Bridges across the River Rother

Image: © Andrew Tatlow Taken: Unknown

The river was in flood and just below the large bridge to the right and just above the new footbridge to the left. The normal level of the river was several feet below the bridges. On reflection, it was possibly quite dangerous for me to have crossed the river in flood that day! The large bridge was little more than 2 RSJs with railway sleepers in between; at a very early age I was taught to step on the cracks so that I was always on 2 pieces of wood at once, just in case! By the time this photograph was taken the large bridge had lost some of the sleepers which were beginning to rot and it was too dangerous to use. A new footbridge was installed next to it using what I think was a reinforced concrete beam about 9 inches wide. It was too narrow to push a bicycle across and there wasn't room to turn the pedals because of the rails being too close together. One sat on the bicycle and pulled oneself across with one hand using the rails which were splayed outwards. The other hand was for steering as the bridge was so narrow! See Image for a more up to date view.

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