River Belah
- Details
- Last Updated on Saturday, 01 January 2000 00:00
- Written by Stuart Miller, 'White Water Lake District'
GUIDE TO THE RIVER BELAH
NAME OF RIVER: Belah.
WATER LEVEL, ACCESS AND HAZARD UPDATES:Here.
WHERE IS IT?: Tucked into a remote corner of Cumbria, below the western slopes of Stainmore between Tan Hill and Brough. Map.
PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: A high start is made by taking the road to Tan Hill from Brough via Barras. Park at GR 867 093 where a track leads down into the woods by a small stone bridge. Follow the track a short way but before entering the wood head off down the hill following the wall across some boggy ground to join the river as it exits a gorge below Woofer Gill Scar (1 km).
Egress on the left bank just below Oxenthwaite Bridge. Grid Ref 824 119.
APPROX LENGTH: 5 km.
TIME NEEDED: 2-3 hours.
ACCESS HASSLES: Not known. Access to the put in is OK on high moorland. Most of the run is unseen in a gorge.
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: High water is needed to cover the continuous jumble of boulders in the gorge. The best place to judge the level is at the Egress at Oxenthwaite Bridge. Look upstream over the bridge. The river needs to be covering the whole bed across to the bottom of the bridge supports and flowing well. However, flood conditions should be avoided due to the high risk of blockages from tree branches and the stoppers on the big falls.
GRADING: 4/5 depending on flow.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Trees are usually the major hazards with many blockages occurring amongst steep bouldery fast moving water with awkward eddies. There are 3 large falls and several smaller ones. Also a couple of fences to portage or fight with.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A small beck at the start where the water is collected off the moors, it soon grows and steepens to enter a long series of wooded gorges with some large bedrock falls.
With so much rock in here only the larger vertical falls are noted, giving 3 km of continuous paddling with no respite.
The first obvious horizon line with trees where the beck falls into a gorge is the largest fall of the trip. Belah Falls. (4/5). This big multi tiered 6 m drop with no plunge pools seems to run fine.
Just after a footbridge is a 2m stepped fall.
Soon after this is The Pearly Gates (4). A gap between two enormous boulders shoots over a 2.5 m vertical fall.
One to watch out for is Right Angle Fall (4). Slabs of mossy rock on river left indicate this awkward fall where the water hits the right wall and turns back onto rocks at the base of the fall. This can be nasty in low water but in higher flows a more direct line is possible.
The next horizon line below Powley Close Bridge is a large easy angled chute.
The last 1.5 m fall should be inspected for lines over the rocky projections.
OTHER NOTES: Unfortunately the high number of fallen trees blocking the river and requiring swift action to portage means this run is somewhat spoilt and means the high water levels which would give fantastic paddling would also make it very dangerous. However this is a classic trip in a remote forested gorge.
CONTRIBUTED BY: Stuart Miller, 'White Water Lake District'
My other query was to do with the tribs. There seemed to be a ton of water coming down one of them opposite the road. Looking at the maps now I'm guessing I may have been looking at either Blueberry Beck or Middlegill Sike. As Blueberry Beck has three marked waterfalls including Blueberry Force (NY848078, click zoom twice), I think it was more likely to be that. So has anyone wandered up there and had a look? Runnable falls/slides or not?
I walked in from the Bridleway at 869091 alongside Potter Sike and into Woofergill scar. The beck is too small for a kayak (even in spate) until 860088 where the first major beck comes in. Below here there's a series of small falls:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3365/3623607672_7c0e16eb54.jpg?v=0[/img]
The next major Beck to come in is Bleaberry Beck at 857089. There was a fence at the bottom with lots of flotsam caught up in it, indicating that this beck may have a decent flow coming down it occasionally! There are at least two waterfalls marked on the map, but I didn't have time to climb any higher. The walls of the river close in here, but the beck isn't particularly steep, with no noticeable falls:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3377/3622789113_f62154313b.jpg?v=0[/img]
This gorge seems to be a home to several million of these surprisingly tame little furry things:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3613/3622789975_edee7be274.jpg?v=0[/img]
The Beck is then flat as it leaves the gorge, with a sheep fence about where the guide suggests putting on. After about 300m there's then a wire fence across the river followed by Belah Falls (851095) which is the entry rapid to the first tree-lined gorge:
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2468/3622791723_fe33168bc7.jpg?v=0[/img]
Fortunately there's no trees currently fallen in this bit. After a few hundred metres it opens up again. There were a couple of small trees across the river around this area, but they got the Titchmarsh treatment!
After the river meanders and Great Stowgill enters from the left, there's another wire fence across the river. Entering the tree-lined gorge after this I saw the first of the major tree-blockages. There were approximately 4 large trunks fallen and stuck some 4ft above the river bed. I "weeded" out all the small branches which were pointing down into the river and made sure there were no snag hazards left on the underside of the trunks. A chainsaw would be required to get rid of these beasts properly. At low or medium flows a sneak line through this should now be possible:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3589/3622792575_501eecf1c8.jpg?v=0[/img]
After this is another small fall, which was clear of trees:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3637/3623612900_bcd89e12e8.jpg?v=0[/img]
When the gorge opens up a bit there are three big trees lying right across the river:
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2461/3623613748_babf6df185.jpg?v=0[/img]
These were too big for my saw, again chainsaws needed! However in medium/high flows you should be able to float right over them.
Pearly gates was the next major rapid at 842098. Unfortunately, this had a big tree right across the two boulders forming the gates and would have been very difficult to run. However, 20 mins pruning took about 4ft off the end of this branch leaving the left line on the fall open:
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3353/3622795225_9a13af47a3.jpg?v=0[/img]
[img]http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3372/3622796005_3429684074.jpg?v=0[/img]
Below this the river was clear of river-wide trees until this one, another chain saw job, maybe passable at high flows:
[img]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2449/3622796871_cbda6b0217.jpg?v=0[/img]
I ran out of time and walked out at the footpath at 838105 (Powleyclose Bridge), the right angle falls were clear of trees however.
Hopefully I'll head back and check out the lower half of the river later in the summer, but I think my pruning has already had a positive effective on the appeal of this run for the next time it gets some water in it!