Sumps & Syphons?
Jim Wallis
and I was just wondering how many of us know what sumps & syphons are
and how many can actually spot them?
I have noticed loads of times that even some really experienced paddlers
haven't got a clue about these things, and I noticed it again yesterday.
Due to either a late start or bad information we walked into the
Cononish yesterday afternoon to find it pretty empty. Rather than carry
our boats out again we dragged our miserable arses down the ditch in our
boats instead (embarrassing, if it wasn't for the sunshine it would
probably have been my worst days boating ever!). One of our group was
banging on about the fact that there is supposed to be a syphon between
the first hard fall and the big waterfall (but he'd never found it yet),
and reckoned that because the river was so low it would be an excellent
time to find out where it is.
We inspected the first hard fall (most of us portaged because it was
dropping onto a ledge, I don't know if this is normal or due to the low
level), and then continued downstream watching out for the syphon. Some
of us inspected another blind fall (about 2m high at this level) where a
flake separates the flow such that anything to the left of it drops into
a narrow slot against the gorge wall, which is overhung by the flake
(which appears to touch the wall at the downstream end) and has a solid
rock base. After running the fall I met one of the others in the eddy
(the guy looking for the syphon), and commented that it seemed like a
pretty obvious syphon to me. He asked what did, so I pointed back at the
fall and the slot which although virtually dry at this level would form
a pretty terminal syphon in higher flows. Oh yeah, he said, I never
thought of that as a syphon!
I then remembered that after I had parked my boat in a syphon on the
Tilt and we had cleared it, this same person had got pinned sideways
accross the entrance to it (it was impossible to communicate what had
happened to me because there was no way of walking round the rapid so I
couldn't go back up!). Luckily I was still standing on the rock with
another friend and we managed to get him out of his boat and get the
boat away before it was sucked down, but I recall that even when he was
on the rock I had to point out to him that all the water was going under
the rock were standing on.
Of course I just looked at page 152 of the SCA guide (Cononish), which
describes the syphon as lurking to the left side of a 1m fall (height
difference due to water levels).
Anyway clearly many people can't recognise a syphon, but what about
sumps?
I can't think of any obvious sumps, and in fact I can't think of as many
sumps as I can syphons - is this because I don't notice them or is it
because they are rarer, or perhaps because they are usually completely
undewater? Do people use sump and syphon to mean the same thing? - I'm
sure I've seen people do this!
Thinking about it, yesterdays syphon would probably still have formed a
sump if the flake hadn't leant right accross to the wall!
Some food for thought?
JIM
Mick
I'd appreciate info on Sumps & Syphon's, decription of, how to spot them
etc. I for one aren't affraid to say that my knowledge in this area is
lacking!
The sum of my knowledge is this:
A syphon is where water runs into a 'tunnel', below water level. It can be
spotted by noticing the lack of a cushion against the rock itself?
True/False....advice very much welcomed!!
Mick
black cat
"Jim Wallis" <Jim.W...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:3BB77B91...@cableinet.co.uk...
> I know that there is a lot of paddling experience hanging around here,
> and I was just wondering how many of us know what sumps & syphons are
> and how many can actually spot them?
>
im a novice at this paddling lark, but less of a novice as a caver.
in the caving world a sump is a water filled passage, a syphon is the same
really but has air on the other side (iv'e free dived a few, wouldn't fancy
paddling one though :-) ).
Tony.
Rob Byrne
> Anyway clearly many people can't recognise a syphon, but what about
> sumps?
Erm...see below...
> I can't think of any obvious sumps, and in fact I can't think of as many
> sumps as I can syphons - is this because I don't notice them or is it
> because they are rarer, or perhaps because they are usually completely
> undewater? Do people use sump and syphon to mean the same thing? - I'm
> sure I've seen people do this!
Is there a difference? I know that people use the two terms but a quick look
in the glossary of Ferrero's "White Water Safety and Rescue" says something
to the effect of a siphon is aka sump. Hence why I get confused why people
use the two terms in each sentence (I though they were just using the terms
creatively...). So go on, how do some people differentiate between the two?
