RIVER TEES
Many thanks to Mike Redding for this guide. Further whitewater info is available on his site at www.durham.ac.uk/~d52u85
The Tees is my local river, both when I'm at Uni and at home. Hence it has to go down as being a special river for these reasons as well as the excellent paddling it has to offer.
This section high up the Tees is an excellent grade IV paddle in most water conditions, the get in for which is BELOW High Force! The main rapid is the S-Bend which is class IV. In low water it is a twisting channel with a few drops in it (beware the vertical pinning spot on river left on the first drop). In high water it all gets much more entertaining and becomes much more continuous as opposed to pool drop . It is generally not a bad idea to set up a few throw bags on this section (just ask Sparky or Wayne!!).
A few hundred metres after the S-Bend is Low Force. Here there are two drops - the small Horseshoe Fall and the very photogenic Low Force - a fun 10 foot fall. The Horseshoe fall has a nasty towback and does hold swimmers (me), even in low water. I've also seen it mystery move stunt bats when in flood so beware. Low Force is great fun and I have run it in Low Water (easy) and very high water (long, long inspection, plenty of umming and ahhing and some unusually brown trousers!!). Both times went OK but in high water there is a lot more to go wrong.
The get out is below Wynch Bridge - the footbridge in sight of Low Force. Carry over the field on the left bank to the road. Watch out though as cars have been broken into in the layby here.
The access for this section is controlled bt the Raby Estate. You have to pay around £3 to the nice people in the hardware shop in Middleton in Teesdale or the Hig Force Hotel to be allowed on the river - which is a small price to pay for a quality section.
The first thing to note is this section has to be run when the river is in flood. We did it when HF/LF was too big for the group we had and it was fantastic. The get in is at Middleton In Teesdale at the field by the caravan site (have a word with the nice lady in the farm and give her a few pennies for letting you use her land). We paddled all the way to Barnard Castle (which made it a long, long paddle) and got out before the wier (which is the only way to do it, provided of course you aren't suicidal!).
The section consists mainly of big bouncy grade III and loads of excellent play waves (short boats rule here!). However don't get too carried away at the playspots as there is quite a bit of paddling to be done on some boring, but very pretty flat sections. There are a couple of harder rapids on the section which are grade III/IV. The hardest rapid is where the river enters a small gorge and washes up against the wall on a long left hand bend - there is a bit of messy water against the wall on the outside of the bend and at the bottom lies quite a substantial stopper (or standing wave if you believe the random punter who inspected it for us before we ran it!!). Hence a line tight down the left is advisable (and not too difficult!).
All in all then a top paddle - big, bouncy and playfull but very long and tiring. There are alternative get ins for the section but access is questionable so I'm going to shut up now!
UPDATE!!!!! I ran this section in November '98 when the river was absolutely massive. The Racecourse kicks ass in this level. High levels made it technically less demanding (the alleged big spate holes were washed out) but an awesome experience none the less. By the Kielder outflow on river right was the biggest and micest wave I have ever surfed - big, green (well, brown really) and clean. If you get the river at these levels paddle it!!
This section of the Tees from Barnard Castle to Whorlton Lido has to be one of the most popular paddles in the area. I've yet to run it in big water but at normal levels it offers a cracking grade III run and is a good place to bring peoples paddling up a notch.
Shortly after Barney C. is a river wide ledge about 1m high which has a few rocks at the bottom but is fairly safe to run. After a little while Abbey Rapids are reached. A large arched stone bridge crosses the gorge at the bottom of the rapids and is a useful point to inspect the river and check levels. The line down the rapid is fairly obvious but still great fun, with the water features getting bigger and bigger towards the bottom. If you stand next to the ledge on river right at the botton of the rapid and crouch down you can take photos which make the river look huge!! Even people who've done the section loads didn't recognise the photo taken of me!
From Abbey Rapids down the river anters a scenic gorge with some nice grade III sections (nothing as hard as Abbey though) and some fun little tailie spots and surf waves. Towards the bottom of the section the river opens out and a metal bridge spans the river. Just below here is Whorlton Lido - a 1m rock ledge angled down the river. It can be worth getting out river right to have a look at this drop as it can spank you (hint: paddle fast and point forwards - don't drop sideways into the hice U shaped bits whilst paddling a spud (Ed!!))
This is probably the last bit on the Tees worth paddling for the white water enthusiast (ignoring the Barrage). I have paddled it and it is good fun but do check the access agreement before you get on.
The main features on this grade III section are natural rock ledges - some of which form fun playspots. However even some of the small ledges form quite sticky little stoppers which will window shade you many times and hence should not be dropped into in a sideways direction. One of my paddling friends knows this quite well. Further down the section the ledges get a bit bigger - I ran it in normal levels with few problems (well only one - cheers Rob!!) but in higher levels I imagine some of the stoppers could get quite meaty. We got out on river right by Winston bridge - quite knackered but very happy. It is probably worth linking this section with Abbey Rapids for a longer paddle.