A nice day out for club trips. CIT use it for their first beginner trip of the year. Short scenic gorge section and one or two small drops.
Nice waves forms under the bridge near the Mills Inn in high water.
There's a little drop at the bridge. Its relatively straightforward for a while.
The gorge section is identified by a split in the river (Main channel left) and a sharp right hand bend. Low branches interfere with eddying out above this bend. The gorge is rocky at normal flow and a wave train at higher levels. There's a large eddy behind a big rock river left towards the end if you need to recover. One more little drop after this and the gorge narrows for about 20 yards before opening out completely.
As you approach a single span road bridge its worth staying river right so you can eddy out just above this short rapids section. Trees tend to get wedged here. This is directly below the corners recently widened by Arkil.
After this there's long tree line sections punctuated by one 3 foot straightforward drop. You'll see it as you approach.
The three arched bridge is normally best run river left in a little slot drop.
Gorge section at normal flows. If the river is high there is very few eddies and the tree lined banks aren't good for rescue. All the drops change into wave trains.
Trees are the big hazard on the Sullane, low branches and lots of dead wood coming from the forestry upriver.
We only park in the co-op at weekends. We also tend to use the river left take out to avoid crossing fields and we load boats back up at the wall to the side of the pub not in the car park proper. We've not had any trouble but there's plenty of room there.
No access issues, just be considerate.
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We use the Flesk gauge to get a general idea as they're close enough at source. The same general levels seem to apply. At the put in if the stones in the middle are covered and its impossible to wade out then its high (Flesk Gauge >1m).
Typical number of days each month the river is at a paddling level
| Month | Typical paddle days | Driest year | Wettest year | Years with at least one paddle day |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 16 | 7 | 25 | 8 of 8 |
| February | 21 | 3 | 26 | 7 of 7 |
| March | 19 | 4 | 24 | 8 of 8 |
| April | 6 | 0 | 17 | 7 of 8 |
| May | 5 | 1 | 18 | 8 of 8 |
| June | 4 | 0 | 11 | 6 of 8 |
| July | 3 | 0 | 13 | 5 of 8 |
| August | 3 | 0 | 14 | 6 of 8 |
| September | 7 | 2 | 17 | 8 of 8 |
| October | 19 | 17 | 23 | 7 of 7 |
| November | 21 | 4 | 28 | 8 of 8 |
| December | 22 | 14 | 26 | 8 of 8 |
The best months on the Sullane are February, November and December, with 21 to 22 paddle days in a typical month. Summer is hit and miss: a typical June to August month gives only about 3 paddle days, but July had at least one paddle day in 5 of the last 8 years.
How to read this graph. A paddle day is a day the gauge reached the guide's Low level (0.75 m). Each bar is the middle year of 8 (2018 to 2026). Tap a bar for the driest and wettest years.
How high the river usually gets each day, from 8 years of readings (2018 to 2026)
| Month | Typical daily high | 8 days in 10 between |
|---|---|---|
| January | 0.751 m | 0.588 and 1.309 m |
| February | 0.895 m | 0.603 and 1.501 m |
| March | 0.752 m | 0.553 and 1.201 m |
| April | 0.615 m | 0.532 and 0.939 m |
| May | 0.594 m | 0.508 and 0.897 m |
| June | 0.572 m | 0.495 and 0.83 m |
| July | 0.553 m | 0.501 and 0.812 m |
| August | 0.601 m | 0.487 and 0.871 m |
| September | 0.623 m | 0.531 and 1.098 m |
| October | 0.81 m | 0.612 and 1.362 m |
| November | 0.839 m | 0.616 and 1.341 m |
| December | 0.879 m | 0.604 and 1.351 m |
How to read this graph. The line is the typical daily high; the shaded band covers 8 days in 10. Dashed lines are this guide's levels.
Past levels are no guarantee of future conditions. Readings can be late or wrong: check the river on the day. Level colours, "Running now" and paddle days are a guide only, not a sign that the river is safe to paddle. Read about gauge data and levels.
Levels for this guide: whitewater.guide (CC licensed).
Contains Irish Public Sector Information licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence (source waterlevel.ie, provided by the Office of Public Works).
The Put in is in the town of Ballyvourney on the Cork to Killarney road.
Take the road at the Co-op (Across from centra and on your left if coming from Cork). Immediately after the bridge theres a lane on the right. Unload here but park in the town. Also carry on back a mile and when you come to the Mills Inn take a left and after the bridge take a left here is another put-in.
The put in near the Mills in is well worth the extra mile if the river is running medium to high.
Take the left off the Cork/Killarney road across from the Mills Inn. Loads of parking just over the bridge in the St Gobnaits Wood park. There's a few gates into the field upriver of the bridge on river right. Best put in spot is a gravel bank a couple of hundred meters up from the bridge. No access issues that I know of, just be considerate.
If coming from cork leave a car at the Mons Bar. Its the pub at a junction on your left. If coming from Killarney its at the end of the bad bends.
The take out is the 3 arch bridge. River left immediately after the bridge is probably the best takeout as you dont have to cross fields. There is a takeout river right with a stile. Road is busy and narrow enough so we walk down the road (river left bank) with boats and load by the wall before the Pub.
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