:-)
As my understanding goes, a siphon is hole in a rock which could
theoretically trap someone, be they beneath the surface or on top of it. I
think the only way I know of seeing one is a plug-hole effect or lots of
water going through something that it shouldn't, if you know what I mean
(i.e. if only 10% of the water going into a pool can be seen exiting its a
pretty bad sign of something wrong).
> Thinking about it, yesterdays syphon would probably still have formed a
> sump if the flake hadn't leant right accross to the wall!
Is the Cononish the river which flows around the Tyndrum area (it is Tyndrum
with the Little Chef on the left as you go to Fort William from the the
south isn't it?). If so I can remember walking in the area a few years back
and seeing a very dry river to the west of Tyndrum with a river wide slabby
fall.
Rob
Jim Wallis
>
> Jim
>
> I'd appreciate info on Sumps & Syphon's, decription of, how to spot them
> etc. I for one aren't affraid to say that my knowledge in this area is
> lacking!
>
> The sum of my knowledge is this:
>
> A syphon is where water runs into a 'tunnel', below water level. It can be
> spotted by noticing the lack of a cushion against the rock itself?
Thats pretty much it!
Syphons aren't necessarily always tunnels as such, often in a pile of
boulders you will get gaps between the boulders which are actually
siphons - if the boulders are big enough the holes will fit boats into
them! The theory about no cushion on the upstream side of a rock under
which a syphon is working is pretty accurate (It's how I spotted the one
I got pinned in on the Tilt - as the boat settled I noticed something
odd about the way the water was hitting the rock besdie me so I climbed
out onto it pretty quickly and then realised that the oddity was the
lack of a cushion) - but actually pretty hard to spot! The easiest way
to spot a syphon is often to find the exit by spotting water flowing out
of the syphon where it should be still (like behind a boulder, the
syphon on the tilt was under a large slabby boulder and the water was
clearly flowing out from underneath it!), and then working out from
there where the entrance is! Sometimes a syphon will be exposed at low
flows making it possible to scout and identify in advance, or sometimes
a huge boulder will completely block a river with all the water
syphoning under (there are a few of these in the Verdon Canyon, where in
some cases you need to get out of your boat before you can see them...).
The syphon on the cononish was in many ways very obvious, yet many
people would perhaps not identify it as such. I described it earlier -
at the low level we had it looked like a slot with some rock extending
over it that would be at head level if you ended up going down there by
mistake - obviously somewhere not to go, but perhaps not obvious as a
syphon! At higher flows, and certainly from upstream it would be
impossible to see that the water was going under the rocky projection
until your boat dropped with the aerated water and your head made
contact with it!
Sumps are less obvious, sometimes there will be some undercut feature
where the water flows down the undercut with great force and then
recirculates or disperses to the sides - If the feature is undercut
above water level it might be obvious, otherwise the same insufficient
cushion may be apparent. There is no tunnel like in a syphon, but boats
and people can still be trapped underwater although the water is able to
get away, for any number of reasons - often there will be something like
an underwater stopper against the undercut, or there may be trees or
other obstructions pinned down there already. I guess the undercut below
the fishladder on the Findhorn gorge is a sump, but an example of one
where the water flushes through quite well - however there are hidden
obstructions however which have trapped and killed paddlers in the past.
Another well known but never seen sump* would be the one below
headbanger** on the Spean Gorge - it is the pothole type sump where a
cavity in the riverbed has been formed by the force of water falling
into it. The water still pours into the cavity before boiling up again -
the danger is that boats that get into the cavity often stay pinned in
it with the force of the fall holding them down! These are impossible to
see but sometimes you can sense that the water boiling up from below a
drop is not boiling up where you would expect it - if you check
headbanger in low water you can see that there is a powerful boil just
downstream from the stopper, but not far enough downstream to be the
deep flowing water resurfacing if everything was normal!
Basically these features are very difficult to spot - even when
forewarned!
JIM
* Presumably a sump and not just a boulder laying on the riverbed -
obviously it hasn't actually been seen but the sump theory makes more
sense as a boulder would almost certainly have moved by now!
