Foiled by Floods in Carlisle

Our first Wednesday walk of 2018 and our plan to walk at Newcastleton was changed as the weather forecast was awful. The forecast for Carlisle was much better with no rain until mid afternoon so we headed there for a walk along the river Eden.  

When we came to the river Petteril a tributary of the Eden the flood water was almost lapping over the bridge. 

The water was still rising so within another 30 minutes we reckoned this bridge would be flooded.  

Although the Eden had not burst its banks there was a lot of flooding and the paths were very muddy

Another bridge over the Old Eden burn and this was very precarious with broken slats in the background 

Our walk came to a sudden stop when we came to the this flooded area and there was no way round it. This is the Collar Beck which usually can be easily stepped over but at this point it was over 2 feet deep and too wide to jump. 

Our way back again took us over the Petteril and a bridge that regularly causes problems according to Tom from his regular reading of the Cumberland News as when in flood it builds up against the bridge and floods onto the road. 

Our way back to The Sands Centre took us past the entrance to Brunton Park the home of Carlisle United and the statue of Hugh McLlmoyle which was erected in July 2005 to commemorate the clubs centenary.  

Just past the Carlisle United ground is Carlisle Squash Club where our friend Ronnie Bell is club coach and manager. Ronnie used to play for Langholm in the mid/late 80s as our no 1 and was sponsored by Edinburgh Woollen Mill. The Carlise club has had tough times over the last 12 years having been badly flooded twice but they are now doing very well and have over 600 members and a superb fitness centre there as well. It was great to see him and we enjoyed a very pleasurable half hour looking round the club and reminiscing about old times. 

This is a photograph from those days with Peter and myself in the top photo of the 1st Team winning the Border League and Tom in the bottom photo of the 2nd Team who also won the Reserve League in the same year.