A weir in the Nidd Gorge between Ripley and Knaresborough was destroyed last winter. This has resulted in the water level upstream dropping dramatically and exposing a lot of debris.

It must have been quite a storm to destroy the weir. A large tree pokes through part of it, and the far end is completely removed.

This is the view looking upstream. It shows how far the water level has dropped. I expect it won’t take too long before vegetation has grown down towards the new lower river bank, but for now the old level is clearly visible.

Debris along the bank

Various items have been thrown in the river over the years. There’s a lot of railway construction material under the bridge. Our local Cub Scout group had fun exploring this a few weeks ago. There are also old bicycles and motorbikes, wheels and bags. I’m not sure all of the stuff is that old.

It seems to have been collected into piles, perhaps for later cleaning.

Looking into this pile we see:

Moving further upstream another pile

It looks as if someone may have made a path down here, or tried to block something?

There is some damage to the wooden pathways, but it looks as if it is to be repaired. These do at times need maintenance, especially after high water levels have damaged them or the river banks.

The path leaves the river at the viaduct, where a lot of the rubbish from railway building can be found. There is also a lot of natural debris at the riverbank consisting of fallen trees and washed down sticks which have collected together into large piles.

The river at the viaduct shows just how much lower the water is and how much it has changed.