Friends of Allonby Liverpool Canoe Club - Dee Bore

River Dee Tidal Bore

The Saltney footbridge with a tidal bore

The River Dee Bore
(you can surf it for 6 or more Kilometres)

You need a 9.5+ metre tide at Liverpool, little fresh water coming down the River Dee and a little bit of luck. Such tides occur around midday and midnight and on full and new moons.

The best plan is to get on at the Saltney Footbridge and paddle the 6 kms downstream to the double road bridge at Queens ferry and surf the bore back upstream. See Map

The bore reaches the old roadbridge about 1hr 45 mins before HW Liverpool and takes about 30 mins to travel up to the Saltney footbridge. Allow at least 30 minutes extra as weather conditions can make the bore very difficult to predict.

The Mersey and Dee Bore Information ****

Tidal Bore Research Society Catalogue of World Bores

Dee Estuary Bore

River Dee bore photo **

Dee Bore times Sun 26th Sept 99
Liv high tide Mon 27th 00:01 GMT (didn't note the tide height?)
01:01 BST
Terry Storey reckons 2 to 1.5 hrs before Liv high tide
i.e. due between 23:01 and 23:31
(arrived 23:12 - 1hr 48 mins before))
NB influenced by NW winds and high freshwater
22:30 deck on and on water (by footbridge)
22:55 by pylon (near A55)
23:12 wave arrive
23:25 wave by foot bridge

Dee Bore times - Tue night Sept 18th 01
Liv high tide Wed 18th 00:01 GMT height 10.4
01:01 BST
Pressure lowish – water level lowish – NWly wind
22:30 deck on and on water (by footbridge)
22:56 by pylon (near A55)
23:05 wave arrive
23:31 back at car
Wave utterly useless