The River Crake Canoe Caper

Description

paulkirtley.co.uk The River Crake is a short river in Cumbria, U.K. It flows from Coniston water to the sea, which it meets in part of Morecambe Bay.

Please be aware, there is allegedly now an access agreement in place for the River Crake. When we set off on this trip on the River Crake, we were not aware of any access agreements in place. The night before the trip I had checked the results in Google for "River Crake" and "River Crake access" - the top results yielding sites with information which actually said there was NO AGREEMENT, there was unlikely to be one "before Hades freezes over" and year-round access was not a problem. This is not what we were told by a gentleman at Bobbin Mill near Spark Bridge (see 24:47 in the video).

He was very reasonable and said it "is on all the websites". In fact it clearly isn't and since then I've struggled to find mention of an access agreement anywhere.

But there is the following document, which I have unearthed: http://www.canoe-england-cumbria.org.uk/region02/assets/File/Spark_bridge_sign_2012.pdf

This document is dated earlier than the updates on some websites which say there is no agreement, so the situation is still somewhat confusing.

Clearly the system of promulgation of guidance as to where paddlers are welcome in England and Wales, and where they are not, leaves a lot to be desired. Even when you try to do the right thing (and think you have checked and made sure everything is OK), it can be hard to find accurate information. Apologies for any irritation caused by us being there. I'm the last person who wants to disrupt natural environments, sensitive habitats or recovering species populations.

Regardless of this, I hope you find this video useful as well as entertaining. It highlights the issues of paddling this river in summer on a number of levels and highlights two major tree hazards which exist in the river as of summer 2017.

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Tags: canoe,canoeing,adventure,outdoors,paddling,Cumbria,Lake District,River Crake,Coniston,Coniston Water,Crake,river,creek,England,Summer,water,tree hazards,white water,grade 1,grade 2,grade 3,capsize

Video Transcription

what an ass is going on here I've got the red Campion I don't feel safe unless I've actually got this on this is my tradition now but having read Campion in my hair since having this I haven't gone in touchwood in their balance as well yeah one would just look ridiculous well now you need to on this coin you're going to test this theory on the craic today yeah hopefully yeah Lina what is he like and I'm quite interested in going paddling with this young man called spoons the red Campion I've been told as his safety net so I will be ensuring that he has that on all the time so we have a fun and eventful day his attire is much to be desired keeping it real since 1978 I think I'm not a lot there's very real about spirit direction things that I will be inventive if we're moving out from the good I know this is the first is the FIR we will have fun if nothing else Lina you're saying there were some memories of Valeria yes this was when Raymond Goodwin decided to try and teach me to sail I think that was the first weekend we went out it was very nearly the last we started from this side swallows and Amazon's little island and we sailed over to water park he didn't do too badly because it's been 14 years and I'm still there yes it brought that some very nice memories thinking okay good but the first time on the Cape this is going to be my first time on the crags on the before today I've only ever paddled down to the mouth of it and then not done to see not me announcer today will be a nice little adventure with Paul and Paul pollen Paul Paul Paul fabulous great go fishing go fishing got my well Simon Cowell's on as well they're all right so yeah I didn't go goods although this one so what was it you're looking forward to about this one I've been done I would like all of open water but this is going to be quite fast quite narrow as well is it great three in it so yeah it's going to be interesting for me I've had one run anything like this before so yeah should be should be good fun might get a little bit wet but mussel part of it so I'm doing problems Nuttall mild we'll finish getting practice yeah let's go yeah buddy sorta tonight and so we were off in beautiful weather on Coniston water even the hills were clear which is somewhat unusual for the Lake District I've paddled the craic before a few times in winter never in summer and this was going to be something new for me as well and the thing that became immediately apparent was the presence of foliage I remember this little section of submerged willows towards the end of the lake where it flows into the top of the river and here we had to really thread our way through find almost what was a secret entrance still slack water here though so no real issue once we were through our little secret entrance to Narnia it was a different world

lovely little creek sunshine coming through the trees dappled sunshine and just a beautiful day to be out paddling but before too long we had our first obstacle a tree hazard right across the river and in stronger flows this would be a real danger [Music]

Leena I think if you end up with out in the water next you're going to end up knocking yourself off the tree I think you need to climb over the other side it's as soon as the bow hits the water it's going to move towards you if you stood downstream of it the obstacles successfully negotiated we were back to a lovely gin-clear gentle Brook but I knew there was something more demanding not too far ahead the first significant rapid on the river just around a little bend is a technical rocky grade 3 which is hard to inspect from the top I'd be able to get an ID and could run it through as long as a mother is doing a push this way rock and the angels of the COTS not nice to threaten often actually this is like 23 not great - it was awkward

a little disconcerting halfway down the rapid was a red canoe wrapped around a rock from someone's previous mishap anyway I was to go first and I decided to just drop down the side of the top part of the rapid that's not that bad the pool I'd hit was only just broad enough to fit my 15-foot canoe just enough room to get turned around and then Eddie out again [Music]

