14 ms·
Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
- vixen99 6y agoTerrific piece. Thanks for reposting.
- oh_sigh 6y agoYou may enjoy this book, which it is derived from: The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot by Robert Macfarlane
- ajtulloch 6y agoThe entire Landscape series from Macfarlane: - Mountains of the Mind (a history and first-person account of mountain climbing) - The Wild Places (a history and exploration of the 'wild' landscapes of the British Isles) - The Old Ways (a history and exploration of the ancient paths of the world) are all really excellent (and can be read in any order). He's a fabulous writer, kind of like a Kapuściński for the natural world.
- DanBC 6y agoHere's the area in Google Maps: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Wakering+Stairs/@51.5485803,0.8400727,628m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x47d92664a30b6b45:0x45e3a622d8a0ebe1!8m2!3d51.5483066!4d0.839864 https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Wakering+Stairs/@51.5485...
- 762236 6y agoNo Street View though
- Zenst 6y agoIndeed, kinda devoid - however, zoom out and can see a few blue dots of user submitted views in the area.
- elliekelly 6y agoWell there isn’t any street ;)
- roberto 6y agoRIP Google Street View driver
- theklub 6y agoReminded me of this one, deadly seemly little river in the UK... https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/11/bolton-strid-stream-that-swallows-people.html#:~:text=Between%20Barden%20Tower%20and%20Bolton,Strid%2C%20or%20simply%20the%20Strid https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/11/bolton-strid-stream-th....
- clairity 6y agoit's great to hear about these kinds of hidden dangers (immortalized by a wordsworth poem no less), but based on what's stated in the article, the sign shown in one of the photos seems to make the mistake of exhorting without informing (and persuading): > "danger. this pool is very dangerous. submerged rocks. diving, jumping & swimming prohibited." it seems it should say something more like "danger. hidden, swift undercurrents will pull you under and trap you to certain death. avoid the water." but maybe that one pool only has submerged rocks as a danger, and not undercurrents. even so, it could be more informative: "danger. hidden shallow submerged rocks make diving, jumping & swimming here deadly." but that makes the inclusion of swimming puzzling.
- schoen 6y agoSan Francisco has these signs on Ocean Beach: https://www.flickr.com/photos/c_nilsen/2823013166 https://www.flickr.com/photos/c_nilsen/2823013166 They emphasize the concrete fact that people have actually died from the danger, which seems a little closer to your suggestion.
- clairity 6y agoyes, that's better, but in that case, it's about possible death (how possible?), rather than probable death, so it's (intentionally?) ambiguous. it seems to lack information about when rip currents are most likely, and more to the point, the statistical likelihood of death from entering the water at all. i'm personally not a strong swimmer so would avoid it anyways, but that information might more readily dissuade others by simply putting trust in the reader to make an appropriate life or death decision.
- shajznnckfke 6y agoThis article could use some pictures!
- fuzxi 6y agoIt has some, they're just not loading for you.
- shajznnckfke 6y agoInteresting, AdBlock via mobile Safari’s content blocker feature was blocking the images.
- rusk 6y agoI had the same experience and was thinking it was strange. Surprising the BBC wouldn’t be testing for this kind of thing. Wonder if they’re subverting adblockers deliberately?
- shajznnckfke 6y agoI’m thinking it could be an overinclusive block list. Although putting your good content in the same place you serve your ads (same cdn, and/or same html element) could be a good way to discourage adblocking.
- neurostimulant 6y agoThe images aren't loading on Firefox mobile too, but shows up when switching to desktop view.
- pvaldes 6y agoA similar problem in Le Mont Saint Michel. Tides in flat muddy bottoms are deceptively fast and dangerous.
- supernova87a 6y agoIt might be more honest and less surprising for the title to read: "Offshore path through tidal flats has killed 100+ people" I also recall another similar place in France where the path has small artificial posts/concrete piers built so that anyone caught out can climb to safety.
- ovi256 6y agoThe one in France is the causeway to Noirmoutier island. It's a two way road that is impassable at high tide. At both ends, prominent panels display warnings, the current time and the time of the next high tide. Still, there are regular occurences of people that lose their cars and have to be rescued from the shelter poles, and, very rarely, worse. Incidentally, it's about the same length as this 3 mile path, 4.2 km. https://www.ile-noirmoutier.com/en/gois-passage.html https://www.ile-noirmoutier.com/en/gois-passage.html
- supernova87a 6y agoAh right, I remember reading about it because it was in the news for trying to block off the island from all coronavirus city-leavers.
- crote 6y agoFrance also used to have Mont-Saint-Michel, but that one is no more.
