River Teme 22nd April 2018.

[Richard D]

The upper stretch of the Teme is somewhere we have wanted to visit for a while. With only John, Rob & myself paddling it was the right size group to try this section and remain discreet. The English Whitewater book rates the Downton Gorge as grade 3 so we thought we’d go & look for ourselves. We could find no video footage of this section and we knew in advance that there were a few weirs to contend with. Having done some research we checked the levels on the EA gauges at Leintwardine (0.59) & Ludlow (1.36). Just below Leintwardine fishery near Burrington there is a bridge over the Teme with a public footpath alongside and a large sign stating ” NO CANOEING, DANGEROUS WEIRS” this was our access point. OS sheet 148 Presteigne & Hay-on-Wye.(Map ref; 435721. We were heading down to Bromfield and we parked by the church where there is a small car park and we walked down the Private Road about 150 metres to make sure our get out was a public Right of way and easily accessible. Map ref 482767 a beautiful place to visit. We got changed and loaded all our gear into the van as we wanted to arrive at the put in ready to get on as quickly as possible to avoid any harassment or confrontation. As it happens this is a very quiet and remote spot and we had no problem. We only saw 3 people on the entire 2.5 hour trip, one a tractor driver who passed over the Bridge at Bringewood Forge Weir just as we were putting back on below the weir and the other 2 were fishermen clearing overhanging branches as we passed through the Oakley Park Estate. They were polite & friendly but told us we were on the only “private” part of the river and we were trespassing but they would allow us to continue. We thanked them and continued on down river. In summary The Downton Gorge section is not itself really a gorge and at the level we did it was probably a 2+ although at higher levels it may reach grade 3 but it is still only a short section. There were 4 weirs of note, 2 of which we could inspect from the boat and one we got out to inspect and chose a line to run. Bringewood Forge Weir is a definite portage and there is a mill race/leat river right about 25 to 30 metres above the weir. Pull into the leat and walk down on the “island” and through the small arch to the right of the weir. Launch below the weir and take a look back at this picturesque beauty spot, but remember some of us lost a friend there in tragic circumstances 6 years ago. Respect this place for several reasons.
This was a pleasant enjoyable trip but there are better paddles of this grade to be had with less risk and fewer issues.

[admin]

Great report Rich.

[Author]

Posts