** I'm talking about the underwater feature and not the undercut on the
left which is potentially more like the first type of sump, except that
when it is covered it doesn't actually seem to sump, although I am still
nervous about it and stay well right if I run it!
Jim Wallis
>
> Jim Wallis <Jim.W...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:3BB77B91...@cableinet.co.uk...
>
> > Anyway clearly many people can't recognise a syphon, but what about
> > sumps?
>
> Erm...see below...
>
> > I can't think of any obvious sumps, and in fact I can't think of as many
> > sumps as I can syphons - is this because I don't notice them or is it
> > because they are rarer, or perhaps because they are usually completely
> > undewater? Do people use sump and syphon to mean the same thing? - I'm
> > sure I've seen people do this!
>
> Is there a difference? I know that people use the two terms but a quick look
> in the glossary of Ferrero's "White Water Safety and Rescue" says something
> to the effect of a siphon is aka sump. Hence why I get confused why people
> use the two terms in each sentence (I though they were just using the terms
> creatively...). So go on, how do some people differentiate between the two?
> :-)
Hmm, it does say that doesn't it!
The way I think of them is by considering motoring! A syphon is a tube
you can use to remove petrol from your fuel tank - i.e. a hole through
which the oil flows, and the sump is a low point in the oil system where
the crap from the oil collects - the oil itself kind of recirculates in
there to make the crap drop out of suspension.
My use of the terms might not be right but they make sense to me - and
that is partly why I asked the question!
> As my understanding goes, a siphon is hole in a rock which could
> theoretically trap someone, be they beneath the surface or on top of it. I
> think the only way I know of seeing one is a plug-hole effect or lots of
> water going through something that it shouldn't, if you know what I mean
> (i.e. if only 10% of the water going into a pool can be seen exiting its a
> pretty bad sign of something wrong).
Agreed!
I've never really noticed a plug-hole effect, but obviously if you see
such a thing the reason should be pretty obvious :-)
> > Thinking about it, yesterdays syphon would probably still have formed a
> > sump if the flake hadn't leant right accross to the wall!
>
> Is the Cononish the river which flows around the Tyndrum area (it is Tyndrum
> with the Little Chef on the left as you go to Fort William from the the
> south isn't it?). If so I can remember walking in the area a few years back
> and seeing a very dry river to the west of Tyndrum with a river wide slabby
> fall.
I would describe it as South of Tyndrum, but it runs West-East so you
would reach it if walking south and west - for example en-route to Ben
Lui. The West Highland Way crosses a tributary right by the confluence a
little South East of Tyndrum, and yes Tyndrum has a little chef! There
are several falls, but the wide slabby one would be at the takeout -
East of Tyndrum and about where the West Highland way runs along the
river for a short while :-)
JIM
Adrian Pullin
exists. Do we (canoeists) use these terms correctly compared with
geology?
However, there is a bottom line:
Sumps kill you...
Syphons kill you...
--
Adrian J Pullin
Department of Computing and Mathematics
Manchester Metropolitan University
Manchester, M1 5GD
Phone: (+44) (0) 161 247 1530
Mark Rainsley
> I was just wondering how many of us know what sumps & syphons are
> and how many can actually spot them?
Si Drinkwater knows something about these things. On the Santa Maria in
Mexico he disappeared completely down a partially submerged tube (2 foot
diameter?) hidden on the lip of a waterfall. He was paddling with a
massively experienced group and none of them spotted it. He was dragged out
alive but dazed after 20-30 minutes, the boat took all day to extricate and
came out wrecked. Note...limestone gorge.
The worst river I've seen for siphons was the Zara Chu
(www.guidebook.free-online.co.uk/bastardo.htm). Apart from the fact that the
river kept disappearing into box canyons completely blocked by huge boulder
chokes (anyone fancy being percolated?), the rapids were often formed by
rough heaps of boulders which had tumbled/ slid into the river relatively
recently. Water flowed through and under them, I got one nasty shock when I
rested in a large 'eddy' which was flowing strongly into a big submerged
hole in the rocks that formed it's downstream boundary.