- dredmorbius 6y agoTo be clear: the tidal island still exists. But it's been connected by a bridge to the mainland since 2014, supertides excepted.
- Angostura 6y agoReally? I'm went over that causeway a few years ago - what happened?
- 6y ago
- stormdennis 6y agoOne day many, many years ago when we lived in inland Essex (we're not English) we decided to go to the seaside. Using our road atlas we headed to the blue. We never found the sea just lots of mudflats with no sea in sight. It was my first experience of such a coastline
- globular-toast 6y agoYeah, on the small scale road atlases anything up to mean high water is shown as "blue". On 1:50,000 ("Landranger") maps and larger maps those areas would be shown either as brownish (mud) or yellow (sand) with the mean higher water mark shown with a thick line and mean low water with a thin line. Blue essentially means "this bit is always water" (ie. it's below mean low water). Maps in other parts of the world will show such places as darkish blue to indicate they are tidal. I prefer the Ordnance Survey way (but I am British).
- tyingq 6y agoCurious why "Foulness" is the name for several things on the map. Does that not have a negative connotation in the UK?
- chipaca 6y agofrom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foulness_Island#Conservation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foulness_Island#Conservation > The island's name is derived from the Old English fugla-næss, with fugla (modern "fowl") meaning "of birds" and naess being the Germanic word for promontory
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- pella 6y agoOpenStreetMap: https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/7476127#map=13/51.5734/0.8908 https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/7476127#map=13/51.573... Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway
- pella 6y agorouting ( be careful ) : https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=graphhopper_foot&route=51.6023%2C0.9388%3B51.5406%2C0.8176 https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=graphhopper_...
- eCa 6y agoMany moons ago I visited Jersey (the one in the English Channel). One of the many highlights was visiting La Corbière[1], a lighthouse only accessible via a causeway that is submerged at high tide[2, 3]. Fascinating place. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Corbi%C3%A8re https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Corbi%C3%A8re [2] https://www.google.com/maps/@49.1806882,-2.2470043,3a,75y,225.36h,93.73t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMBqZn2_dKjxC5aiz0EZ-FhADQOyqrn3U1K2wuZ!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMBqZn2_dKjxC5aiz0EZ-FhADQOyqrn3U1K2wuZ%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya352.57437-ro0-fo100!7i11264!8i4680 https://www.google.com/maps/@49.1806882,-2.2470043,3a,75y,22... [3] https://www.google.com/maps/@49.18135,-2.2449889,3a,75y,243.07h,93.79t/data=!3m8!1e1!3m6!1sAF1QipMtwBHJhRJHYBKKcwMayL-6EwaAuTA_kFqljJBG!2e10!3e11!6shttps:%2F%2Flh5.googleusercontent.com%2Fp%2FAF1QipMtwBHJhRJHYBKKcwMayL-6EwaAuTA_kFqljJBG%3Dw203-h100-k-no-pi-0-ya75.90646-ro-0-fo100!7i8000!8i4000 https://www.google.com/maps/@49.18135,-2.2449889,3a,75y,243....
- tombrossman 6y agoI live there now and it's great. If you return try the guided walk to Seymour Tower. I did a short blog post back in 2012 with photos, including the rescue tower halfway out. https://www.tombrossman.com/blog/2012/seymour-tower-walk/ https://www.tombrossman.com/blog/2012/seymour-tower-walk/ TL;DR 30-40 foot tidal range. Sea level rises faster then walking speed at times, you really must pay close attention.
- supernova87a 6y agoBy the way, I wonder if there is something about liability in English law that enables this to continue to stay open and posted as a path? I would imagine that in the US, liability would quickly force local government / whoever to take down the signposts, as they "entice" people to think there is a safe, established path and should risk their lives and are probably somewhat liable for the result. I guess there aren't many places like this in the US, so it's hard to say whether there's a similar case. Maybe the Grand Canyon or something. Or off-slope skiing.
- jedimastert 6y agoHistorical British footpaths do actually have legal protections. Rights of way[0] belong to the people and are public property. Here's a Tom Scott talking about it (kinda)[1] [0]: https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rights_of_way_in_England_and_Wales https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rights_of_way_in_England_and_Wal... [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dYc0Ouxhx0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dYc0Ouxhx0
- Reason077 6y agoRights of way are legally protected, but are not necessarily public property. Footpaths and bridleways often cross privately owned land, especially in rural areas.
- ascorbic 6y agoThe UK foreshore is owned by the Crown, except for some cases where it has been sold off. These are the minority though. If anyone else owns this it's likely to be the Ministry of Defence.
