RIVER SWALE (Grinton to Richmond)

[Mark R]

Guide.

[Betty]

The river left arch of Richmond bridge is completely blocked by a large tree. This arrived on Thursday and shows no signs of moving. The main flow goes under this arch. The tree is visible from upstream, and the middle arch of the bridge is clear. However, if you are leading a group this is certainly a hazard to be aware of.

[Ben Smith]

I did this section yesterday with a group of kids (2/3 star ability) with a few capsises and very little playing it took us 5 hours. With a group of adults I guess it would take less than 4hrs at that level. Some would have been ok to coach on but a bit more water would be good. Eddies tended to be very big or a bit on the small side so not great for breaking in etc. (but may be ok with more flow?). This would be a good river to go straight down as a begginer trip at low-medium levels. The fall at the end was a nice feature to end on.
8/9 miles is a bit optimistic, having just done a rough measurement on Google Earth I think it is getting on for 12 miles.
Levels were about 0.1 - 0.2 m on the Grinton Guage and some parts were a bit of a scrape. The river was probably G2 with a few interesting rapids.