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GUIDE TO THE RIVER TEES (Barnard Castle to Whorlton Falls) NAME OF RIVER: Tees. WHERE IS IT?: In Teesdale! PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Start in town of Barnard Castle. Egress river right after Whorlton Falls. Edd Adie (November 2005)...'Some Royston Vaseyesque reprobate from the local village has bought the riverbank at Whorlton Lido, and has whiled away some of his hours placing barbed wire everywhere. He has also put up a sign informing that trespassers shall be prosecuted, and he has decided to outlaw swimming and picnicking for good measure. The result of this is that getting out is now a bit of an arse.' Andy Gibson (November 2005)...'Tees. Section from Barnard Castle to Whorlton Lido. Whorlton Lido as an access point is no more!!. The Lido has been sold and is now a field for cattle. The river is now fenced off with six strands of barbed wire. The local bailiff was very helpful but couldn't leave an access gate open. Several members of our group have contacted the BCU so of course this could only mean another section of river that we cannot use.' APPROX LENGTH: 5 miles. TIME NEEDED: 2 hours. ACCESS SITUATION: Speak to the Access Officers, there are various agreements. 'Excellent Paddle. Got charged a Pound each to pull out at Whorlton Lido. Very cold this time of year spray freezing to clothing and boats.' - Steve, Mat, and Mike, Stockton on Tees Adult Education Canoeing Course, Dec '01. WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: It's almost all paddleable in lowish levels, but it can take huge amounts of water and still be paddleable...indeed, there regularly are huge amounts of water in this river! When the fall at Whorlton is a river wide dodgy hole, then the river is really up. GRADING: 3. MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: None, but part of the trip is in an enclosed gorge. GENERAL DESCRIPTION: This section of the Tees from Barnard Castle to Whorlton Lido (Falls) has to be one of the most popular paddles in the area. I've yet to run it in big water but at normal levels it offers a cracking grade III run and is a good place to bring peoples paddling up a notch. Shortly after Barnard Castle is a river wide ledge about 1m high which has a few rocks at the bottom but is fairly safe to run. After a little while Abbey Rapids are reached. A large arched stone bridge crosses the gorge at the bottom of the rapids and is a useful point to inspect the river and check levels. The line down the rapid is fairly obvious but still great fun, with the water features getting bigger and bigger towards the bottom. There is a fantastic surf wave near the end in spate conditions... Richard Longhurst (Durham Uni) adds...'After Abbey gorge but before the metal bridge at Whorlton there is a river wide ledge. In moderate flows there are some nice small surfwaves, good for beginners. In high water though it forms one of the biggest and best waves you could wish for. If the river is pumping it's well worth a look. Shame it requires such high water. Normally there is a big eddy on river right so recatching is not a problem when you blow off.' Tom Trent notes...(21/2/00) 'Some metal work (thick wire) in the shallow rapids just after Abbey Rapids...care needed (ie. don't play there...like I did).' From Abbey Rapids down the river enters a scenic gorge with some nice grade III sections (nothing as hard as Abbey Rapids though) and some fun little tailie spots and surf waves. Look out for the River Greta joining from river right, you can run the last drop on it if there's plenty of water. Towards the bottom of the section the river opens out and a metal bridge spans the river. Just below here is Whorlton Lido - a 1m rock ledge angled down the river. It can be worth getting out river right to have a look at this drop as it can spank you (hint: paddle fast and point forwards - don't drop sideways into the nice U shaped bits whilst paddling a spud! Consider a very short run on a tributary here, Whorlton Beck! Mark Rainsley. adds - 'I have paddled this in big flows. The ledge upstream of Abbey Rapids washes out, the Abbey Rapids themselves just become a big wave train. The gorge below has nothing much to worry about in it...but a swim on Abbey Rapids will leave you little opportunity to get out until the end of the gorge! Whorlton Falls deserves real respect in high flows, there is usually a straightforward and safe line (inspect!) but holes appear in the centre and river right particularly that you don't want to clock up your rodeo scores in.' If you have the energy, there is more whitewater interest downstream, especially in high flows. OTHER NOTES: Consider paddling one of the Tees tributaries if the river is really up, for instance the River Greta, Whorlton Beck or Eggleston Burn. Mike Millington (28/10/02)...'Myself & a friend ran the Tees yesterday from Middleton Bridge down to Whorlton Lido in 1 hour 30 minutes (which included a 10 minute portage of the Barnard Castle Weir while we tried to find somewhere to get back on!). In the 10 years I've been paddling this river I've never seen it so big! It really was like paddling a big volume Austrian Alps river. The trip was pretty full on and offered hardly any eddies (unless you fancied breaking out amongst the trees and bushes!) and inspection was definitely of the 'make it up as you go along' variety! Wave trains were huge & stoppers of the river-wide and best avoided variety. Nothing appeared to be of the too serious and life threatening variety but the weir at Barnard Castle was to be avoided at ALL COSTS! The alleged chicken shoot on the left was non-existent as the river was washing over the bank and under a tree. We did intend to have a look at Abbey Rapids but it came up rather quickly and without the advantage of a convenient eddy! Running straight down through the centre in an Inazone was certainly a very amusing experience. Fortunately the stoppers were washed out and replaced by the biggest wave train I have ever paddled in the UK. All in all an absolutely fantastic paddle at a once in a "blue moon" level.' CONTRIBUTED BY: Mike Redding, also Tom Trent, Richard Longhurst, Mike Millington, Edd Adie, Andy Gibson and Mark Rainsley. |
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