Flooding on the A143 near Wortham
Tales From The Floods, Bury St. Edmunds and Walsham Le Willows, Suffolk - 20th October 2023
Isobel wants to visit Rachel, who's now been moved to West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St. Edmunds - a location Grandad did a few stints at back in the day. It seems like a reasonable idea, despite the rain, however it turns out that "the rain" is somewhat biblical and leads to flooding across Suffolk that's not been seen for at least a generation, if ever. Getting to Bury wasn't too bad, with just a few areas of flooding across the A143 to deal with, but by the time we'd wandered around a few shops, done lunch at Wagamama and visited Rachel at the hospital, the return home was a very different beast. Firstly, Compeigne Way outside Bury was closed, so we had to head east up the A14, then, thanks to roadworks, we come off at Thurston, but that's a bit hosed as we head towards Pakenham and then Walsham Le Willows, which was properly stuffed as there was an actual river where the road to Finningham used to be. Backtracking, we end up at Gislingham, but three of the main exits we try are impassable - Thornham, Mellis and Burgate, and we're actually considering bunking down at the band hut on Mill Street for the night. However, we get a tip-off from a local that Back Street is relatively clear to Rickinghall, which we successfully do and rejoin the A143 for a slow but at least functional drive back home, although the 35-minute drive home has now taken 2.5 hours. The next day, there's a brief trip down to Billingford to see what's left of the flooded River Waveney.
next album: A Giant Load on the A140, Yaxley, Suffolk - 22nd October 2023
previous album: Oaksmere's Oaktoberfest and Music at Palgrave, Suffolk - 14th October 2023
There's more water near Wattisfield
The A143 is a river in places
There's a dude swimming in the A143 at Wattisfield
Water surges past houses in Wattisfield
The A143 becomes a lake near Stanton
Compeigne Way in Bury, just before it was closed
Debenhams at The Arc is becomming a Primark
The Apex on a rainy day
There are still remains of Topshop
Superdry seems to have shut up shop as well
There's not much call for outdoor seating
Isobel pays the Wagamama bill with her phone
There are a load of ambulances at West Suffolk
The exit off the A14 at Thurston is carnage
A car is surrounded on the Ixworth/Finningham road
The road to Finningham is actually a river
Another view of the road to Walsham Le Willows
The A143 as we near the Thrandeston exit
The kittens swirl around on the kitchen table
The bridge at Billingford
The river has disappeared
A Mini driver decides not to try it on
A view over the sluice gates, where the river was
Looking east from the bridge
The Waveney has definitely burst its banks
Grass and weeds line up where the floods flowed
The flood plains of the Waveney Valley
A view of the bridge from down the road
Silt and gravel on the road from the floods
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Flooding on the A143 near Wortham
Flooding on the A143 near Wortham
There's more water near Wattisfield
The A143 is a river in places
There's a dude swimming in the A143 at Wattisfield
Water surges past houses in Wattisfield
The A143 becomes a lake near Stanton
Compeigne Way in Bury, just before it was closed
Debenhams at The Arc is becomming a Primark
The Apex on a rainy day
There are still remains of Topshop
Superdry seems to have shut up shop as well
There's not much call for outdoor seating
Isobel pays the Wagamama bill with her phone
There are a load of ambulances at West Suffolk
The exit off the A14 at Thurston is carnage
A car is surrounded on the Ixworth/Finningham road
The road to Finningham is actually a river
Another view of the road to Walsham Le Willows
The A143 as we near the Thrandeston exit
The kittens swirl around on the kitchen table
The bridge at Billingford
The river has disappeared
A Mini driver decides not to try it on
A view over the sluice gates, where the river was
Looking east from the bridge
The Waveney has definitely burst its banks
Grass and weeds line up where the floods flowed
The flood plains of the Waveney Valley
A view of the bridge from down the road
Silt and gravel on the road from the floods