Sunday 30 June 2013

Lake District Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions. June 22nd 2013.

During last weekend, we ran two half day Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Sessions in The Lake District at Church Beck near Coniston.

Clare Mc Genity had booked this session some time ago as part of a holiday in The Lake District with boyfriend Dan.

We were one of a number of companies contacted with regards to providing this activity session. What is interesting is the fact that Clare chose to book with us because we were prepared to work with a party of two persons. Apparently the other providers Clare contacted stated that they wanted a minimum of four to six persons before they would consider accepting the booking!

Iain offered the pair our ususal Church Beck Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session. This starts by walking upstream from the Hydro-electric power plant scrambing & swimming through pools, doing the odd little jump in to deeper water and climbing up small  waterfalls. This is known as Gorge Walking as well as Ghyll Scrambling and is a popular Summer activity in The Lake District.

However, after about 1500m of this activity in which the gorge becomes deeper & narrower and the waterfalls become bigger & the pools deeper one arrives at an area known as "The Top Jumps" (photo two).

The top jumps are best done in descent. Some companies merely allow their clients to jump in at the top one of three waterfalls which is narrow, hazardous & challenging whereas we rope our clients down past the hazardous section before allowing them to jump in to the pool. After climbing past the second fall, we arrive at the top of the 3rd fall which is a slide down the slab in to the pool below. In photo two Clare has just completed that slide and Dan is about to follow.





It would appear that very few of our competitors offer more than the walk up the lower gorge and the "Top Jumps" and do not make clients aware that there is actually quite a bit more that can be done in this fantastic ghyll.

In photo three Clare can be seen as she is lowered down the very top fall in the gorge which is part of an additional 200m which can be done above the packhorse bridge (Miners Bridge) Below this, there is a scramble down past a waterfall and a short jump into another pool - all exhilarating fun in our canyoning descent downstream towards Miners Bridge and the next challenge.



The final Challenge that we offered Clare & Dan on their half day Lake District Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning Session was a chance to be lowered down the Miners bridge Waterfall and here Dan is heading towards the top of the 30 foot fall whilst Clare looks on.
With all of our Lake District Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning half day sessions at Church Beck for the starting price of £45 you get the ghyll scrambling ascent of the gorge and the full canyoning descent which includes the top 200m above Miners Bridge, a lower down the Miners Bridge Waterfall and also The Top Jumps as aready mentioned.

Also, you get a free copy of every photograph taken during your groups session included as part of the fee!
If you want to pay less then bring more people as we do apply discounts for bigger group sizes and many people have done the church Beck experience with us for as little as £30 each. Many of our competitors are quoting less but you will get less of an experience and also less equipment with which to keep you warm & safe whilst soaked. If you want to pay less then let us know, but we won't compromise on your comfort or safety.
The rest of the photos taken during Clare & Dans session can be viewed here and you can contact us here if you would like to book your own Ghyll Scrambling & Canyoning session in The Lake District.

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