The Thames floods

Well we never made it to the Christmas shop yesterday after all, even though we tried very hard to get there! The reason why? We were well and truly scuppered by the Thames floods! Having arrived at our destination in Chertsey by 11ish and safely deposited the cooker to a lovely couple, we thought we would take Jade for a walk along the river bank and then have lunch in The Kingfisher pub by Chertsey Bridge before setting off for Lechlade. First thing that greeted us was the road closed sign right before the bridge. Although the town center side was clear of water it was a different matter on the other side.  We parked up and walked over the bridge to the pub relishing the thought of getting some grub, when it suddenly became very apparent that the Kingfisher wouldn't be opening its doors to the public for quite a while!  Returning to the car after taking photographs we then tried to make our way round via Cookham and once again were stopped by road closure signs. This time due to the river flowing over the road. It was about this time that we decided to call it a day and return home via Marlow. In a way we wished we had gone straight home because Marlow was heaving with traffic and pedestrians alike all trying to ogle the flood waters. Trying to cross Marlow bridge was a nightmare but you could see why people wanted to stop and have a look. The amount of water going over the weir was pretty spectacular I can tell you. So we found ourselves looking for a parking spot so we could 'ogle' it for ourselves and, after getting lucky as one car pulled away from his spot as we were going round and round a very full car park, we walked back toward the bridge to join the masses. Again plenty of photos taken but with the sun setting we decided enough was enough and we eventually got underway by 4pm. 3 hours later we arrived back at Free Spirit, very weary but thankful that we have never had to experience the misery of being flooded and hope we never will.

 I have started my photo gallery from our first port of call, Chertsey.

CHERTSEY

Looking toward Chertsey lock from the bridge

 

Looking downstream. Next lock would be Shepperton Lock

 

Chertsey Bridge

Police presence making sure no cars went past onto the bridge.

Chertsey lock from the west side. Notice the submerged bench on the right

Road where the Kingfisher pub is on

Kingfisher pub car park at the back of the premises

Flow was pretty fast on this spot

BOULTERS LOCK

At least a 2 mtr rise above normal

Looking downstream

Looks a tad fast!

TOWARD COOKHAM

Must be heart breaking seeing all this water surrounding the house's

MARLOW

Wouldn't like to be on this boat. It looks like the bin is the only thing stopping it from coming onto the park

Weir at Marlow. Doesn't appear to be much difference in water levels.

The Complete Angler Pub

Very apt signage! The other side of the Complete Angler

One cant have enough sand bags to try and keep the water out.

Satellite vans transmitting for BBC News. ( Marlow was featured on the 10 O Clock News last night.

And finally from our trip today:-

Gadwall

Egyptian Goose