I had the morning off this morning, so decided to get the bike out and go explore the damage to the lanes from Storm Desmond... the whole of the Lakes has suffered some heavy damage due to the sheer volume of water that this storm dropped onto it in one weekend.
Tarmac roads have been washed away in many places, landslides have damaged all kins of things and of course the ongoing rain seems to be bringing more of the same but on a slower scale.
One of the lanes most affected is the Coach Road, there is a lot of new channels opened up and some of them are really deep and wide. Water is still coming off the fells and the constant rain is just piling on the pressure. I was amazed at the level of washout and damage really, but when I actually compare it to the likes of the A591 Keswick/Ambleside road, I guess it's just a natural state of affairs.
Here are some images as I traveled East to West...
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| New but shallow |
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| Existing but with some deeper holes |
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| new and deep |
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| Really deep, almost 1.5 to 2 feet |
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| Knee deep! |
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| Rock steps and a mini river |
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| completely new runnels |
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| Wash out from the hillsides above |
With all the mess around on the tarmac roads I suspect things like this won't even get looked at for a long time, which is fine, the priority should be the well used and busy tarmac lanes first.
On a trail bike all of this is passable without too much issue, however I saw a number of plastic bits from various 4x4's lying in some of the wider & deeper holes from vehicles who had obviously tried to do what I was doing and lost a bit!
It would need someone with more 4x4 experience to comment properly but I suspect this lane is now not really suitable for beginners or low slung vehicles like it always has been before.
Longlands Fell has not sufffered very much at all, with just a few short shallow runnels formed but the ground is water soaked and the grassy sections will suffer a bit until things dry up.
Some of the smaller lanes have had their tarmac surface damaged a fair bit and a ride through Mungridale saw a section of a landslide that had been cleared away and some sections of tarmac seriously damaged, resulting in care needed by normal cars passing through.
I came through this valley trying to get home on the night all this happened and had to retreat to a friends place as the valley was a river and the A66 had been closed at Keswick...
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| From inside a warm van looking at the road! |
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| Halfway through a puddle upto my radiator! |
Hey ho, this is the weather and there is nowt we can do about it, but clear up the mess...
Update: Christmas Day...
On Christmas morning, Lucy & I did a ride round some of the local lanes and found High Bank had a large beech tree lying across it, so if you have a good long bar chainsaw and a Landy, there is some firewood to be had for a bit of effort! Mind you check with the farmer first though... ;-)
We also came across a lane I've been meaning to look at for ages, but it has a small blockage on it at the moment from the farmer I'm guessing...
Happy days on the trails!
