A guest entry from Poke - with thanks (and admiration for such good pictures whilst solo!!)

Whilst Ned was off exploring the upper reaches of Torver beck after last Wednesday’s downpour, I was on my own little mission. Despite having lived locally to this little number for a couple of years, I had yet to catch it in condition whilst there was the light to paddle. The only previous time I’d attempted it, the water levels had been a tad low and it was a not-so-enjoyable scrape-fest.
 
The river in question is the Calder. It starts as a tiny beck high up on the moors and ends with a rather unique run through the heart of a nuclear reprocessing plant down at the sea. Having no-one keen to join me, I opted for a solo run – only briefly questioning the sanity of such an idea given the politically sensitive nature of the end of the run.
 
Conditions were perfect. As I pulled into the lay-by at the top of the run the sun appeared and the only hint of the 40+mm of rain that fell earlier in the day was the water streaming across the road.
 
The run itself was relatively uneventful, just a beautiful evening in the summer sun and perfect not-too-pushy levels for a solo mission. I’ll let the photos do most of the talking (and apologise in advance for any super-cheesy self portraits - it's hard getting good photos when you're alone)!
 
Various unusual highlights for me were the challenges of taking action shots using a self-timer (if a 2m seal-launch into 6” of water is the only way to get from camera to river in time, you’ve just got to man-up and do it), being spotted by a worker at Sellafield (who gave me a friendly wave and carried on with his business) and spotting a “Private Fishing” sign in the middle of the Sellafield site (who on earth would want to fish there)!
 The put-in;

The gradient is steady but continuous 

The volume builds

Monks bridge - a tiny stone bridge spans one of the small gorges.

The main event

Running the main event - hurrah for self timers on cameras!

Peaceful gorges, just below Calder Bridge

Novel drainage system just before entering Sellafield site.

Running the gauntlet - the canalised section flanked by trees and intimidating fences, topped with razor wire.

Who'd want to fish here? (or kayak for that matter!)

The last of the tasty ledges on the run through Sellafield site.

Takeout = the sea

You ain't getting in!

Many thanks to Martin Young (my girlfriend's dad), who was extremely kind and gave me a shuttle from the take-out back to my car.

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Nuclear Calder
written by MarkW, June 24, 2009

That looked like fun. Impressive timings on the main rapid, also pretty well framed. The run looked fun, would you class it as a three with one four?

How long is the whole thing? It certainly has novelty appeal, and a fair bit of interesting water.

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Re: Nuclear Calder
written by T, July 02, 2009

The upper section of the run starts with a flatter section (still continuous fast grade 2!), then drops into a couple of small gorges. These are grade 3 to 4, depending on level. The few hundred metres leading up to the big drop is relatively technical, and bits might get a grade 4, depending on your point of view. After the Worm Gill confluence the volume doubles and it eases off for a while with some impressive sandstone gorges in the run up to Sellafield. The run through site itself contains a few slides where the now canalised river runs over sandstone slabs it used to flow around. Two of these may get an easy 4 rating. Not sure on length, maybe 8miles in total? Put in is here if you want to try to work it out!!

Cheated a bit with that photo. I took it landscape, but cropped it down to that for the web!! Still, quite pleased how it turned out given the circumstances!

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re; Calder
written by Antlomas, July 10, 2009

Excellent account of your trip, this is one of my favorite local runs, I love the way the river changes character so many times. It looks like you got it at an ideal level too. I've paddled the lower section with about a meter more which becomes a tad interesting...as with so many smaller rivers the grade can go up or down depending on the levels. It's alway worth while phoning the Sealafield main gate to tell the security you are coming through, they can't stop you but it's nice not to be greeted by men with guns!

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