It’s that excellent book on tides by William Thomson that reminded me of it…..years ago I’d surfed the Severn Bore in a Mountain Bat (precursor of the modern creek boat) and knew that Britain was unique in possessing 20% of the world’s tidal bores. The Severn even then was a crowded circus with the 2 m wave and a 60m channel with overhanging trees providing entertainment that was more blood sport than water sport.
There’s about 6 tidal bores that are big enough to ride on in the UK and I’d forgotten about the Dee bore ( just by scenic Runcorn on the the quiet side of the Wirral- think Grangemouth on steroids). My brother in law lives in striking distance, is a close friend and was good enough to make sure his annual Burns supper coincided with the first biggish spring tide. If the Dee levels are low then this canalised 8km is runnable right into Chester. A 9m tide is a bit low but Burns suppers have to be in January- so I stuck the boat on the roof and my long suffering wife got up at 4 am and we arrived 5 hours later by the industrial wasteland and mud slick that is the Dee estuary.
Sludging my way past the danger signs in Welsh (the river is the border) I paddled upstream for a mile, better to be 40 mins early than 2 mins late they said. Alone, Norman-no-mates, on an overcast chilled bleak January day with towpath cyclists dogwalkers and a 100m wide mud fringed industrial watercourse- even the geese seemed cheesed off. 20 minutes later than predicted ( I guess high pressure systems hold the Atlantic back) an odd rustle and low frequency rumble. The Performance Sea Kayak website has some excellent info and I knew this bore formed and faded continually and you had to catch it by the A494. A commotion of foot high waves, which I outran under the motorway- then it sat up into a proper breaking wave, toppling over itself as it stumbled up the river at about 8 knots, varying from 2 to 3 feet. I caught the front wave, which was a broken mess, dropped back onto the following wave which was nicely formed and really that was it. It’s wrong to describe it as boring ( sorry!) but a bit like surfing a mountain bike without pedalling- for half an hour!
When the wave sighed and stopped, all went quiet and I was in Chester 8km away. A few sections required switching from one side to the other as the wave faded and reformed or refracted, with a quick sprint or occasional recovery required from a bongo slide or big surge where the waves just broke under me.
 |
 |
Remarkably exhilarating and even in this man-made watercourse (the Romans then the 18th Cent. Dutch had their way with it) the power of natural rhythms was humbling- in a fairly moderate tide- let’s face it, when did you last cover 8 km in 30mins being shoved from behind at speed?
(However, I have to admit that the Burns supper required more fortitude to stay upright).
David Simpson
