Tidal Bore on the River Kent at Grange-Over-Sands

The River Kent bore is well known for passing by Arnside, and I’ve seen it there dozens of times. For a change, I went to see it pass by Grange-Over-Sands, which is on the opposite side of the estuary to Arnside. I filmed it from the edge of the small marsh in front of the promenade, just up-stream from Grange railway station. There is quite a drop and the river channel runs besides the marsh. You don’t get a good view of the channel from the promenade because of the drop. You can see people walking along the promenade oblivious to the bore, mainly because they can’t see it, even though it is so close.


The bore came into view in the distance along the shore line. As it approached the filming location, the breaking waves became long low waves (undular) as the channel was deep at this point. It picked up again further up-steam, where the channel became shallower. I could hear the bore approaching from quite a distance.


The thing that I will always remember about the bore at this location is what followed after the bore had passed. The sheer volume of water coming in from the bay was very dramatic and it seems to get faster and louder. At one point the water seemed to be heaving over itself in the rush to come in. Of all the many, many, bores I’ve seen, I’ve never experienced a tidal rush as great as this.


Filmed on 17th October 2020


Expected high tide at Arnside : 10.43m 13:18


The bore passed the filming location at 11:00


All times BST. If you are interested in other tidal bores of North West England, search YouTube for : tidal bore rob bridges