[Laughter]

yeah that was nice that felt good that's something to remember how does that feel thinking about it planning it doing it how did it feel that sense of flow going with it working with a plan but using the skills that was that was nice that was good

and oh

a bouncy run four-post spoons and lina but they were intact and still in their boats at the bottom then and run down a narrow little section which was very pleasant but again another tree hazard ahead

and so we were getting a feel for the craic it's a fast little creak of a river the water levels are dropped since the previous week there haven't been any rain but this is a river that goes up and down quite a lot and impact the bridges have been washed away on this river you're never quite sure what debris you're going to find i've paddled this river before but only in winter and I do remember the tree snags I remember the fences coming down into the side of the river and gates but every time you paddle a river it's different you have to be cautious and on this river with limited visibility we were having to be very cautious I'd write on this and of course the other issue for a leader on a limited visibility River like this is keeping an eye on your group and good communication in addition today what I was finding I was having a bit of trouble with as you can see here it's a good representation is looking into the shadows to see what was going on particularly wearing sunglasses because it was so sunny I think this films a good representation it's hard to see until your eyes adjust what's going on just be careful here Oh

hey fuck paddle paddle already out you Selena

she okay

I need to empty it okay pick one of these Eddie greener I don't really know what's going on you know that mess ahead got some water in its mine that stuff that that's that hemlock water dropwort which is sort of bit of a snotty a chemical isn't give you a rash I know you're quite sensitive to builder it's just always flow into trees is a bit unnerving and it's quite strong yeah

while Leena finish tempting some water spoons did a quick Scout ahead on foot to look around the other side of the bush and saw that it was clear so I went through and then we all popped through one by one but we're going to have to keep together because it was tight and low visibility going forwards as far as we could see I'm happier on the right and on the left I can get that on the right let's go I was keen to keep everyone together for good line of sight as limited as it was and good communications to keep an eye on each other and to make sure that everyone was aware of what was coming up and that everyone was aware of where everyone else was and if they were okay this was something that's easier said than done on the craic with all this foliage is very different to the winter the green foliage makes a big difference at this time of year in the height of summer pleasing Lena

fuck you doing she won't no not Lina had had to jump out of her boat as it got snagged on a branch she was shouting she was okay though

so spoons waited for Lina while she rectified her boat and I waited for them here before we set off again on our adventure in an increasingly densely wooded stream

we eventually broke out of the narrow deep willow lines section that was dense and a little bit jungle life and back onto some rocky sections with some flow and a little bit of whitewater and this made for a pleasant run down for the next section a little less stressful than the previous but this section wasn't without its interesting little features too as the river divided and went around obstacles and down separate channels we certainly had to have our wits about us [Laughter]

you free may not to guard let's just wait for it to catch up with us we're going to spread out here the densely foliated areas had been somewhat slow going and we hoped now that we had a bit more space and a bit more flow that we'd make good progress this was after all only supposed to be at a trip [Music]

Oh

[Music]

you

[Music]

it's like soup - it is you can't marry floppy champions now mate you've got very floppy champion you might like to sleep

- floppy ears now like little floppy sleepy now they're silk sister [Music]

[Music]

[Music]

it's real changeable isn't that fun peace you're neat eyes [Music]

[Music]

[Music]

the back of these houses indicated we were coming into the section above spark bridge there's a grade three rapid at bobbin mill and directly before that there is a weir which then runs down to a low bridge and we've noticed in driving along the road above this section earlier in the day when we were doing our shuttle with vehicles that one aperture of the bridge had flood debris in it as well so there are a few obstacles negotiate here and no easy way of inspecting or portaging heading down towards the bridge and the rocky rapid beyond with the Pope full of water was not my plan so I made for the rock in the center to beach the boat and then get it into the eddy behind so I could empty it [Laughter]

drop on behind sir I will after tidying up my boat we were planning our approach and attack on this next section of River but noticed the gentleman coming along the top of the wall above Lina from my side of the river it was hard to pick up what this guy was saying but he seemed to be saying that we shouldn't be on the river between March and November because of an access agreement with regards to salmon coming up to the river something we didn't know anything about I'm sorry I can't properly hear you from tinkling attacking

[Laughter]

yeah okay

what can you see from their lien because I cut

you can acknowledge you want me to go with our rebuke from the guy and a bunch of his friends watching from the balcony of his house we were keen hot to stuff up as we headed down this rocky section of river