- robin_reala 6y agoMy last house came with two separate titles: one for the house and grounds, and one for just the footpath that lead up to and past it. I had literal nightmares when selling it that one the day of exchange the buyer would refuse to take the footpath title, leading to me being in a different country but legally having to maintain the passability of a footpath back in the UK.
- csours 6y agoThings that look and feel like something you've done a thousand times, and may do a thousand times again with no danger. Except that sometimes, things can change very quickly. There's a creek bed near me that dried out almost completely over the summer; usually there's some water flow and occasional shallow pools where small fish live. While it was completely dry, I wanted to walk as far downstream as I could. I woke up the Saturday morning I planned to do it to the sound of torrential downpour. As recently as that Thursday, there was no rain in the forecast. I can only imagine if the downpour was sudden, and a few hours later. As it happens, after the downpour I went to see the creek, and it was flowing quite rapidly at a depth of about 3 feet, well more than enough to sweep someone away never to be seen again.
- Benjamin_Dobell 6y agoAs soon as it started raining, wouldn't you have just gotten out of the creek via the nearest embankment?
- WalterBright 6y agoIn Arizona, it could be raining upstream and you don't notice it - till the flash flood comes.
- csours 6y agoSome sections are sheer cliffs.
- dredmorbius 6y agoFlash floods 1) develop quickly 2) often in impassable terrain (upstream and downstream are your only options), and 3) often under "blue sky" conditions from distant of hours-old rain rain. https://youtube.com/watch?v=q_yw8uUqH5I https://youtube.com/watch?v=q_yw8uUqH5I
- jjt-yn_t 6y agothat's really informative!
- INTPenis 6y agoThis is where the sea re-claimed Doggerland. I love that phenomenon, that this was simply a way down to the Doggerland plains once. Probably hundreds, maybe thousands, of hunters, gatherers and anglers. They've specifically found wooden fish hooks, perhaps showing that as the sea levels rose people were constantly fishing along the new coast line.
- grahamm 6y agoSlightly further up the coast is Mersea Island. One road out to the island the Strood is tidal (https://www.visitmerseaisland.co.uk/blog/72-how-do-i-check-the-tide-before-i-visit-mersea-island/ https://www.visitmerseaisland.co.uk/blog/72-how-do-i-check-t...). Catches out visitors once or twice a year with the odd stranded car. There is a web cam http://www.stroodcam.co.uk/ http://www.stroodcam.co.uk/.
- acjohnson55 6y agoReminds me of Worm's Head on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea, Wales https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worm-s-head-tidal-island https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worm-s-head-tidal-island
- tpmx 6y agoAre there proper warnings for this place in Google/Apple/Microsoft map services? If not, this seems like an excellent time to add them.
- WalterBright 6y agoIn Seattle, the old I90 floating bridge across Lake Washington had a "bulge" where a section of the roadway could be pushed into the bulge to make room for boat passage. When the section was retracted, the highway abruptly ended, and a barrier was put up. The Bulge was infamous for traffic accidents where you suddenly had to swerve right then left then right at highway speed, with narrow lanes lined with concrete walls. This was a challenge for my old car with its loosey goosey suspension. I remember news radio at the time would report on another "flamer" at The Bulge. Time moves on, and it was time to replace the bridge with a modern, safe one. The construction crew was astonished to find a car at the bottom where the highway abruptly ended when the bridge was retracted. In it was a woman who had been missing for 20 or 30 years. It was a famous case when she went missing, and people searched everywhere for her, including forests where psychics claimed she was. Apparently, she was simply driving one night, didn't realize that the bridge was out, drove through the barrier into the water and nobody noticed.
- gallego2007 6y agoI had to look this up just to see what this 'right-left' swerve looked like on a bridge... found the following article [1] (from an insurance company no less!) with a picture and a link to an old news article [2] about the missing teen driver. [1] https://pemco.com/blog/closed-drawspan-evokes-memories-of-the-bulge https://pemco.com/blog/closed-drawspan-evokes-memories-of-th... [2] https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19810915&id=z0tPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=CY8DAAAAIBAJ&pg=4131%2c6275004 https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=860&dat=19810915&id=z...
- chrisacky 6y agoI was curious too and found this Reddit write-up: https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/6zr2d6/1981_stacy_sparks_discovered_by_chance_after/ https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/6zr2d6... Picture of the bridge. (I'm EU so couldn't view the previous link) https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/5ticw5/til_a_dangerous_bulge_midspan_of_the_original_i90/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/5ticw5/til_a_dange...
