Carlisle Canoe Club 

Wetheral Weir guide -- there are lots more photos here.

Wetheral weir is our local playspot. It can be quite good but only if you get exactly the right level (you can phone and check). You need medium to high water, and it changes by the hour. It is an environment agency salmon counter on the Eden between Wetheral and the A69. Park in the large layby on the B6263 between Wetheral and the A69 (click here for a map). The weir is 50m downstream. Apparently the Environment Agency has asked that people don't run the middle channel of the weir. The river here is an exclusive fishing beat and you're probably not allowed to be there, so be friendly to the fishermen and try to keep well away from them. Don't annoy them in case it upsets the access agreement on the Lazonby-Armathwaite section.

The weir consist of three 15m-wide channels. There is a concrete bank on river left. There is always water in the middle channel. The outside channels are symmetrical--every move you can do on one side in the left channel, you can do on the other side in the right one. Immediately below the weir is a river wide line of anti-scour boulders which make the weir dangerous--they are usually just submerged and you will hit them if you roll in low/medium water. In high water you don't usually hit them. At some levels there is a gnarly hole in the middle channel which you will probably want to avoid. It holds boats and might hold swimmers. Some people like playing in it--its like the side channels but with deeper, faster water, a bigger pile, and no escape at the ends.

You can get water levels from the EA Rivercall North West service. Phone 0906 619 7733 and select option 1 (Eden, Kent and Derwent levels). Listen for the level of the Eden in Great Corby. It is updated at 4am and 4pm. Calls cost about 25p (60p per minute). You get the height in metres above normal summer flows. Here's how the levels correspond to what the weir will be like:

0m (Normal summer levels, no water flowing down side channels.) There is a fast green wave above a hole in the middle channel. Apparently it’s not worth paddling. You would hit rocks if you rolled (see photo below).

0.22m: 5cm of water flowing down side channels. Green wave in middle channel, you can front-surf it if your boat is fast enough. You can surf the hole downstream of the wave but you’ll hit the rocks if you roll.

0.5m, 0.45m: Not worth paddling. 15cm of water flowing down side channels. 2 green waves in the middle channel--too fast to surf in playboats. You’d hit rocks if you rolled.

Wetheral Weir at 0.5m

0.60m and rising: The green wave in the middle is surfable and breaking at the ends (where you can flatspin).

0.69m: This is the best level I've paddled it at--the middle wave is breaking at the edges, but with a green tongue through the middle. You can surf green waves in the side channel to get to the middle wave which is big (look behind and all you see is the wave above you) and fast and and friendly and great for carving about and flat spinning, and just sitting and feeling the water rush past. It's almost like the wave at the Bitches.

Wetheral weir at 0.70m The middle wave is bigger than it looks and very friendly. There are photos here of it a couple of centimetres lower.

0.73m: Middle channel is a walled-in breaking wave, it doesn't look as unfriendly as at higher levels though. There is some water flowing down the side channels that forms a regular 0.5m-high green wave that you can front-surf forever (a few centimetres higher and the wave is breaking along most of it's length and might be quite good for flat spins, etc.). You will hit the rocks if you roll off it.

Wetheral weir at 0.73m

0.8m and 91m: We usually paddle it at this level. Middle channel is a horrible walled-in hole. There is water flowing down the side channels and just overflowing onto the concrete bank. This level forms a regular breaking wave that becomes more retentive the higher it is. The easiest spot for flat spinning is a shoulder right next to the bank. You can flat spin (paddles optional) and blunt, but sometimes hit the bottom of the channel. You can side surf forever, or escape at either end. You’re unlikely to hit the rocks if you roll.

Wetheral Weir at 0.8m. Most of the photos here are taken at about this level.

? A bit less than 2.34m: A 0.5m high breaking wave forms which is almost river-wide. All the walls, and the concrete banks, are underwater. The eddies aren’t very good.

 2.34m Washed out, a small wave forms.

Wetheral Weir washed out at 2.34m

This guide is incomplete! Please email me () if you know what it's like at different levels, have some more photos, or you've found mistakes.