Rain, rain, rain

23/06/2008 by admin.

I am currently nestling in my caravan at Staveley, near Windermere, in the Lake District - a refugee from the tsunami which hit Keswick.

40 hours of rain!!!!!

A few years ago we left my daughter and her friend in our caravan and went home. This was against the rule that the tow car had to remain on site but we persuaded the wardens to allow it because we had turned up to pitch on a neighbouring Camping and Caravanning Club site and they had lost the booking.

I still remember the phone ringing at 3am …”Dad, we’re being evacuated!”

Of course, they needed us and the towcar to be evacuated so we drove to Keswick through the night and arrived as dawn broke. Our caravan was alone in what had become an extension of Dewentwater, though the flood had, in fact come from the River Greta which feeds the lake. My daughter had placemats made of her photo of the stricken van.

This week was only our third visit to this site. It couldn’t happen again could it? Oh yes it could.

Mrs S took the dogs for a last walk and reported back that the outer reaches of the site, nearest the lake, had been evacuated. I was relaxed, she was in a panic.

I went out about 11.30pm and people were getting restive. I got back and there was a knock at the door. The warden said: “prepare to evacuate!!”

We didn’t have to in the event, though the bags were packed and not much sleep was taken.

It was only in the morning that the true nature of the devastation became clear. Caravans and tents under water, awnings in disarray, campers in disaster mode …bonding in little groups.

We offered to move and the offewr was gratefully accepted, a comparitively dry pitch quite an assett as the wardens set about relocating those whose caravans had to be dragged from the rising waters of the lake.

Here at Staveley, the evening skies are clear and cloudless….and Mrs S is dead to the world!

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