Uploader's Comments

This is a fairly quiet stretch of the River Wear, at about grade 2, though perhaps a little livelier in higher water. This paddle was in water about 1 foot on the (visual) gauge at Stanhope Ford, or about 0.6m on the Environment Agency gauge upstream of the Stanhope bridge. That's about as low a level as you'd really want to paddle, as one or two bits are a bump and scrape, though most of it is pleasant enough. The previous day had given friends a much more exciting paddle as the main snowmelt flood came through - we were just getting the very tail end, as the Wear is fast to rise and fall. The water was still damned cold, though !