It is a lower tributary of the River Caldew which it joins near Gaitsgill south of Dalston.

The total length of the beck including Peel Gill is 20.8 kilometres (12.9 mi) and it has a catchment of 69 square kilometres (27 sq mi), which includes the area of its major tributary the River Ive.

Other tributaries such as Whale Gill and Cockley Beck merge as it flows past Sowerby Row and Middlesceugh, where it turns northwards to meet its tributary, the River Ive near Highbridge.

[2][3] The flow of the beck has been measured at a gauging station in its lower reaches at Stockdalewath since 1999.

[5] The catchment upstream of the station has an average annual rainfall of 984 millimetres (38.7 in) and a maximum altitude of 370 metres (1,210 ft) at the south-western edge of the basin.