Brief River Description

The river is made up of numerous weirs, some more serious than others, there is also a rock garden at the Galgorm Resort and spa.

Directions to the Put-in

The best place to launch your boat is from the Dunminning bridge as the river is easily accessed from this point, the boats can be taken out at the Corbally road.

Directions to the Take-out

Boats can be launched at Donminning Bridge, a shuttle can be left at the Corbally road on the outskirts of Ballymena.

River Description

The river is made up of many weirs, some man made and some natural, the majority of them can be navigated easily although there is a 10 ft vertical drop leading into a channel containing two consecutive weirs at a factory above Cullybackey which boat have massive stoppers on them, it is advised to walk this weir on the right bank unless very experienced. There is a rock garden at Galgorm resort and spa, this is considered to be grade 3 and can be very tricky especially in high water. There are many small rapids between many of the weirs but the most significant of these are from Cullybackey to Galgorm and can reach 3 ft in height at high water.

Local issues

No local issues that I have heard of.

River level gauge

The river can be seen clearly from the bridge in Cullybackey and the river level can be judge by the height of the rapids and if any rocks are showing, to my knowledge of the river it should always be runnable but you may have a scrap and a bump.

River Hazards

The factory weir contains to consecutive weirs each with a massive stopper and could be extremely difficult to navigate, this part of the river can be identified as there is a 10 ft drop prior to the weirs and can be easily avoided. The bridge at Cullybackey is often blocked by trees and should be treated with caution.

Author(s)