I would suggest that the local geology is a key factor in being alert to
these hazards. A good indicator also is the presence of trees/ detritus
sticking out from under rocks...
--
Mark Rainsley
The UK Rivers Guidebook
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk
Mark Rainsley
"Adrian Pullin" <a.j.p...@mmu.ac.uk> wrote in message
news:3BB85627...@mmu.ac.uk...
> Sumps kill you...
> Syphons kill you...
I've just recalled that I drifted into a siphon/ big undercut on the Biasse
(France) a few years back. Right at the bottom of a long grade 5 series of
steps, the seemingly flat outflow from the last pool flowed past a rock by
the bank. Preoccupied with inspecting the hard bits, we barely glanced at
this. Having run the steps, my boat floated right towards the rock and
under. My body was out of the water against the rock but sinking. I
considered hanging on heroically as it was clear I'd surface again shortly.
The mass of trees and junk jammed in the siphon persuaded me to bail fast
though, and indeed hampered removing my deck somewhat. Nasty.
Certainly not a swim, as I didn't get my hair wet.
:-)
There is a siphon under John's Stone rapid on the Lune. Paddle straight at
the rock in low water and see what happens. Well, don't.
Jim Wallis
>
> "Jim Wallis" <Jim.W...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:3BB77B91...@cableinet.co.uk...
>
> > I was just wondering how many of us know what sumps & syphons are
> > and how many can actually spot them?
>
> Si Drinkwater knows something about these things. On the Santa Maria in
> Mexico he disappeared completely down a partially submerged tube (2 foot
> diameter?) hidden on the lip of a waterfall. He was paddling with a
> massively experienced group and none of them spotted it. He was dragged out
> alive but dazed after 20-30 minutes, the boat took all day to extricate and
> came out wrecked. Note...limestone gorge.
OOoh! Limestone is pretty bad for syphons - what river flow through
limestone?
The Verdon does, but closer to home there are loads of Limestone areas
of the UK, the crags around the Wharfe are Lime, and large areas of the
South and South West have limestone too.
> The worst river I've seen for siphons was the Zara Chu
> (www.guidebook.free-online.co.uk/bastardo.htm). Apart from the fact that the
> river kept disappearing into box canyons completely blocked by huge boulder
> chokes (anyone fancy being percolated?), the rapids were often formed by
> rough heaps of boulders which had tumbled/ slid into the river relatively
> recently. Water flowed through and under them, I got one nasty shock when I
> rested in a large 'eddy' which was flowing strongly into a big submerged
> hole in the rocks that formed it's downstream boundary.
Yep, boulder piles are a major source of bad shit! On the hills of
Dartmoor these areas are called "clitter" - I wonder if the same name is
applied to such features in the rivers?
> I would suggest that the local geology is a key factor in being alert to
> these hazards. A good indicator also is the presence of trees/ detritus
> sticking out from under rocks...
Yes, I hadn't really thought of looking for the debris it's probably one
of the easiest things to spot. On the Verdon especially there are
several whole river siphons which when we were there were guarded by
fearsome strainers made up of large trees and other debris. These would
be very easy to spot, the only trouble is that once you spot them you
are too late to portage so you need to remember the landmarks and get
out before you see them!
JIM
Nigel Crompton
<Jim.W...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote:
>
>OOoh! Limestone is pretty bad for syphons - what river flow through
>limestone?
Fell Beck, for one.....
CU
Mark Rainsley
news:t7vjrt4r5m14bcrv5...@4ax.com...
> Fell Beck, for one.....
>
> CU
What/ where is this?
Nigel Crompton
<ma...@guidebook.free-online.co.uk> wrote:
>
>What/ where is this?
It drains the eastern slopes of Ingleborough.....you wouldn' want to
run it...
Jim Wallis
Isn't that the damn near vertical side? I was quite high last time (the
only time) I was up there - don't have the photo's to prove it though,
they are all of my 3 mates huddled round a map in the 20 feet visibility
and driving on the top - it was so windy I couldn't hear the camera wind
on and thought it hadn't taken a picture, so tried again, and again,
and.....
