The Lake District floods
Today was more than just an ordinary journey to our Love the Lakes shop in Bowness, it was quite difficult just getting there after all the rain over the last day or two which made some of the roads only passable with care and some large tailbacks. The south Lakes certainly didn’t get as much rain as seen in Cockermouth and Keswick but it certainly got a lot more than usual. Last year during the floods in October it was said that it was the highest Windermere has been in living memory and that we would never see it like that again. This year, however, it was even worse. The following photos were simply taken at stops during our journey today.

Sunshine and floods at Furness Abbey. The roads around Ulverston were blocked this morning so we had to take a circuitous route to get to our Love the Lakes shop in Bowness.

Further downstream at Spark Bridge, the houses with river frontage are under water and people are being rescued by the coastguard and police.

The River Crake downstream of Spark Bridge. Further on our journey at Newby Bridge there were big tailbacks on the main A590.

The Swan Hotel - normally this is a nice place to sit out alongside the river. The centre part is a road and the tables and chairs are normally between the line of trees and the line of bollards to the right.

The usual line of the river bank is where the bollards are and some tables and chairs have survived.

A house on the banks of the River Leven next to Newby Bridge. It was an interesting journey along from Newby Bridge to Bowness but we made it okay in the end. The level of the lake was, unbelievably, higher than last year.

A birds eye view of the flood looking down to The Glebe from Biskey Howe. Later, on the journey home...

Down at Fell Foot, the cafe was refurbished after last years flood but will also need doing again now.

Across Windermere, the Lakeside Hotel is flooded too and the ferry looks like it has smashed into that tree. Backbarrow on the way home...

Through the trees you can just make out the line of the patio at the Whitewater Hotel, today with water gushing over it.

The River Leven through Backbarrow. To see how full the River Leven is, compare the following photos and note the prominent 'Stop' sign: