Paddled something recently? - EA Gauge Calibrations

[Scuba Dave]

Paddled Tarn Brook into the Wyre last night. The EA gauge at Abbeystead read 0.4m which I would say gave a medium water grade 2/3. The biggest hazard was trees - we managed to sneak around a few but had to poratge one.

Paddled from a small confluence on Tarn Brook down through Abbeystead resevoir, portaged the dam and carried on down to Dolphinhome.

[Magpie]

I been playing round and input a few readings from the website to see what can be done with the data. Currently got the following going for a gauging station.....

We've got something very similar offline at the moment which is currently undergoing polishing work! I'll point the techies your way to see if we can be of use to each other...

hows the site coming on lads ?

[Jim Pullen]

hows the site coming on lads ?

Somewhat stalled I'm afraid to report, various life things getting in the way. I'll try to get things going again soon...

[Zool]

River Walkham/Tavy 06/09/11
Horrabridge (Weir park) to Denham Bridge

Got on at 1740
Got off 2015
Low/medium
EA Gauges
Horrabridge: 0.82m
Denham Ludbrook: 0.75m

Just enough water to run the river with the odd scraping. Dropped in at Horrabridge as I live there. Note: Just past the Bedford bridge car park there is still a tree blocking the main river. You can get round it via a separate channel on river right. I will head down soon with the bow saw and try to remove it.

[steve1rc]

Delayed post here, but on the 17th we paddled the Wharfe and the Grassington guage was at 1.6m (rather high)
Got on at about 12.30, off at 3

Really good water level, Linton Falls gets rather nice.

[conoroneill]

Lower Dart, from Dart Country Park down to Buckfastleigh today (Sun 2nd Oct).
EA gauge at "River Dart at Austins Bridge" (Buckfastleigh) says 0.45 (http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ho ... ionId=3216).
Water level was pretty low, but not the lowest I've ever paddled!
We took some first-timers, and it was a great level to teach them the basics of break-ins and ferry glides.

[TechnoEngineer]

River Ivel (Sandy - Tempsford), 23/10/11, approx 0.2m according to this gauge

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ho ... ionId=6181

First weir was dry - we portaged over it, only to discover that it's possible to use the sluice channel on the right (that rejoins about 1/2 mile down).

Southmills weir - most who ran it used the slide, there was about 2 foot depth at the bottom so a good boof was needed - made difficult by the water being shallow at the lip.

Blunham weir - fun to surf

Tempsford mill weir (Ivel) - an obstruction was seen river left, fun to surf, and could stay on it.

Tempsford lock weir (Ouse) - fun to surf

Pictures here -> http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set= ... 64daf2e6e2

[TechnoEngineer]

River: Upper Conwy
Section: Ysbyty Ifan to Rhydlanfair Bridge
Updates Link : http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/foru ... 22&t=47931
Date: 30/10/11
Get on time: 11:00 ish
Get off time: 16:00 ish
EA gauge level at the time on the river: Cwmlanerch 1.11 metres
Condition: A rockfest. Very scrapey in places, only a few bouncy rapids in the whole trip. There were a couple of exposed rocks just before the "twisty rocky constriction" that threw a number of paddlers off-line.

Also noted trees on the left hand side towards (or on) Bryn Bras Falls - see here:
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/foru ... 22#p594822

[TechnoEngineer]

Pictures

[PADWAN1]

River: Barle
Section: Tarr Steps to Exbridge http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/inde ... Itemid=116
Date: 30/10/11
Get on time: 12:00 ish
Get off time: 16:30 ish
EA gauge level at the time on the river: Brushford 0.58 metres
Condition: A little bit of a bum scrape at Tarr Steps, but nothing too annoying, the flow was really good throughout and there were some nice bouncy sections before Dulverton Weir. We shot the Salmon steps, after Dulverton, on the right hand side beside by the old mill, as the tow back on the drops looked daunting for play boats, esp. as we had seen a Burn doing cartwheels in the middle section, with no paddle I might add, whilst running the shuttle..

A bit of a bum scrape on the rapids just before the Exe confluence, other than that the whole river was on a good flow.

Members of our group ran Tarr Steps to Dulverton on the Friday and they said the river had more water in it; so the Barle probably runs better at 0.61 +…..

