Storm Ciara
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They were on the Keswick Site when the storm hit last weekend. It doesn’t take a great deal to flood places like Cumbria if a certain set of circumstances happen, as they did last weekend. Hence, those already out decided to sit out the storm, but all that water meant that flooding happened very very quickly, and at 3am because it was still rising, they had to get out. It was a stalled MH (water probably too deep) that meant the MRS were called in, nothing else could get out until this was moved, with water continuing to rise.
Anywhere with steep sides (Lake District, Hebden Bridge, Dales, Boscastle, to name a few) will be at huge risk of flooding. Once you realise this, you keep an extra wary eye on weather, and choose your site wisely in Winter. You need to account as well for places such as York and Tewkesbury, where all the water ends up a few days later. Plus of course, the UK water table is currently well topped up anyway with all the rain from last year. (Can you tell I enjoyed Geography lessons in school?😁) So the wise, well informed Winter tourist, is normally, ok......
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Which what you say in your , the statements from those "in the know" with the increases in extreme weather (rainfall) there will be into the future and beyond, an impossible task of installing flood defences , that will alleviate the problems that now happen in the places that you have mentioned,but MAY help to mitigate the damage caused,no matter how much is invested,
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Well, it’s not rocket science to see that weather patterns are definitely altering at the moment. I have no doubt that they have always done so, but it’s the severity and speed of change that’s the big issue for me.
Couple this in with decade long chronic underspending of things like flood defences, drainage management, building on flood plains, the obsession for paving gardens, underfunding of council services like gully pumping and road sweeping and hey presto, you get what we have now. There’s no money to be made on routine services, so it’s never a priority, until it becomes an emergency, and then it’s outsourced to the private sector, who charge an arm and a leg. Little and often always beats shoring up a crisis.🤷♂️
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Nearly all our council run services are outsourced, as is a lot in the leisure industries, in all but the smallest companies, as the "ex- perts?"advise ? with so much regulation these days it is much cheaper than having to employ in house staff and the add staff needed to ensure their "compatentcy" is up to date ,or having them acesed by outsourced organisations for the same reasons,
How many know that cc site staff for years all have to be "talked at" (trained)every year to ensure they are still competant in their role, and that is done out of season at more costs to the club i suspect the ccc is the same? and that is in addition to their annual appraisal by their Regional managers
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Yes, that should have read “decades”, goes back into my youth.
To be fair JV, you can’t lump all of one industry, in this case farmers, into a single category. There have always been some very well run farms, and some very badly run ones. I do tend to think the former category far outweigh the latter, but you have to go deeper into the economic circumstances and guidance prevalent at the time period to fully understand what is going on. Farmers are like a lot of other industry in that they have to make a profit, but it’s a very special life choice, they very often choose doing what they do for much more than the profits. I know of a couple of farms where the diversification business brings in £millions, but a great deal goes towards the farming side of the equation. In fact at one time, the extra business stopped the farm going under.
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Had to move my caravan out of storage yesterday as the sea defences at Climping (near Littlehampton) had been breached and the storage was under 6 - 8 in of water. Luckily all caravans/motorhomes seem to be ok. No idea when, or even if, the storage will reopen as the Environment Agency have said that will not be repairing the groynes at Climping. Still I have taken the opportunity to give the caravan an early spring wash this morning
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A lot of the uncleared ditches are due to councils not clearing them rather than farmers and landowners. In my experience farmers have always known the benefit of keeping their ditches clear and have done so on a regular basis.
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I have not mentioned farmers as being the only one responsible, as in all industrieas there are good and bad (profit before anything else) but with the ever increasing push for more output with less in the past anyway,looking at what damage was being done to the coutnryside ,is now reaping the "rewards?" in lots of areas
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But then i understand the majority of ditch clearing as lots of jobs these days are contracted out,but no one has been employed to check the work is being carried out, a couple of years ago i had the local coucil person in charge of our grounds maintainance contract (serco) come out with me , after i and others had sent comunications "adviseing" that work was not being carried out as per the councils contract with them, which was until my walk round with this person was always denied,
pIt was an eye opener for both of us as to what should and was being carried out , the PIC had not even seen some of the areas , and did not understand what had not been done until advised,needless to say after i and the PIC had met with others in the dept, the contract has not been renewed
I am still not going to stand for the council
just hope they are having more success in Milton Keynes with not doing what they are supposed to do,
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I sort of agree but and there have been times when conditions at valley level are completely different to the summits (last Easter was 14C and a nice breeze low level and -10C with windchill on the tops) and some people can get caught out like that, but these three went out in atrocious high wind, cold, with rain/snow conditions to begin with in trainers. Tourist or not who would do that and then why continue?
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People do the strangest things Corners, selfies on crumbling cliffs, surfing in seriously dangerous conditions, and as you say, the inexperienced really don’t have a clue at times. Common sense is a diluted trait, the capacity to look slightly beyond one’s own individual needs, seems to be getting worse. When I was a teenager I was taught never to walk in dark lonely places or drink so that I didn’t know what I was doing. Now it’s a right to do exactly what you want to do, and it’s someone else’s fault if something bad happens to you. No one has removed the odd mugger or rapist, thankfully still rare, but it’s a risk best avoided rather than put to the test. Same with drink. It’s no secret that too much drink and rivers/canals in places like York and Manchester don’t mix, but every year those who have had too much keep falling in. Not their fault, should be miles of railings in place........🤷♂️
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Of course there should be railings. How else are boaters going to be able to tie up?
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York has slimy rope all along steep sides in places on Ouse. Gives those who fall in something to cling onto while their friends take photos.....
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What's wrong with being out in one's van at this time of the year? The heating is good enough to keep us warm, we can choose when to move and when not to, the weather for the most part has been fine, if a little blown at times, the sites are quiet so entry if choice of both site and pitch, the roads are less busy when and where we choose to move. Nights might be a little longer than during the Summer but it's light before 8 in the morning if one wants to get out and about early. Can't whack it!!
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Who said anything about being on the road when it stormy? I certainly didn't and I'm sure you'll have read my posts that stated that we stayed put when the win especially were high. Just stirring it again AD!!! Nothing changes does it?
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"Only" was the operative word there, David. Entirely up to you as I said - we're going to be enjoying blue skies and very warm weather over the next fortnight, but living in the UK you surely learn that there's nothing one can do to control the weather - just get on with life whatever!
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fully agree, I love hot temperatures and sunny skies but equally love being out (with or without the caravan) during the winter and it's certainly not second best but just as enjoyable. Couldn't face not going away.
As you say towns and sites are quieter and I've been warmer sometimes in the caravan than at home. Great feeling being toasty warm inside with a glass or two of something appropriate. As long as you dress for it outside it's all good.
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You talked about being out in a van in this weather, and on the road, no mention of the idiots caught out on the Ben. We too are sat in our touring home with central heating on, and have not been towing in the high winds. As for sitting on a field, well most if not all caravan sites are fields one way or another, or perhaps car parks, but the last one we were on was hard standing and the present one has a pair of toilets as good as if not better than most caravan sites.
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I can think of worse places to be at the moment.......cruise ship off Hong Kong for one! 🤔
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It is 'Holland America' line - The Flying Dutchman, anyone?
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