Slightly 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-t...). Catches out visitors once or twice a year with the odd stranded car. There is a web cam http://www.stroodcam.co.uk/.
Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
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Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#32Things 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…
As soon as it started raining, wouldn't you have just gotten out of the creek via the nearest embankment?
Some sections are sheer cliffs.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#33Reminds me of Worm's Head on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea, Wales
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worm-s-head-tidal-island
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#34Are there proper warnings for this place in Google/Apple/Microsoft map services? If not, this seems like an excellent time to add them.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#35In 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 When the section was retracted, the highway abruptly ended, and a barrier was put up.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 The construction crew was astonished to find a car at the bottom where the highway abruptly ended when the bridge was retracted.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.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#36By 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…
Cancelling a public right of way is not easy. If it were, most of them would have disappeared years ago because land owners don't usually appreciate them being there. By the sound of it, the current signage is hardly enticing. But it's an interesting question whether someone might potentially be liable.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#37It 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.
The 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.…
France also used to have Mont-Saint-Michel, but that one is no more.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#38By 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…
It’s covered in TFA - the warning signs be passed at the start exonerate the landowner from any liability. Common to see this kind of thing at gates to farm land and such.
EDIT I’m not English. In Ireland we have a similar legal system and under the “occupier’s liability act” I believe it’s called, once you display these signs prominently you are off the hook. Obviously, I am not a lawyer and this is merely my hazy take on things.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
The 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.…
France also used to have Mont-Saint-Michel, but that one is no more.
To be clear: the tidal island still exists. But it's been connected by a bridge to the mainland since 2014, supertides excepted.
Re: Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
It has some, they're just not loading for you.
Interesting, AdBlock via mobile Safari’s content blocker feature was blocking the images.
I 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?