It was fairly clear on the climb up, and once we dropped a bit it
cleared up again, and we joined a well known (expensive) waterfall walk
at the midpoint and ended up walking out the free end by chance :-)
Anyway I don't recall a river, presume it's vertical too?
JIM
Nigel Crompton
<Jim.W...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote:
>Anyway I don't recall a river, presume it's vertical too?
Fairly.
Dark too, after the first 150'. Dunno whether it classes as a sump or
syphon, tho...
Do a search for Gaping Ghyll ...
Mark Rainsley
> Do a search for Gaping Ghyll ...
Oh, I know which stream you mean now...! My old Uni used to have a farmhouse
in the unfortunately named Clapdale which we hired for beer weekends.
I doubt Gaping Ghyll has much playboating potential...but the 'waterfall
walk' becks on the other side of Ingleborough have seen kayaks on them.
Rob Byrne
Mark Rainsley <ma...@guidebook.free-online.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9pfun2$h1a$1...@uranium.btinternet.com...
> I doubt Gaping Ghyll has much playboating potential...but the 'waterfall
> walk' becks on the other side of Ingleborough have seen kayaks on them.
As in Ingleton Falls? Apparantly they have been run in their entirety bar
one fall which seems to have a tiny lack of depth in the pool (There's a
plunge pool?!). Apparantly the Greta which runs to the NW of Ingleton has
paddling potential though its a real spate river - anybody done it?
Rob
Carol Haynes
"Rob Byrne" <rob_b...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9pfvlt$ntr$1...@plutonium.btinternet.com...
I've done the Ingleton Grete a couple of times. Its quite nice for open
boats with nothing too hard (mostly grade 2 with the odd moment of grade 3
madness, and full spate the odd few metres of grade 4).
If you look over the iron bridge on the A65 upstream there is a large flat
rock. If its covered you can get down, but ideally you need to to do it when
its well covered otherwise there are some sections that are a bit scrapy.
--
Carol
http://www.playoutdoors.org.uk
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/carol.haynes
Mark Rainsley
"Carol Haynes" <lairdswoodDO...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
news:9pg519$i8sn7$1...@ID-104261.news.dfncis.de...
>
> I've done the Ingleton Greta a couple of times.
A brief guide would be nice...?
Carol Haynes
>
> "Carol Haynes" <lairdswoodDO...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:9pg519$i8sn7$1...@ID-104261.news.dfncis.de...
> >
>
> > I've done the Ingleton Greta a couple of times.
>
> A brief guide would be nice...?
Oh dear - it was quite a while ago I was last there (probably 2 years) and I
don't remember too much apart from the level of fun we had. Oh well, here
goes ....
We parked and put in on the left just before the iron bridge (heading NW on
the A65). I think it is a Yorkshire Water station that is there and we got
permission for that. Usually you drop off gear and then park elsewhere (in
Ingleton Village ?) We took out at Greta Bridge (right hand bank) just
before the Lune. Not a lot of parking at the get out either, but IIRC there
was a lay-by. I don't know what the access situation is (none during the
F&M crisis) but there doesn't seem to be a problem when the water is
running. The farmer at the get out was very friendly - it was pouring down
with rain and blowing a gale and he actually came out opened all his gates
and helped us carry the canoes across his field!!
Just glancing at the Rivers of Cumbria guide I remember clearly the section
from the bridge at Burton in Lonsdale. There is a really nice steep section
which consists of planes of limestone with slopes and steps all the way to
the bottom. In just runnable levels you have to carefully pick a line down
these, I would imagine at higher levels it would be easier. I remember being
quite chuffed to get down this section without sticking or bumping anywhere.
