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GUIDE TO THE RIVER DEARNE (Darfield to Confluence with the River Don) NAME OF RIVER: Dearne. WATER LEVEL, ACCESS AND HAZARD UPDATES: Here. WHERE IS IT?: South Yorkshire. PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: See below. Run could be completed at Conisbrough, but advisable to continue on River Don to Sprotbrough, for safer parking. River Don is a BWB navigation. BCU stickers or BWB licence required. APPROX LENGTH: 12 km. TIME NEEDED: Darfield to Sprotbrough - 4 hours including lunch stop. ACCESS HASSLES: Right of Access not known, but no experience of access
being disputed. The fishermen encountered were friendly. Please keep it that
way by being polite, quiet and only using the p access points listed. WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: The river is prone to flash flooding, due to
rapid runoff upstream after heavy rain, but similarly falls back to normal level
quickly. Above Bolton-on- Dearne may be very shallow in summer. Water was 600mm
below fishing platform upsteam of Darfield Bridge when these notes were recorded. GRADING: Mostly Grade 1 or flat, but includes weirs, mostly very small , but some larger ones which require inspection. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Overhanging trees above Bolton-upon-Dearne. Abandoned cars. Three potentially dangerous weirs. GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Section above Darfield to be added - for information contact BCU River Advisor. Between Darfield and A6195 it is a narrow natural river with minor rapids, though some may be the remnants of small weirs. Lower the river widens at it picks up tributaries and flow is controlled by weirs, though maintained a reasonable current of 3-5km/h. Much of the valley was occupied by major coal & steel industries and the river heavily polluted. These have nearly all gone and most of the land restored so the river again passes though very pleasant countryside with many wetland nature reserves alongside and the river now cleaner and able to support fish. On one section a number of side channels have been dug and rock weirs built in the mainstream to promote fish stocks. Banks on the top section are high and steep, becoming lower where flood banks are set back for the rivers edge. RIVER NOTES: All distances are in km, starting at Darfield - When I have paddled the upper section I will adjust these. Co-ordinates were established using GPS and are full 12 figure. To convert to usual 6 figure reference delete first digit from eastings & northings (4,4 = SE, 4,3 = SK) and round to 2 blocks of 3 digits. eg 442071,404585 converts to SE 421046. Though full references are to 1metre, GPS used has accuracy of +/-10metres. To print a map of the location go to streetmap.co.uk and enter one of the sets of GPS co-ordinates. 0.0km Darfield Bridge A635 - 442071,404585 For Egress continue downstream (turn left) on River Don. - approx 1.5km look for old lock wall on right. Vehicle Access, but not advisable
to leave vehicles. Parking left bank of navigation channel upstream of bridge. OTHER NOTES: OS Landranger Map: 111 Pathfinder Map SE40/50 Obstructions to the river should be reported to the Environment Agency. CONTRIBUTED BY: Tim Wheeler. Tim is the Chairman of the Midlands Group of the Canoe-Camping Club. See www.canoecampingclub.co.uk |
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