Death of a footbridge

Image: © Andy Waddington Taken: 24 Jan 2005

The floods of winter 2004/5 were mostly on the news for the effects in Carlisle, but the same weather affected this area. The old Fitz Park footbridge could probably have survived the effects of just the water, as it had open fencing sides, but the impact and greater hydraulic resistance of trees sounded its death knell and flattened it into the left bank. We had paddled the river (at a fairly low level) on the day of this photograph and had noted some significant changes to the river's topography as rapids had washed out, a well-known overhanging tree had disappeared and several others threatened to fall into the river. Four years later, the river is changing more gradually, but is on its way to being more as it was. The footbridge itself has been replaced with a new one higher above the river level.

Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0