GUIDE TO THE RIVER CALDEW
(Grainsgill Beck to Mosedale)
NAME OF RIVER: Caldew
WHERE IS IT?: Behind Skiddaw in the North east Lakes. A short drive upstream from Mosedale village.
PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: The road follows the river heading upstream from Mosedale, and we parked the far side of a small bridge (Grainsgill Beck, Multimap). We put in just above the top fall, and got off at Mosedale bridge.
The road follows the top section of the river (the harder part) so alternatively you could get off at any point during this part and miss out the lower section (which is easier, however has a few tree branches across it here and there - all of which we could avoid, although higher water levels may have made that more difficult).
APPROX LENGTH: 3km
TIME NEEDED: 1 hour or less!
ACCESS HASSLES: Unknown, but we encountered no issues.
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: A fair amount of rain is needed. One of the guidebooks mentions a pebble beach at the get out (easily inspected from the road) and say this needs to be covered. We paddled the river whilst it was slightly lower than this (a few of the pebbles were showing) and had no problems.
GRADING: 4 at the start, easing off to 3.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS:
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: The first kilometre is a continuous, fairly steep, really good fun grade 4 with three falls of note within the first 500 metres - all of which can be seen when driving upstream.
The river then eases it's gradient slightly, to a grade 3. A few tree branches in the lower section, although we paddled around them all without issue (Dec 2006).
See White Water Lake District Guidebook for more info and map.
OTHER NOTES:
CONTRIBUTED BY: Helen Wigmore, York Canoe Club.