[Music]

now after clearing this section of river I caught up with Lena and what the gentleman had said and he was quite reasonable about it was that there is now an agreement in place that paddlers don't paddle this section of river between March and November but the thing is I checked a popular UK rivers guide website the night before and there is nothing on there about there being an agreement in place or any restrictions in fact it specifically says and I've checked this again today in July 2017 when I am editing this that there is no access agreement in place and that people are paddling this river year round so that needs to be updated and contrary to what the gentleman said it's not on all the websites who the greement is between I have no idea how I'm supposed to know about that I have no idea but all I can recommend is for people to check more than one source of information before making their decisions about where to go but anyway back to the challenges of the craic that is a bit of a surprise my I didn't adjust properly yeah when from sending my eyes and looking into the dark with Sony's on is that there there's some light water in here we weren't far from the end now from green odd from where the crepe meets the sea at the top of Morecambe Bay but the challenges were not going to let up there was water flowing into trees through trees it was hard to see what was going on from bright sunshine to dark overcast shadowed areas of forest and we were going to have to work all the way down to the end it seemed I slowed to make sure I kept contact with the other two behind me and then I heard Lina shouting right Lina was shouting at me to stop because spoons was in the water no pick it up what happened as I found that that big hi district now this here but hooked him to put on the ground anyway what like that before knew it that just funny and I collided with Matt when I pulled that up and get in trouble a strange living it I know you still got very champions we got one on this side oh I can't begin doing and I got presence here oh me map don't worry you'll get used to that yeah well blow through the time today when I've got water of the gunnels strictly speaking I have not cut sizes Oh kind of knocked out sighs I've had water over the journals with a boat even after that we're i i stayed upright i landed the boat and i entered it in the ad behind that rock I did not fall out of the boat [Music]

what pains you rightly happen so quick it is it it's effective it's a little creek but it's there's a lot of water coming on that and you see it like that bit where the guy had a chat to it after that that was chunky coming down there yeah

despite being a little damp spoons was in good spirits as always and even it managed to keep his red Campion's attached to his helmet we'd all had our little mishaps on the craic it being a real adventure but now not far from the end we were determined to enjoy the rest of it soak up the lovely natural surroundings and the beautiful sunshine it certainly is nice to be out in the summer despite the clear access hassles that we had or that people might have on this river going forward the other thing I would mention is the green foliage and the low-hanging branches really did make this a lot more difficult to paddle and a lot more tricky to see then when I've paddled this in the winter so I would suggest to most people if you're not familiar with the craic regardless of the access I would paddle this in the winter months when the trees are bare and you can see what's going on just check the water levels of course [Music]

stray in the river but you can get underneath it just a bit more chunky than some of them that we've had [Music]

like the first tree hazard spanning the whole river that was a chunky bit of tree that last tree has it would also be a significant danger in stronger flow so anybody paddling the river I don't think either of those are going to go away anytime soon so just be wary of those trees that birch tree higher and those two intersecting interlocking trees further down right across the river with water flowing into those that would be a problem but here we find ourselves in the last little section of river it's tidal here but the tide was out today when we finished and there was one little last to drop to do under the bridge at Green odd and then we were finished

[Music]

Oh

[Music]

back at our base camp now on the shores of Lake Windermere where we run our expedition canoeing skills course from and we've had a good adventure today I think everyone thoroughly enjoyed it it was technical in places it was beautiful all the way along from the lovely surrounds of Coniston all the way down through the creek right down to the tidal waters on the edge of Morecambe Bay it was lovely interesting nature all along the way technical Rapids low-hanging trees caused us some interesting paddling moments and yeah everyone had a good time I think let's see what the other tooth Philip how's your day spoons very good yeah absolutely brilliant one of the yeah one of the best days actually four different things starting off on the lake a little bit of a headwind then going into really overgrown bushes as well some real nice technical bits and I've managed to fall in overly broke my back and when in come around a bit of right and Ben's got the canoe paddle caught in his big boggy hazel was coming over and before I know it that was in those was getting wet looked up where's the canoe paddle look back to where I come in and it's still hanging in the trees on the right go back go back up and get it out but it all happens so quick you think all the last time to think about people don't before you know it you getting wet and that's it how is your day leanness well today how was it judo was surprisingly technical in part now that was a minister again I'm tell you the crazy underestimate small ribbon I've had a blinding day we've had a really good time as pools and spoons and Paul have probably said already there's been lots of trees so you've got to be on your toes and and don't understand me what tree can do because all of us have had little Duncan's and every time it's generally to avoid branch and whatnot so I think be on your game I've had a great day it's been beautiful weather been great rapid

and we're down by Moreton Bay nearly Stern so game on thank you let's go again [Music]

you