Saturday January 13th - Does 150 metres count as a river?

MarkB, Simon and Andrew - Andy and I dashed into Keswick for pies then on to Threlkeld where we met about a dozen open boaters lining up to fall into the Greta. Maybe it was a rescue drill or something? MarkB turned up followed, while we sorted the shuttle, by Simon...

We didn't wait to find out what the canoeists were up to because we had a plan; the Greta for starters, MarkB had to leave, then up into the hills "back o'Skidda" with Simon to see what the torrential rain had done to the upper Caldew - and it had done plenty : )

Andrew clinging to a line through the broken weir outside Keswick

Getting to the Caldew was the hardest part - flooded roads giving a hint of things to come. The river turned out to be much bigger than the rock-sliding boulder dodging ditch that we had heard about; it turned out to be technical, fast and tight. And with the 5 metre "Picnic Pool" slide / drop right at the start. Much Joy! Another 6" depth would elevate this to "one of the best" but doubt it sees this kind of level too often....

On the upper Caldew - bigger than it looks...