River Information - on the River

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rlynch
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River Information - on the River

Post by rlynch » Tue Jun 10, 2008 2:45 pm

A bunch of us are just back from an interesting two weeks variously in France, Italy and Slovenia. What struck me was the amount of information available at the river and on the river for paddlers – river maps at the accesses noting lengths of sections broken down into different grades, advised inspection points, unnavigable sections, etc., and signs on the river banks warning of hazards and marking egresses.

I thought this was very useful, especially since we had little or no local knowledge. I'd be interested to hear others' opinions on this sort of thing. Does anyone think that it might promote laziness and that people might end up scouting only what the map tells them and so on or is there a case for possibly having such a set up in Ireland?

Ross
We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded!

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Seanie
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Re: River Information - on the River

Post by Seanie » Wed Jun 11, 2008 6:21 pm

I know that there are signs above one of the weirs on the barrow.

But I would be interested to see what what type of signs you are on about, how do they describe the rapid etc.
Do you have any photos of them?

annie
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Re: River Information - on the River

Post by annie » Wed Jun 11, 2008 9:11 pm

No we didn't take photos. I used your camera to film some of the maps though :lol:

There was a sign on a bridge over an easy tributary of the Soca that said "Dangerous Section 300m" - which was really useful, cos that section was substantially more difficult (a pushy constriction through a gorge-type section) and most portaged it. All of us ploughing on would have been disastrous!

Those signs and the maps at the put-ins and take-outs were really useful if you didn't have local knowledge. But Slovenia and the Alps presumably get substantially more watersports tourism than Ireland would so it isn't surprising that they have this kind of set-up to make things easier. I don't think it promotes laziness; even with these guides you would surely still want to scout difficult sections to pick your line or to check for fallen trees or whatever.

In Ireland: It's hard to know how useful that would be. Most paddlers would find it easy to get some local knowledge of rivers beforehand and would be more familiar with the character of and potential hazards of Irish rivers. For long stretches of river where there is a substantial leap in difficulty or hazard at a particular section it could be useful. Or for the really easy rivers with the odd dangerous weir that novices tend to take to paddling in summer.

Kav
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Re: River Information - on the River

Post by Kav » Thu Jun 12, 2008 8:58 am

Seanie wrote: But I would be interested to see what what type of signs you are on about, how do they describe the rapid etc.
On the Durance there was a sign on a cliff just above water level warning of undercut rock and to stay away. It looked just like a triangular road sign with a picture of an undercut.
annie wrote:Most paddlers would find it easy to get some local knowledge of rivers beforehand and would be more familiar with the character of and potential hazards of Irish rivers.
Don't know about that. There are plenty of paddlers who just head out for a paddle the odd time and wouldnt be too involved in the whole scene and therefore wouldnt know who to call if they travelled to a different area. If anything it would be a great supplement for the guides on IWW to have marked maps and basing the guide on the map.

This is a really good example from http://www.ukrgb.co.uk of the map found at the access points in Slovenia used to give a really informative guide -
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/socarivermap.pdf
The River Notes link to the Map by the sections labelled in alphabetical order.
http://www.ukriversguidebook.co.uk/soca ... rnotes.pdf

On the other hand it takes the fun out of it when you already know what's coming up around the corner! But for dangerous sections like the last eddie on the Boluisce Top Section or above retentive wiers it could be good.

mike jones
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Re: River Information - on the River

Post by mike jones » Mon Jun 16, 2008 10:33 am

The idea is great, to have a map at the put in and a sign at the take out, this is done alot in euope and works great.
The issue with it here in ireland would initially be the cost and then of maintenance.
Coillte have recently spent alot of time and money mapping forrest parks for walks and biking trails, the same concept could be used for rivers. To put in place a good vandal proof sign and map could cost up to €1000 per sign, this is based on sign costs I got recently for a similar project.
If somebody wanted to push the idea I think Coillte would be a great starting point, (http://www.coillteoutdoors.ie). Obviously this would only be relevant in their forests but would be a great start.
The clare glens alreday has a map at the take out, it might be worth talking to Tipp Co. Council about adding some detailed river info, especially a put in.
Just my two cents, anybody fancy taking it on?
Mike

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