Sunday 19th October - High, Low and a long way there and back...

"Let's see if there's any water in the Greta and then decide where to paddle....". Well, that was a sort of a plan and resulted in Andrew, Phil and me meeting Paul near Mirehouse outside Keswick. Needless to say, there was nowhere near enough water in the Greta, or in any other north Lakes river. On interrogating Jane we decided that the upper Tees was only another 55 miles up the road, giving us a "plan B" option of looking at the lower Tees at Barnard Castle if the upper wasn't working. And the pie-shop at Brough was en-route! Debate over and away we went. Andrew was soon snoring his head off but the pie stop woke him up, which was just as well as the B road between Brough and Middleton is a drivers dream and my driving would have woken him anyway!

As it happened, the river was at a good level; Salmon Leap rapid was its meaty self; Andrew nailing his line, me capsizing and somehow rolling back up as I went over the main drop and Phil doing some brilliant surfing to escape the sticky hole at the entrance, running the middle section backwards before recovering well in time to punch the bottom slot.

Me upright - for a change - in the middle of Salmon Leap (January 2007)

Low Force came up all too soon; some needed more convincing than others, but we all threw ourselves off the lip without incident before finishing off with a blind run into a tight line down Wynch Bridge rapid.

Andrew on Low Force (January 2007)

All in all, good day out, far better that the weather suggested that we should have had and despite a 200 mile round trip!

Wynch Bridge rapid with Low and Middle Force above (from Google)

The suspension footbridge across the Tees at Wynch Bridge is believed to be the oldest permanent suspension bridge in Engand, erected in 1741 for use by lead miners to cross the river gorge. The original bridge had a wooden deck and chain handrail to one side only, such that anyone crossing it experienced "such a tremulous motion of the chain...on an agitated, restless gangway to which few strangers dare trust themselves." This bridge collapsed in 1802, surprising the lead miner who was walking across it at the time - though not for long as he fell into the river and was drowned! A second bridge was then built, later to be replaced, in 1830, by the current bridge.

Coincidenally, only a fortnight ago I was on the oldest packhorse bridge in the Lakes, the Friars Bridge on the River Calder...