- 6y ago
- anyonecancode 6y agoFirst time I ever saw tidal flats like this was in Maine this past summer. We stayed at an RV campground in the mid coast, and the tide was out by several miles. Kids and I walked out a ways enjoying the little pools, but the tide did come in fairly quick and I had to encourage them to keep moving and not dawdle on the way back. We live in NJ so our previous experience was just sandy beach. The variety of different kinds of coast in Maine was a lot of fun.
- peterwwillis 6y agoThis reads like Lovecraft!
- sedatk 6y ago“...over the centuries”. I mean, any street in San Francisco is probably deadlier.
- JoeAltmaier 6y agoWell, not per-capita.
- thx4dafish 6y agoThis reminds me of The Lady in Black.
- robin_reala 6y agoThe Woman in Black?
- onion2k 6y agoUp here in the north east of the UK is Holy Island, a small island off the coast with a village that has a population of about 200 people. The causeway to get there is cut off from the mainland twice a day too. A few times a year a hapless visitor gets their car swept out to sea. It's well worth a visit - it's a beautiful place. https://holy-island.com/gallery/ybphotography.htm https://holy-island.com/gallery/ybphotography.htm
- bb123 6y agoMany visitors to the Southern UK are surprised by the ferocity and height of the tides here. The harbour where I live effectively becomes a fast flowing river twice a day, and the height of the water varies by 30 feet or more. It is not uncommon for the boats with the smallest engines to be unable to make headway against it.
- growlist 6y agoCorryvreckan (Scotland, but still) has one of the fiercest tidal races in the world - the story goes that George Orwell almost drowned in one of the whirlpools. 'Although not, as is sometimes believed, formally classified by the Royal Navy as unnavigable, the nearby Grey Dogs, or Little Corryvreckan, are classified as such.[1] The Admiralty's West Coast of Scotland Pilot guide to inshore waters calls it "very violent and dangerous" and says "no vessel should then attempt this passage without local knowledge". Experienced scuba divers who have explored the waters have described it as "potentially the most dangerous dive in Britain"' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corryvreckan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Corryvreckan
- bb123 6y agoThat first image on the wiki is terrifying. Such a huge amount of energy at play.
- globular-toast 6y agoJust over half of this "path" is actually a public byway which means you have a right to traverse it by motorcar or any other method (horse and cart, bicycle etc.). I am fascinated by tidal areas. The tide is (or should be) a familiar feature to any British holiday maker. Many of our nicest beaches are completely submerged at high tide, such as Tenby. At low tide beaches are revealed allowing safe passage to islands which were cut off only hours before. Conversely, some beaches are nicer at high tide. The low tide at Weston-super-Mare leaves a mile of treacherous mud in place of the sea. But these flats are the most fascinating of all. On first glance these areas can seem boring: vast stretches of mud, sand and saltmarshes with just a glimpse of sea right in the distance. But it's treacherous and mysterious. Apart from the odd samphire picker, nobody comes out here. Twice a day the landscape is utterly transformed by the tide. And it happens so quickly. I recently visited a favourite place of mine in The Wash. There are two artificial islands here that were built as a failed experiment to build a freshwater reservoir. The smaller of the two is accessible across the saltmarshes which are usually dry. The path used to be a causeway, but these days the whole marsh is above mean high water spring. The larger island can only be reached by crossing the perilous mud flats at very low tide. But it's riddled with deep tidal channels and quicksand. Legend has it King John lost his treasure out here as his baggage carts were consumed by the rising tide. On my recent visit I decided to go at a very high tide. The highest of the year. I expected it to be more fun as the island would be more like an island, but I didn't expect the saltmarshes to be completely flooded (even though this is well known by locals, and now me). We decided to wade across anyway. The water was knee deep and I was carefully looking out for tidal inlets. As the tide was now receding, these inlets begin to flow outwards like a river, and with enough force to carry you with them. I felt confident enough only because I'd been here before. We reached the island now an hour after highest tide. Within another hour the sea recedes enough to reveal bizarre looking fingers of water formed by the never ending tide as it gently washes in and out like clockwork every 6 hours. When you read tide tables for an unfamiliar area the numbers don't really mean much, other than one is higher than the other. But think about it: a metre of water. That's how much higher the tide was on that day. If you live in a flat area just imagine how much would be covered with an extra metre of water. It's scary. But fascinating.
- Fred27 6y agoI've kitesurfed near the Broomway. Really nice stretches of flat water when you get it right, but the tide comes in at a scary speed - or you have a 45 minute walk to get to the water - if you're there at the wrong time. I've also had some hairy moments where I've jumped high and realised I really had to stick the landing as the water was only a few inches deep. As with most dangerous tides, it's not the height of the tidal change that's the problem it's the fact that it's very flat that means it comes in so fast.
- anotheryou 6y agoMore informative: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway