Summary of Last Weekend

The flooding at Sutton Lane Bridge on Friday. Depth of water about 2 feet.
Photograph by courtesy of Richard Rees.

Early on Friday morning it was necessary to make a decision as to whether we went ahead with our planned Family Ride with Swimming and a BBQ.  As you see from the picture above, there would have been no problem with the swimming.
In view of the forecast of heavy rain to come we decided with some reluctance to call off the event and not purchase food which we would not have been able to sell on the day.
This turned out to be the right policy as within an hour or two the heavens opened and there was heavy flash flooding on Mickleover, Etwall and Hilton, the waters entering the Station House at Mickleover and houses alongside the Greenway, in addition to the flooding of five miles of the path itself.
When the floodwater had subsided on Saturday we were able to see the damage caused to the surface of the Greenway  (see previous posts).
We had made every effort to publisize the cancellation, but Sunday dawned a better day weatherwise, so Nick Potter and I met at the appointed start and sure enough 20 or so keen cyclists, who were not aware of the change of plan, turned up, so we felt duty bound to take them to the Etwall Leisure Centre over the damaged path, which was just about rideable.

And here they are on the path, at this point just soft gravel washed down from higher up. It looks as though we would have had a record turn out had the rain not been such a problem.

We hope to see repairs to the path carried out by Derbyshire County Council and for us to re-organise the postponed ride sometime in September, ie before the bad weather sets in for the Winter.