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River Description, Ireland, County Sligo, Ballisodare River

What's it like

The Ballisodare River, in Co. Sligo, is an exhilarating high grade river run. The short, (about 1 km) stretch of falls and rapids are technical and dangerous, but if that's your cuppa tea... Go for it! At grade 4-ish up to grade 5, this river is a typical Irish river. Short, shallow, and very rain-dependent.

The first drop sets the mood, with the whole river pouring into a tight 8 foot slot fall with a tough and twisty lead in line and a nasty hole and boil zone beneath. Oh, and let's not forget the rocks. Lots of them too.

The river continues with tough and fairly hazardous rapids. Get a good line and you will be fine. Get a bad line, ... Well, use your eyes and brain and you will be ok.

The final rapid, the 20-30 foot waterfall, is epic. Two lines: Freefall left, or the stairs right. Both hard. Both dangerous. Portage is hard. Make sure to portage and inspect on the river right bank. Also, as this fall is pouring into Ballisodare bay, the plunge pool is tidal, which makes the height of the fall variable. The photos show the fall at high tide.

At low tide the left freefall line is doable but shallow and the right, stairs line can have a recirculating eddy at the bottom which likes to take boats back behind the falls curtain. So, be aware!!

Different water levels do different things to this river. In low water it is runnable. It's shallow and technical, but not as dangerous. In huge flow (5 days+ of rain) it looks more like Canada than Ireland. Huge, man eating holes and the toughest boating in the North West.

Normal running conditions occur after about 3 days of good rain, and if this is your first trip on the Ballisodare, a good bank inspection is advised.

The hazards to be aware of here (like on most Irish rivers) are rocks. There are a lot of them. Man made problems; there are a lot of them too. There used to be a mill on the river, so there is still a lot of debris. Also there are several places where there is a large wall on the river left side making any take out or rescue on this side impossible. This includes the main fall at the end, so make sure you keep an eye on the banks, just in case...

Even though this is a short run, allow plenty of time for the final drop, as setting out to inspect it and the setting up of safety here takes time. And if you are not sure your group is capable of handling a higher grade river, stay away. This river has dished out some world class beatings; don't join the list.

How to get there

Take the N4 out of Sligo. Ballisodare is the first town outside of Sligo and is well signposted. Go into the town and find the Sally Gardens Pub. Put in from the car park here. Go down the town until you come to the waterfall (visible through the gate at the fisheries gate) and find a way in here, as this is the only take out point.

Locals

Fishermen: this is a popular fishing river for salmon and should not be paddled in the fishing season.

Info sources

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The photos of the main drop were taken by Ronan O Hart and I would like to thank him for permission to use them for this article.

Nearest weather station (°C):