GUIDE TO TORVER BECK
NAME OF RIVER: Torver Beck.
WHERE IS IT?: Lake District. Flows into Coniston Water on its West side. Flows alongside the A5084.
PUT-INS/ TAKE-OUTS: Put in: 285933, at Mill Bridge. Which is a 100m walk from the main road. (GR 287933).
Take out: Either at the bridge which crosses Torver beck, (GR 289925) or continue down into Coniston water, turn right as you hit the lake, and carry on for 100m to an easy take out by a lay by (291922). The latter take out gives you one extra fall.
APPROX LENGTH: 1.5 km.
TIME NEEDED: 30 mins.
ACCESS HASSLES: Unknown.
WATER LEVEL INDICATORS: Drive over the bridge at 289925. Theres a wide rock reef type fall immediately upstream. If you can get down that without much bashing you'll be OK, the rest of the falls are narrower. Needs quite a bit of rain to bring into condition. At low levels would be far too rocky.
GRADING: 4.
MAJOR HAZARDS/ FALLS: Not many breakouts above the falls. Some overhanging trees.
John Pinn http://kayaking.fotopic.net (October 2005)...'Paddled Torver Beck 12th October 2005. Two major tree hazards ruin this run and in my opinion make it a waste of time as they probably block the two best drops on the river. In anything but very low flows you would need a lot of luck (skill??) in breaking out in time or trying to find a sneak line. These three trees will take a fair bit of moving and would be easy to run into if you weren't inspecting from the bank. I won't be doing this run for a while again!'
GENERAL DESCRIPTION: A fun short spate run. 5 or 6 grade 4 falls, several of which are fairly narrow and steep. Overhanging trees are a inconvenience particularly on one double stepped fall. Continuous rapids lead you from each major fall to the next. You can take out at the road bridge or continue onto the lake, which has the bonus of an extra fall.
OTHER NOTES: Theres supposed to be a steep hairy section a couple of miles above this one, but I haven't paddled it. Immediately above the put in is a 20/ 30 ft fall which has a tree in it, but I'm not sure I'd like to run it anyway ( Anyone done this one?).
Short enough to not need a shuttle! Nearby in Coniston is Church Beck.
CONTRIBUTED BY: Simon Wiles, Whitewater Tourists, also John Pinn.