The other section of interest is where it passes through Greta Woods. A very
pretty section but keep your ears open as there is a 1.5 m drop (normally
grade III but IV in higher water). You can get out on the left and fight
your way through the undergrowth to inspect the drop. There were a number of
places to enjoy it - in open canoes we found it easiest at the left hand end
where a cushion wave formed just below the lip. Immediately after the drop
there is a reef which can be a bit awkward (especially for canoes) as there
is only one way through when the rocks are showing above water. It is a very
narrow channel at the extreme right of the reef and difficult to get at
because the river bank at the point cuts in front of it making it a tight
turn. I remember one member of our group getting stuck across the gap. To
avoid damaging the canoe he leaped out on to the reef and lift his canoe
clear - only to let go and leave himself stranded in the middle of the
river!
Hope that helps Mark - feel free to use it in the guide if you want, but put
a health warning that it is dredged from dim and distant memory.
Mark Rainsley
> Hope that helps Mark - feel free to use it in the guide if you want, but
put
> a health warning that it is dredged from dim and distant memory.
Fantastic, I'll tweak it accordingly into a guide and let you survey the
finished resut before it goes up.
Anyone want to write some notes on the Eamont which was mentioned? Never
done it.
Thanks,
Paul Coombs
>
> OOoh! Limestone is pretty bad for syphons - what river flow through
> limestone?
> The Verdon does, but closer to home there are loads of Limestone areas
> of the UK, the crags around the Wharfe are Lime, and large areas of the
> South and South West have limestone too.
>
'The Strid' is on the Wharfe, and that has a masive undercut. I'm new to
all this lingo so tel me, wopuld the strid count as a sump or a shyphon,
or something else completly. For those that don't know the Wharfe, 'the
strid' is where a larfe lazy river (20m, 30m?) is forced though a gap of
circa 3m at eh surface. I think the rock is millstone grit though.
Paul.
Rob Byrne
Paul Coombs <paul....@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:3BBC7D02...@btinternet.com...
> 'The Strid' is on the Wharfe, and that has a masive undercut. I'm new to
> all this lingo so tel me, wopuld the strid count as a sump or a shyphon,
> or something else completly. For those that don't know the Wharfe, 'the
> strid' is where a larfe lazy river (20m, 30m?) is forced though a gap of
> circa 3m at eh surface. I think the rock is millstone grit though.
>
> Paul
All I know about the strid is that it is a) hugely undercut and b) not a
place to swim. I don't think that anybody really knows what is beneath the
rock - a few years back a couple fell into the river at the Strid...they
were found a few weeks later, i.e. *something* in the Strid physically held
them there for quite a while. Judging by the level of undercutting it
nothing would surprise me as to what is in the rock....
It has been run though...a real "do it right or die" rapid.
David Kemper
Hmmm!
Sounds like a candidate for a boom. ;-)
David
Jim Wallis
>
> Nigel Crompton wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 2 Oct 2001 22:36:47 +0100, "Mark Rainsley"
> > <ma...@guidebook.free-online.co.uk> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >What/ where is this?
> >
> > It drains the eastern slopes of Ingleborough.....you wouldn' want to
> > run it...
>
> Isn't that the damn near vertical side? I was quite high last time (the
Might make a significant difference to the sentence!
JIM
Jim Wallis
I remember passing some of the entrances on the way up - that weekend
some friends of ours, who we bumped into by pure chance, went down
Gaping Ghyll intending to meet us again the following night - we were
slightly concerned when they didn't but they did turn up at home OK in
the end :-)
JIM
Jim Wallis
Thats part of my question as well I suppose - the water can clearly push
you under the undercut and then not let you out again, which is pretty
much what a sump does. Of course even in low water it probably isn't
possible to investigate too much, so perhaps there is a syphon there
with the syphoned off water resurging somewhere innocous downstream? I'm
not familiar with the rapid, but the photo in Nick Dolls guide makes it
look pretty straightforward, I think theres a lesson there somewhere?
JIM
Carol Haynes
Not much of a plunge pool at the bottom ;-)
About 2 inches at the most in normal water conditions!
Carol Haynes
Unfortunately they were on honeymoon too!
> It has been run though...a real "do it right or die" rapid.
Nah, just a case for spo*sons ;-)
Carol
Allan Bennett
Kemper <URL:mailto:kaz.kemper....@ntlworld.com> wrote:
> >
> > It has been run though...a real "do it right or die" rapid.
>
> Hmmm!
