Planning a trip to the North East in winter is never easy, you know it is going to be cold but how cold and will there be snow or any water in the river. The cold snap at the beginning of Feb had obviously put people off so it was only Dave M, Julia, Peter and Hilary that paddled. Dave and Julia brought their open canadian and had already done a longish trip on the River Wear - downstream from Durham before Hils, Pete and Amelia arrived.
The River Tees was fairly low but that meant the weir at Barnard Castle was shootable. Hilary paddled the Cotherstone to Barnard Castle stretch with Dave and Julia while Pete baby sat. This is a lovely section with lots of Grade 2 ripples and a ledge drop verging on Grade 3. Dave and Julia had to do a fair amount of bailing in their touring canadian!
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The next day Pete paddled the stretch from Middleton in Teesdale to Eggleston with Dave and Julia. Again it was fairly low but the slalom site provided some sport. Tea shops in both Middleton and Barnard Castle did good trade and Dave M won at Scrabble. A fun trip!
Hils and Peter Photos are here.
