A Canoeist's Guide to the North East
A Canoeist's Guide to the North East
Price
£7.99
Canoeing, like other outdoor activities, is steadily increasing in popularity, due to a combination of increasing leisure time, and affluence (even in the North East!)
Established waterways are becoming more congested and many canoeists are looking for new areas to paddle. They are encouraged both by advances in canoe construction (in particular the introduction of plastic boats) and also improved paddling techniques. These mean that it is now within the ambition of any competent paddler to test himself on Grade 3, 4 or even 5 rivers.
An analogy with rock-climbing can be drawn. This too has developed in numbers and standards over the last decade. This, however, has been due in part to a constantly up-dated series of guidebooks to the crags, which means that knowledge of routes on a detailed grading system is spread within the climbing fraternity.
Canoeists have had no such core of knowledge. The B.C.U. Guide to the Waterways is seriously out of date, written as it was in the days of canvas canoes. Its use is now restricted to those who wish to paddle flat water, and it offers little for the white water canoeist.
By contrast, many of the new generation guidebooks have tended to cater almost exclusively for white water canoeists, usually at the expense of touring and novice paddlers, who do after all form a sizeable proportion of active paddlers.
This book attempts to tread a middle path by describing rivers on a geographical basis, as in the B.C.U. Guides, but with a slight bias towards white water. This allows both adequate description of potential hazards and invigorates the text.
It is hoped this guide will be of use to a wide variety of paddlers in the region, whatever their special interests and levels of skill. However, the text is angled towards the white water paddler of average competence who is either new to the area or seeking new water to paddle. It is not for use by lemmings wishing to stress test their canoes or cash in their life assurance policies.
Hopefully, the guide will tempt the more experienced paddlers away from their routine paddling to try many of the exciting but rarely canoed rivers in the North East.
Hours spent frantically driving up hill and down dale looking for some elusive stretch of white water, burning up precious fuel and wasting valuable canoeing time should become a thing of the past - at least in the North East.
Familiar rivers such as the Tyne, Tees and Tweed, will be found alongside such rare gems as the Greta, Devil's Water and Balder.
The countryside is interesting, wild and invariably beautiful. The observant canoeist will see everything from ruined abbeys, to an active Buddhist monastery; from dippers to herons and perhaps even the elusive otter.
Using the guide
This guide covers all the major easterly flowing rivers in the North East; from the Tweed running across the Scottish borders, down to the northern tributaries of the Ouse.
Northumberland and Yorkshire paddlers tend to confine themselves to their respective regions. The book has therefore been divided around the River Tees into these two areas, with the rivers being listed alphabetically for each region.
All the rivers covered in the guide have been paddled by the author, from as close to their source as practicable, down to their lower reaches. A few of the completely flat and featureless sections, mainly those around the Vale of York, have been omitted.
Whilst the majority of the guide is devoted to the description of rivers, in order to widen the book’s appeal those parts of the north east coastline of interest to surfers and sea canoeists have been included, along with a few flat water areas, such as Kielder Reservoir, which are also extensively used by canoeists. In addition, any miscellaneous information of interest to the paddler on his travels, has been mentioned. The pubs and cafes in the Guide have agreed to accept canoeists in their ‘natural state’ but please shake yourself dry first! In addition, all the landlords have kindly agreed to offer limited credit to those paddlers who arrive cold or penniless with their hard earned cash stuck in the car at the other end of the river. This privilege accorded to canoeists may be dependent on providing suitable security such as a paddle until your pieces of eight can be retrieved.
Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the Guide, conditions will vary according to river level. As the river bed is in contact with a powerful dynamic force it is constantly changing, particularly after heavy rainfall. Old obstructions will be washed away and new ones will replace them.
Most experienced canoeists will have learnt by now to treat weirs with great respect, especially those with long towbacks and in spate conditions. An additional hazard, is fallen trees, which on some rivers, such as the Greta, represent the main threat to your well-being. The combination of lack of room to manoeuvre and ‘Murphy’s law’, seem to dictate that the main flow of current directs you on to twigs, specifically aimed to pick your nose and eyes, whilst other branches suddenly reach out like the giant tentacles of some deep sea octopus wrenching the paddle from your arms and immobilising you. Upside down and with your oxgen supply cut off, it provides an excellent appreciation of the dying moments of a struggling bluebottle cocooned in a spider’s web. Once experienced it is not quickly forgotten, so treat fallen trees with great respect!
The main aim of this book is to guide you to the right stretch of white water. It can not detail every hazard you will encounter, although it is hoped that all major falls, weirs and portages have been covered. This guide should not be used as a substitute for personal inspection. Whenever any doubts exist you must examine the river ahead and assess the situation in relation to both your canoeing abilities and your equipment. These factors should always take precedence over what you think we might have written!