> Sounds like a candidate for a boom. ;-)
Not quite! The Thames weirs to which we have been referring are a real 'do
it and you *will* die' adventure even if you had no intention of 'doing it'
in the first place...
Allan Bennett
--
One in a million, not won in a raffle
Rob Byrne
> Thats part of my question as well I suppose - the water can clearly push
> you under the undercut and then not let you out again, which is pretty
> much what a sump does. Of course even in low water it probably isn't
> possible to investigate too much, so perhaps there is a syphon there
> with the syphoned off water resurging somewhere innocous downstream? I'm
> not familiar with the rapid, but the photo in Nick Dolls guide makes it
> look pretty straightforward, I think theres a lesson there somewhere?
Go on then....define:
a) an undercut
b) a siphon
c) a sump
I've go my own definitions for two of these, but I haven't quite grasped
(still) what others define them as. :-)
Cheers,
Rob
Nigel Crompton
<Jim.W...@cableinet.co.uk> wrote:
>> Isn't that the damn near vertical side? I was quite high last time (the
> I missed a "t" here ^
>
I just assumed that this was a normal state of affairs ....
Seriously, if you're in the area when BPC (and the other crew whom I
can't remember - Carol ?) have their winch installed it's well worth
whatever they charge these days for a trip down, and up. Used to be BH
weekends in the Spring if memory serves. The ride up can be a little
spine-tingling for first timers, and the ride down can be sphincter
testing if they don't like the look of you & compleley throw the
brakes off.......
CU
Carol Haynes
I think its usually Spring BH and August BH. Never been up there when the
winch is on - but its got to be the easiest way to see one of the best sites
(or sights) in the Yorkshire Dales. If you don't like heights just close
your eyes until you get to the bottom ;-)
Carol Haynes
The Strid is, apparently, safer in high water as you are less likely to be
pulled under the undercuts. Also the channel has few obstacles. When the
water is low the obstacles are difficult or impossible to pass and the
current flows underneath the rock!!
Its grade V so you definietly won't see me down there.
The Wharfe below the Strid is Grade II so if you fancy and easy trip go do
that bit and have a wander first to see the Strid - it is definitely a sight
worth seeing.
Damien
>
>
> The Strid is, apparently, safer in high water as you are less likely to be
> pulled under the undercuts. Also the channel has few obstacles. When the
> water is low the obstacles are difficult or impossible to pass and the
> current flows underneath the rock!!
>
> Its grade V so you definietly won't see me down there.
>
> The Wharfe below the Strid is Grade II so if you fancy and easy trip go do
> that bit and have a wander first to see the Strid - it is definitely a
sight
> worth seeing.
>
Epic at Appletreewick, so we were running kind of late, in January).
Damien
PS. I believe the honeymooning couple actually fell in at Appletreewick, not
the Strid, but they'd still have had to passthrough it.
Mark Rainsley
> > > I've done the Ingleton Greta a couple of times.
> Hope that helps Mark - feel free to use it in the guide if you want, but
put
> a health warning that it is dredged from dim and distant memory.
Carol, I've editted your comments into a guide. Reads pretty well I thought,
made me regret not having gotten around to running this when I was living up
there.
Let me know if you think any changes need making.
Many Thanks,
Carol Haynes
> "Carol Haynes" <lairdswoodDO...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:9phe6j$i9765$1...@ID-104261.news.dfncis.de...
>
> > > > I've done the Ingleton Greta a couple of times.
>
> > Hope that helps Mark - feel free to use it in the guide if you want, but
> put
> > a health warning that it is dredged from dim and distant memory.
>
> Carol, I've editted your comments into a guide. Reads pretty well I
thought,
> made me regret not having gotten around to running this when I was living
up
> there.
>
> Let me know if you think any changes need making.
That's fine Mark - if/when I do it again (definitely worth a revisit) I'll
send an update and try and get the odd photo.
At the end of the article you added my web links - just include the
playoutdoors link, the other one (homepage) is just a link to odds and ends
that are stored temporarily (like the odd photo referred to in web posts).
Cheers
Carol