Autumn Floods

The bench , trees and lamp show where the bank usually is.

I seem to have had one of those weeks where I haven’t really felt like doing much, and curling up with a book seemed much the best option to pass the time, so I haven’t got round to writing anything for several days. But I stirred myself into activity this morning, wrapped up warmly in my new winter coat (an early Christmas pressie from my wonderful daughters) and was out bright and early – by which I mean I was bright, but the weather wasn’t. It wasn’t raining, but it was very dull and foggy, although it cleared by the time I walked down to the Castle Grounds to look at the floods. The light wasn’t good, but I’ve taken some pictures for this week’s  Saturday Snapshot to give you an idea what it looked like.

This shot, taken from a bridge, gives some idea of the extent of the flooding.

The Anker had burst its banks, and there was no way I could walk alongside the river, like I do normally, but I went as far as I could, and gazed at the transformed landscape. Really the river isn’t all that wide, but the land on either side is very flat, and very low lying, so there are always floods when the weather is bad – and today was as bad as I’ve ever seen it. Grassland looked like a marsh, while trees were growing out of the water, and the the benches along the bank had almost disappeared. 

This beautiful flowers were growing on the unsubmerged part of the bank, and brought a welcome touch of colour to a bleak day.

It looked spectacular, and the force of the water swirling and rushing along in the main course of the river was frightening. The water was a kind of chocolate brown, with trails of creamy coloured, frothy bubbles on the top, and I could hear it burbling and gurgling.

This may look like a river, or pool…

Normally there are dozens of ducks, geese and swans there, as well as coots and moorhens, but today most of them had vanished. There were a pair of swans swimming in the calmer water, above a footpath, and a few mallards and moorhens a bit further off – too far away to get a clear picture, and I certainly wasn’t going to risk splashing through the flood water, although it didn’t look very deep at that point. And six geese (just like in the song, but they were not a-laying) stood on a patch of bank that was still above water, peering at the torrent in a rather bewildered fashion, as if they were wondering what happened to their normal environment.

….but it’s really a footpath!

The town centre is slightly higher, and doesn’t flood. I had a good browse and, still on a watery theme, found  two beautiful shells in a charity shop, and snaffled them up so I can hold them against my ear and listen to the sea.

Trees growing in the water!

I got back home just before the rain set in, and have been sitting reading Alice Oswald’s ‘Dart’, because I love her work, and this poem about the River Dart, in Devon, may be about a different river, but somehow it seemed to suit the occasion. 

This is grassland – honestly – and normally you can walk across it without wearing wellies!

For more Saturday Snapshots see Alice’s blog at For more Saturday Snapshots see  Alice’s blog at http://athomewithbooks.net/