Chasing The Dee Bore

The River Dee, Flintshire/Cheshire
March 2nd/3rd 2006

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The Dee Bore - March 2006

The largest spring tide of the year was on March 2nd, and this was coinciding nicely with a strong north-westerly wind. This wind would help to push more water into the Dee Estuary, with the effect of ramping up the wave as it moved into the River Dee. My chase began in London, at 6am, with the aim of arriving at the Dee viewing location by 11am. However, the strong north-westerly wind also brought in the classic 'North Channel effect', sometimes referred to as the 'Cheshire Gap effect'. This is when a long line of showers develop and move relentlessly across the same area for hours on end, similar to lake-effect snow in the States. In this instance, the showers were falling as snow - heavy snow - and causing chaos. I was caught up in traffic as I reached north-east Wales, as the roads became heavily snowbound. On arriving at the Dee - late - I witnessed to my horror, that the bore had already passed! 5hrs of driving, and I missed the bore by just 2 minutes!


Tide rushing upstream in the Dee, on 2nd March.


Road conditions on 2nd March.

Still, March the 3rd promised another reasonably high tide, so I chose to stay the night in the area, and witness this second attempt.

A glorious morning made for perfect viewing conditions of the Dee Bore on the 3rd March, with light winds, warm sunshine, and still a covering of snow. My first location was at the Connah's Quay roadbridge, where the bore was estimated to arrive at around 11:30am. I set up nice and early, and awaited the bore's arrival.


The Connah's Quay 'blue bridge'.


Looking north from the Connah's Quay bridge, with the tall, white pillar of the Flintshire Bridge just visible in the distance.


First glimpse of the Dee Bore, churning its way over the glassy surface of the Dee.


A wave of about 3ft moves slowly upstream, from bank to bank.


Approaching the bridge, the bore becomes a glassy heave in the river's surface.


The bore passes beneath the Connah's Quay bridge, as a series of 2-3ft waves.

Once the bore had passed the bridge, it was time to jump in my car, and head off to the Saltney Footbridge, to wave the bore passing by. The drive was only about 10 minutes long, whilst the bore takes around 30 minutes to make the same journey.

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