[TonyM]

River BArle, 6/11/11
Tarr steps to Dulverton
Lowish all the way, but runnable.
EA guage level about .5. This corresponds with water being at the bottom of the sloping part of the access ramp in Dulverton just about the bridge.
More water better; less would eb no fun at all.

Tony

[Conrad Dowding]

River East Lyn
Paddled 6/11/11
1.45 on the Brendon gauge equals exactly 0 on the Watersmeet webcam gauge (Border of red/green)
A bit of a scrape either side of the island in Lynmouth.

Watersmeet to Lynmouth. Low level but still good fun; some messy lines due to exposed rock.

It's worth noting that when the water's clear the Watersmeet webcam underestimates the water level- it looked like there was 2" of red exposed on the gauge but this wasn't the case when we got there.

Conrad.

[joereadickins]

Been meaning to post on here for a while.
The Upper Ystwyth goes something like this on the Cwm Ystwyth gauge:

0.5: Paddleable
0.65: Medium
0.8 and upwards: High
Doubt it would ever actually flood due to the gorge like nature of the river.

[Poke]

Hey Joe, which of these sections is the upper?
Are you able to fiddle the calibration so that it fits the other sections for the same gauge too?
The more the better! If you've got any more, keep 'em coming. Rob's trusted me with access to the calibrations so can update stuff if you fire it through.

For general reference, we can't really start entering a calibration without a minimum level, so try to come up with one for anything submitted if at all possible!
Thanks!

[joereadickins]

So the section I was referrring to was the section from the Diliw/Upper upper Ystwyth confluence down to Cwmystwyth. I've not done the Diliw but I understand that if the Upper has water in, ie something like 7ish upwards then its worth a crack. We should get it done pretty soon so I'll report back when I know.

The Cwmystwyth to Pont-rhyd-y-groes section (which I think is the Ystwyth gorge section) is one you can do if the Upper isn't too high, so probably goes around 0.4 and upwards, and then apply medium high etc from the upper section. Again, we'll probably be doing that fairly soon so will let you know.

Not done last section on the guide.

Minimum for the upper Ystwyth I'd say at 0.5, although you can bash down it at 0.4 if you have to....

Don't know if you're allowed to change grades, but they seem a bit drastic right now, although like I say, not done the Diliw so maybe there is some V in there...

[morsey]

The Usk
Talybont to Llangynidr
Friday 4th November 2011
get on: 15:30
get off 16:30
Llandetty 1.10 m (I read the gauge as I passed)
Low

Talybont to Llangynidr
Saturday 5th November 2011
get on: 10:30
get off 12:30
Llandetty 1.08m (I read the gauge as we passed)
Low

The Usk was on 108 below Talybont. At that level the little wave 100metres above the mill is super low but you can still just about surf river right. River left the hole does not really work. The weir at the mill the wave on the right is surfable and you get a close up of the dodgy iron spike sticking out. All the waves down the left on the mill are surfable and the middlewave is good enough for spins. Lots of rock spins on the bottom of the mill. The waves on the rapids after the Crawnon are not at their best, the top one works the rest are not formed enough at that level. Llangynidr is playable.


Talybont to Llangynidr
Friday 11th November 2011
get on: 12:30
get off 14:00
Llandetty 0.84m (I read the gauge as we passed)
Low

At 0.84 on the gauge you can float without scraping the whole way down the river, including the shallows below Buckland which still have a floatable channel. The waves are smaller but still playable, mill fall middle wave is still retentive enough to do spins. Other waves were small but you could still surf on most. Llangynidr main wave was grabby, the others were working well.

[joereadickins]

Winion today, was about 1.8. Low but worth it. Plenty of juice to keep it entertaining.

[flashollie]

Got on at 0915 Saturday 3.12.11
River Erme
Gauge; http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ho ... ionId=3208
River low

[Poke]

Got on at 0915 Saturday 3.12.11
River Erme
Gauge; http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/ho ... ionId=3208
River low

So, about 0.65, for the record... (data disappears off the EA site after ~3 days)

[flashollie]

Oh yeah good point Tim.
Would you agree with low you got on 30 minutes after us?
The Gorge section from viaduct down goes in low.The further upstream towards Harford you get the more boney in so I wouldn't recommend Harford to the slot at this flow (0.65). Most locals don't bother with the Harford bridge section and walk up the path RR and put on at the slot.

[Lowri Davies]

Upper Conwy
8/12/11 - 1.20pm on, 2pm off.
gauge: Cwmlanerch 3.10 (or 3100 on phone)

This is Bryn Bras at about 2.30pm:



I'd class it at very high, but not flood - however the gauge is further downstream where things were a bit more like flood!

[davebrads]

My first time on the Seiont today, got on round about 12.30, off at 2.00ish. EA gauge was 1.17m, just above the typical range. It was a fun run, the grade 4 was clean, but there were still some rocks around close enough to the surface to bounce or scrape off. Just noticed that there isn't a guide for the Seiont. We saw a gauge , I think just upstream of the A4086 road bridge - Pont Rug - and this read about 13".

[Jim Pullen]

Got a run down the upper wharfe today, put on at 1220, when the kettlewell gauge was around 1.3m, was on the low side of medium. I think this section needs tweaking on the rainchasers site, maybe knock 0.1 or so off the levels? I've certainly run this lower without scraping.
Water was high enough to run Green Field beck from as high as you can get before the road becomes private. Fun little ditch with a surprise drop on a bend! On the low side at the top, but got better. Would put 1.25m on the kettlewell gauge as the minimum for this.

[Poke]

Would you agree with low you got on 30 minutes after us?

I reckon that any lower and you wouldn't really want to paddle down from Harford Bridge. Reckon that 0.65 is a good cut-off between doing the whole section and just walking in to the gorge.

Upper Conwy, Cwmlanerch 3.10 (or 3100 on phone). I'd class it at very high, but not flood

Was this the section from the A5 Roadbridge to the Conwy Falls Cafe?
Do you have any idea what would be a good minimum to run this section on?

Seiont... EA gauge was 1.17m... the grade 4 was clean, but there were still some rocks around close enough to the surface to bounce or scrape off.

Would you say that this would be the borderline between low and medium then? Could you hazard a guess as to what the boundary between low/scrape would be?

Got a run down the upper wharfe today
Would put 1.25m on the kettlewell gauge as the minimum for this.

Was this the High-bank to Hubberholme Bridge section?


Cheers all!

[davebrads]

davebrads wrote:Seiont... EA gauge was 1.17m... the grade 4 was clean, but there were still some rocks around close enough to the surface to bounce or scrape off.


Would you say that this would be the borderline between low and medium then? Could you hazard a guess as to what the boundary between low/scrape would be?

I would say it was a medium level. As it is the first (and probably only) time I have run this river, it is difficult for me to make a proper judgement. 0.1m less water on the section would make it a scrape, but I think the EA gauge is quite a way downstream where the water is running slower, so this might relate to a much bigger change in the level there.

[RichA]

Upper Conwy, Cwmlanerch 3.10 (or 3100 on phone). I'd class it at very high, but not flood

Was this the section from the A5 Roadbridge to the Conwy Falls Cafe?
Do you have any idea what would be a good minimum to run this section on?

A post of mine from several years ago:

The A5 - Rhydlanfair section 'runs' from about 1200 (1.2m) upwards, but the higher the better. This where people used to get out through the field river left, but now continue a few hundred meters further and get out up the bank on the RHS to the A5 near to the caravan cafe in the layby.


Phone----Graph----A5 Gauge

1000-----1.0m------Bottom
1500-----1.5m------3/4
3000-----3.0m------Top

[Jim Pullen]

Got a run down the upper wharfe today
Would put 1.25m on the kettlewell gauge as the minimum for this.

Was this the High-bank to Hubberholme Bridge section?

Er, yes, but you've misquoted me there.
You currently have that section as low: 1.1, med 1.4 high 1.6. I'd say low should be at ~1.0, med at ~1.25 and high ~1.5.

If you want to put a guide up for Green Field Beck, then 1.25m on the kettlewell guage should be about the minimum. I guess about 1.5m would be needed for Oughtershaw Beck.

[joereadickins]

Aberglaslyn gorge yesterday. ~1.35, covering some of the footbridge, high but still not in flood though.

[BrynC]

Swale yesterday, 0.57 on the gauge, scrapey with a bit of a vertical pin hazard on Rainby Force, water just flowing across all of Wainwath. Not worth paddling.

[Mr Hoppy]

River: Lledr
Section: Pont-y-pant to Betws-y-coed
Date: 18/12/11
Get on time: 12.15
Get off time: 13.45
EA gauge level at the time on the river: 0.74 - low but everything would go.

Chris