bit of a hazard at high level, but had lots of eddy space today, and was a short portage on the left. The Greta is always a place to be wary of newly fallen trees, so we hopped out to inspect Hell Cauldron (which was clear) and the Roker lot, whom we had passed earlier, now caught us up. I managed to make the break out behind the big pointy rock at the start of the gorge, but drifted too close to the wall where there was a springy overhanging branch. However, I did roll up very quickly, unlike one of the Roker lads caught in the same way a few moments later.

They had a swimmer on the final swoosh down, too, which Alex, Don and I managed in a relaxed and upright manner – it really is fairly innocuous this low, as long as you don’t get sideways in a shallow bit. So innocuous, in fact, that we all went back to play in the final stopper, usually a violent and grabby affair that often ends in tears. We all survived this, too, though it doesn’t want to let go, and once you are off the wave, you still aren’t in the clear as the eddy line takes a strong grip on the boat.

Flat and a bit of a scrape now down to the take-out river right below Greta Bridge. There’s a strong smell of mint and sweet cicely here, with tall nettles, but at least the old christmas trees seem to have rotted away, so the exit is a bit easier than it once was.

The Kent and the Lune are regular standby runs when the water is low, and as the Lune is on my list to get back to in high water, I picked the Kent for this dryish Sunday in mid-October. We avoided the long flattish section from Kendal (where even the little playwaves on all the low weirs would be too low to bother) by putting in at Scroggs Weir. Only four of us were motivated enough to make the trip, and as Penny was already in the Lakes, Alex, Don and I squeezed into one car.

Don looked at the put-in and decided to seal launch from the top of the bank, reckoning he would easily miss the one large pointy rock. Down he slid, bounced over the nice rounded rock, and landed slap bang on top of the pointy one. Oops ! But at least the dent didn’t go right through the hull 🙂 Scroggs weir is a scrape at almost any level, so the lack of water didn’t really make a lot of difference, and below it, the river was slow, but never too scrapey.

Dropping into Prizet bridge – the first real rapid.

As it narrows down for Prizet bridge, the first of the rapids, we noted a fisherman just downstream, but far enough away that we could eddy out before we got there, and sidle down the left of the gorge. Not everyone chose the bump-free line on the next little rapid (well, Penny always tells people not to follow me) and the Old Mill rapid had plenty of water, but not enough to make the stoppers grabby, so no upsets here.

There was so little water on Sedgwick weir that Alex took a line down the middle bit that one would normally avoid like the plague. At this level, a rightwards boof stays well away from the towback, and has the advantage of enough depth of water to land in. So on to the final gorge, where the normally boisterous little rapid was quite relaxed today. The L-shaped drop had more than enough water to take the left edge…

Alex gets a good boof on his second go – L-shaped drop.

The little weir that precedes the last drop was probably scrapier than anything else on the run, but still just about enough water not to get hung up.

Despite being his first time here, Don probably got a better line than anyone else!

So now we were committed to the final drop, always a bit of a blind run, and perhaps a surprise to anyone who hasn’t been here before. This low, it’ s actually more technical than with more water – a line very hard right works, or a line nearer the middle (as Don took in the photo). Just in between is the edge of a ledge which tends to kick your boat on edge, needing a positive brace on landing – if your weight is forward enough, the boat will spin its stern out and carve under you, bringing you neatly into the eddy (even if that wasn’t what you’d planned!).

Don managed not to Lemming off the final climb out today – merely throwing his boat back into the river to maintain balance…