Floods on Christmas Day

The dogs deserved a Christmas walk and I was mad enough to allow them to swim down the centre of the road to get some shots of the flood meadows in Ripley. The fact that a six inch nail had gone through my wellies yesterday, without hitting my foot, ensured that I knew I was going to get wet within minutes.

I parked by the 'Road Closed' sign and waded a good five hundred yards to where the car park I would normally use is. That was under a foot or more of water. A few off road vehicles ignored the sign and got away with it but, one small car, with cheering teenagers on board decided to brave it. First it made waves that ensured, my wellies were filled to the brim, then stopped, not 15 yards from the end of the first massive flood.

The girls told me they had convinced Dad that it would be fun to drive through the puddles.... :) Dad was a fool! They were still stuck when I left an hour later, with Grandma, somewhere in Woking, impatiently waiting for them with an over cooked turkey! I would have happily helped them get to their destination if my car had been on the right side of the water.

I took a lovely series of the flood meadows. At one time they would have been purposely flooded every year, allowing the nutrition of the waters to fertilise the fields. It has been many years since traditional methods have been used but nature has broken every man made barrier and filled them once again. This may not be the most indicative of the meadows now filled to the brim but, is my day's favourite.

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas Day! I have, despite the very wet feet and matching dogs! I'm on call for the season, so very much at home, but it will give me a chance to do some serious catchups in the next couple of days.