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" Keswick and a drive in Heavy Rain "

Date & start time: Sunday 15th November 2015, 9.50 am start.

Location of Start : The red phone box, Loweswater , Cumbria, Uk ( NY 143 211 )

Places visited : Loweswater, Whinlatter, Braithwaite, Keswick.

Walk details :   A 10 mile drive to work, then home afterwards.

Highest point : Whinlatter Pass

Travelled with : Myself and the local radio Cumbria weather reports.

Weather : Very poor !

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The forecast for Saturday night/Sunday morning was for heavy rain over the North West of the UK.

Unfortunately these weather warnings coincide with a working day for me in Keswick. 

I drive to work, always aware that it might be best to keep an escape route open for the return journey home.

The delights of the Buttermere Valley looking up to Haystacks and Great Gable . . . are lost today in the heavy cloud and rain.

The River Cocker, which flows out of Crummock Water, is full to overflowing.

The water is backing up across the fields at Scale Hill Bridge.

My route to work is clear at present . . . follow that van.

There is still room under the bridge, so hopefully any floods won't be as bad as six years ago.

I stop to check out the Whit Beck near Lorton as I had visited the river scheme here just two months ago.

Today the river is flowing fast down the elevated channel and underneath the road bridge.

On the other side it flows nicely into the revised channel

where the river bed has been re-naturalised.

The new layout seems to be working well.

One of the purposes of the revised route for the river

was to allow flood water to disperse, slow the surge of floodwater

thus protecting areas further downstream from flash-flooding.

Whit Beck has overflowed as planned so that looks hopeful too.

The lane to Lorton which was impassable when the Whit Beck overflowed before, does have heavy surface water today too,

by nowhere near the volume of previous years.       Work done in the village to prevent overflows must be effective too.

Scawgill Bridge on the way up Whinlatter Pass.

Aiken Beck, a feed tributary of Whit Beck, is in full flow.

Here it is joined by Blaze Beck which drains the Hobcarton area of Grisedale Pike.

Ahh . . . that old familiar view from the Knoble Knott viewpoint on Whinlatter.

Hold your cursor over the picture to see what it was like just 13 days ago !

After negotiating the road works in Braithwaite Village I took to the old road across towards Keswick.

The car in the distance is on the main A66 . . . the water is overflowing from Newlands Beck between myself and the main road.

" Sheep may safely graze" provided they keep one eye out for the water level.

The main River Derwent as it flows towards the Derwent Bridge on the road into Keswick.

The valley fields are flooded on both sides of the road.

The A66 bridge is well clear of the high water level.

In Keswick the glass wall flood defence has not been needed so far.

The water level is still several feet below the height of the basic stone wall.

Looking up river towards Latrigg.
Looking down towards High Hill.

Bearing in mind the dark evenings and the chance of flooding on the way home I was able to leave work a little early.

Hold your cursor over the right hand picture . . . to see the changed water level on the way home . . . it's about three feet different.

The new Low Lorton Bridge is coping well with the flooded River Cocker.

Looking upstream from the bridge.

The new house on the downstream side is well clear of today's water level.

The fields beyond have flooded as usual . . . and there are pools on both of the roads on this side of the bridge.

Hopefully the flood defences of the riverside house are holding well.

The downstairs lights are on, a good sign . . . and the flood water is flowing away through the side gate, back into the river.

- - - o o o - - -

 

Technical note: Pictures taken with my Canon 1100D Digital SLR.

Resized in Photoshop, and built up on a Dreamweaver web builder.

This site best viewed with . . .a pair of unused wellies in the back of the car.

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Previous walk - 8th November 2015 - Castle Crag for Remembrance

A previous time up here - 19th Nov 2009 The November Gales 2009

Next walk - 18th November 2015 - Vale of Lorton First Responders