Water shortages ?

Listening to the radio this morning there was talk that this has been the driest summer since 1929. Following on from the November floods around Cockermouth this seemed hard to believe at first so we went down to Armathwaite ( maybe 7 miles or so up river from our holiday cottages) to see what the River Eden was like.

As you walk upstream from Armathwaite Bridge you come to Coombs woods and here the valley opens up very briefly with wide flat bedrock which becomes exposed when water levels drop.

This creates a fascinating ecosystem as the rock pools usually get refreshed by rain and fluctuating water levels creating a rich and verdant area to explore.

This is a picture from back in 2003

and here is a picture of the beautiful miniature wild strawberries which you can find down in these woods.

and here is a picture from this week.......river levels much lower and the Penrith sandstone bedrock exposed and largely dry. So maybe in a way these things creep up on you. Because we live in such a beautiful part of the world occasionally we forget just how precious water is and how lucky we are to have these beautiful rivers.