River Wear - Bishop Auckland to Sunderland Bridge
Re: RIVER WEAR (Bishop Auckland to Sunderland Bridge)
Paddled the stretch from Barnard Castle to Page Bank. Found it to be exactly as the guide described. A lot of bankside litter. Plenty of coffee/lunch spots. A nice little car park at Page Bank immediately on the left as you drive over the bridge from Spennymoor. We got out just below the obvious outfall. Bank is quite steep with lots of brambles, but short so not too difficult. Only one angler encountered, a young lad who was friendly enough. Met another guy who was planting willow saplings to provide shade for his fishing. As an angler he had a very refreshing attitude "I can't see what the problem is with canoes, infact I've often thought about getting one myself" Would that they were all as enlightened as that. We tried to encourage him to get in contact with Bishop Auckland Canoe Club. Further downstream we had a very pleasant chat with a fellow paddler (though not in his canoe) who was out collecting firewood for his stove. It transpired that he was a member of the afforementioned club.
Altogether a very pleasant day out.
Altogether a very pleasant day out.
Re: RIVER WEAR (Bishop Auckland to Sunderland Bridge)
Did this in Canadians yesterday. It had rained heavily the night before and as a result, we had what was the almost perfect trip for open boats.
The levels were up. Quite a fast flow all the way with a continual series of Grade 2 - and quite a number of short G3 rapids. I do think we were lucky with the levels though - may have been flatter and more scrapey without the rain.
A pretty river but with quite a bit of litter reflecting its' proximity of urban areas I suppose. However, the nicest thing was that everybody we encountered seemed really friendly and interested in what we were doing - including even an angler at the put-in who wished us a "safe journey." Couldn't believe it! But it made for a good atmosphere for a change.
As stated - would be a really good first moving water trip for kayakers.
The levels were up. Quite a fast flow all the way with a continual series of Grade 2 - and quite a number of short G3 rapids. I do think we were lucky with the levels though - may have been flatter and more scrapey without the rain.
A pretty river but with quite a bit of litter reflecting its' proximity of urban areas I suppose. However, the nicest thing was that everybody we encountered seemed really friendly and interested in what we were doing - including even an angler at the put-in who wished us a "safe journey." Couldn't believe it! But it made for a good atmosphere for a change.
As stated - would be a really good first moving water trip for kayakers.
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helenastle
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun Jun 05, 2016 10:01 pm
Re: RIVER WEAR (Bishop Auckland to Sunderland Bridge)
Ran this today in touring kayaks - lovely run, though very scrapey, wanted an extra 6 inch of water! Watch out for a tree just previous to the rail bridge (54.73, -1.6), blocks all but about a foot of the river.
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jimendersby
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- Joined: Tue Feb 12, 2019 10:32 am
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Re: River Wear - Bishop Auckland to Sunderland Bridge
Just an update on our run today (30 Mar 21) from the original post by John:
PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Put in just down stream of the old river bridge in Bishop Auckland, river right NZ 207 303. SAME.
Get out Sunderland Bridge (on the A167 just south of Durham, NZ 266 377 just upstream of the old bridge, river right. SAME.
APPROX LENGTH: 9 miles.
TIME NEEDED: Took us 2 1/4 hours really gentle paddling / floating. This was super leisurely!
ACCESS HASSLES: One guy along river stated there were no Navigational Rights anywhere on the River Wear; we were polite and floated on through. Saw loads of people and a cheery hello was met with a likewise response. Two occasions we were videoed or had photo taken, but by very enthusiastic people who looked happy to see us.
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: We paddled with river level reading at 0.62m at the Witton Park measurement. This was plenty for both a Sit-On and a Sit-In kayak.
GRADING: Mixture of grade 1 and grade 2.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Loads of trees at side of river that don’t affect the run. Some large rocks in the run, but nothing unavoidable. Some areas (given our run depth as above) had paddle touching the floor strokes, but generally good depth.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Really enjoyable and leisurely run. Very picturesque and spot on for novices to get some confidence, or anyone else to just have a nice day out.
PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Put in just down stream of the old river bridge in Bishop Auckland, river right NZ 207 303. SAME.
Get out Sunderland Bridge (on the A167 just south of Durham, NZ 266 377 just upstream of the old bridge, river right. SAME.
APPROX LENGTH: 9 miles.
TIME NEEDED: Took us 2 1/4 hours really gentle paddling / floating. This was super leisurely!
ACCESS HASSLES: One guy along river stated there were no Navigational Rights anywhere on the River Wear; we were polite and floated on through. Saw loads of people and a cheery hello was met with a likewise response. Two occasions we were videoed or had photo taken, but by very enthusiastic people who looked happy to see us.
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: We paddled with river level reading at 0.62m at the Witton Park measurement. This was plenty for both a Sit-On and a Sit-In kayak.
GRADING: Mixture of grade 1 and grade 2.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Loads of trees at side of river that don’t affect the run. Some large rocks in the run, but nothing unavoidable. Some areas (given our run depth as above) had paddle touching the floor strokes, but generally good depth.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: Really enjoyable and leisurely run. Very picturesque and spot on for novices to get some confidence, or anyone else to just have a nice day out.