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

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

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