The Swim Home

It’s all a bit hit and miss with the weather at the moment. I don’t mind the cooler weather too much. I have extra layers to keep me warm. I don’t mind the rain too much. It’s only water and I have a rain jacket.

The problems arise when parts of the cycleways I use suddenly disappear under water. The picture in this post shows one of the areas that floods if the river’s up and the rain’s coming down. I took the photo on Friday morning, right before I turned around and headed back across Windan Bridge to find an alternate route to work.

Today was a different story. There had been a fair bit of rain and so I thought that the same thing may have happened. I intended to detour on the way to work.

As can happen, I got lost in the moment and turned the same way I always do, following the same route I always do. Thankfully there was no flooding so I just headed on my way to work.

This afternoon I needed to go to a meeting. I was running late and so I tried to push myself to make up time. I got to the Causeway underpass and found it flooded. That should have been warning enough. I headed back up the cycleway and crossed the road to rejoin the path on the other side.

Once I got to the area just before Windan Bridge I saw a very wide river which had totally engulfed the cycleway. I was already running late and didn’t have time to back track. I put my bike on my shoulder and waded in. At some points the water was almost up to my knees. Keep in mind this is not just a puddle, it’s part of a river, a moving, swirling river.

I finally stepped out at the other end with some very soggy shoes. I jumped back on the bike and headed off for my meeting.

Thankfully I didn’t have to cross any more flooded cycleways although I did have to ride through an extremely heavy downpour a few kilometres from home. I didn’t mind that too much because the bike needed a really good wash to get rid of all the sand and road grit it’s been picking up from riding on wet roads over the past couple of weeks.