
Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017) - twoodfin
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20170110-why-the-broomway-is-the-most-dangerous-path-in-britain
======
WalterBright
In 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 When the section was retracted, the highway abruptly ended, and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highway abruptly ended when the bridge was retracted.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.

~~~
chrisacky
I was curious too and found this Reddit write-up:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/6zr2d6...](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnresolvedMysteries/comments/6zr2d6/1981_stacy_sparks_discovered_by_chance_after/)

Picture of the bridge. (I'm EU so couldn't view the previous link)

[https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/5ticw5/til_a_dange...](https://www.reddit.com/r/Seattle/comments/5ticw5/til_a_dangerous_bulge_midspan_of_the_original_i90/)

~~~
AgentME
Here's a picture from that thread showing how it works and what it's like when
it lets boats through:
[https://i.imgur.com/nIeXbXt.png](https://i.imgur.com/nIeXbXt.png). I skimmed
a bunch of articles about the bridge to figure out how the bulge possibly
worked to let boats through, and none were as useful as this diagram.

~~~
nullsense
Ah that's a gem.

------
theklub
Reminded me of this one, deadly seemly little river in the UK...
[https://www.amusingplanet.com/2015/11/bolton-strid-stream-
th...](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).

~~~
clairity
it'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.

~~~
floatingatoll
Is that a cultural difference, such that the UK tone for "proceed and you may
die" takes for granted (with, presumably, support from their legal system)
that the reader is at fault if they ignore the phrasing used? The US is
particularly vulnerable to lawsuits seeking vengeance, and spends a lot of
time agonizing over phrasing that is defensible against both literate and
illiterate people. So it could be possible that the phrasing is correct for
the UK, but not for the US. I'm not sure, though!

~~~
bpodgursky
It's human nature to (1) distrust authority, (2) assume that authority is
generally more nannying and risk-averse than you yourself are, and (3) want
explanations consistent with your understanding of how the world works.

I don't think it's just an American thing.

~~~
adamsea
Human nature would like to disagree with you about the nature of human nature.

;)

I bet a dollar that the environment - nurture, as opposed to nature - will
have a huge impact on a persons attitudes and beliefs and behavior towards
authority.

Imho vast claims about human nature should be backed up with some scientific
or well-sourced evidence :).

------
supernova87a
It 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
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.

[https://www.ile-noirmoutier.com/en/gois-passage.html](https://www.ile-
noirmoutier.com/en/gois-passage.html)

~~~
crote
France also used to have Mont-Saint-Michel, but that one is no more.

~~~
andbberger
Mont-Saint-Michel recently stopped existing??

~~~
Bayart
Stolen by a tourist who wanted something quaint to bring home.

------
stormdennis
One 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
Yeah, 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).

------
eCa
Many 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,22...](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)

[3]
[https://www.google.com/maps/@49.18135,-2.2449889,3a,75y,243....](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)

~~~
tombrossman
I 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.

------
csours
Things 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
As soon as it started raining, wouldn't you have just gotten out of the creek
via the nearest embankment?

~~~
dredmorbius
Flash 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)

~~~
pvaldes
I think that a simple chain of small electronic signals could notice the
flooding and spread the information to all the other signals in the chain
downstream. People could see a small flashing red light chain and rush to the
next safe exit. Providing the system with a few discrete metallic scales
leading just up in strategic points would save lives.

This would not be difficult to design, just a sensor placed at 50cm high that
would activate automatically when flooded) and could be implement discretely
without ruining the landscape.

Just an idea that just occurred to me.

~~~
thehappypm
This type of system would actually be quite expensive. Detecting flooding
requires some kind of "flood sensor". Is that a water sensor? What happens
when it gets covered in mud? Is it waterproof? How's it powered? How does it
transmit data? Where is it placed? What happens if it falls over?

~~~
pvaldes
A flood sensor is simple technology. Each WC in the planet has one. You just
need a box, a wire, and a buoy attached to a rod. When the buoy starts
floating the rod closes an electric circuit conveniently placed much higher
than the highest flood.

Could be introduced in a tube drilled directly in rock for minimum visual
impact. A system of an oiled hollow cylinder (buoy) inside a major tube, all
placed in the drilled tunnel could move smoothly for a long time and return
again by gravity after the flood as long as the drill left some empty space
below (for mud evacuation purposes)

> How does it transmit data?

standard electric cable (for example), or wifi, radio... whatever appropriate
for the area

> Where is placed?

The rod/buoy, At 50cm high or 1m high (or any appropriate value) in the upper
parts of the cannon. This would avoid the problem of mud covering electronics
also.

> What happens if it fails?

The system returns to the same point as it is currently: "This is dangerous,
not guarantee, we recommend to hire a guide, do it at your own risk".

The difference is that in the meanwhile some lives could be saved, so would be
an improvement over the current situation.

> How do we know if it fails

A final led at the starting (and end?) of the cannon could be arranged to turn
off, for example. Trivial in design of electronic circuits.

------
INTPenis
This 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.

------
supernova87a
By 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
Historical 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_Wal...](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Rights_of_way_in_England_and_Wales)
[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dYc0Ouxhx0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dYc0Ouxhx0)

~~~
Reason077
Rights of way are legally protected, but are not necessarily public property.
Footpaths and bridleways often cross privately owned land, especially in rural
areas.

~~~
robin_reala
My 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.

------
onion2k
Up 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)

------
anyonecancode
First 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.

------
DanBC
Here's the area in Google Maps:
[https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Wakering+Stairs/@51.5485...](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)

~~~
762236
No Street View though

~~~
Zenst
Indeed, kinda devoid - however, zoom out and can see a few blue dots of user
submitted views in the area.

------
pvaldes
A similar problem in Le Mont Saint Michel. Tides in flat muddy bottoms are
deceptively fast and dangerous.

------
acjohnson55
Reminds 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)

------
Fred27
I'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.

------
bb123
Many 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
Corryvreckan (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
That first image on the wiki is terrifying. Such a huge amount of energy at
play.

------
vixen99
Terrific piece. Thanks for reposting.

~~~
oh_sigh
You may enjoy this book, which it is derived from: The Old Ways: A Journey on
Foot by Robert Macfarlane

~~~
ajtulloch
The 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.

------
grahamm
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...](https://www.visitmerseaisland.co.uk/blog/72-how-do-i-check-the-
tide-before-i-visit-mersea-island/)). 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/).

------
globular-toast
Just 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.

------
tpmx
Are there proper warnings for this place in Google/Apple/Microsoft map
services? If not, this seems like an excellent time to add them.

------
pella
OpenStreetMap:
[https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/7476127#map=13/51.573...](https://www.openstreetmap.org/relation/7476127#map=13/51.5734/0.8908)

Wikipedia:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway)

~~~
pella
routing ( be careful ) :

[https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=graphhopper_...](https://www.openstreetmap.org/directions?engine=graphhopper_foot&route=51.6023%2C0.9388%3B51.5406%2C0.8176)

------
peterwwillis
This reads like Lovecraft!

------
anotheryou
More informative:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway)

------
tyingq
Curious why "Foulness" is the name for several things on the map. Does that
not have a negative connotation in the UK?

~~~
chipaca
from
[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

------
thx4dafish
This reminds me of The Lady in Black.

~~~
robin_reala
The Woman in Black?

------
sedatk
“...over the centuries”. I mean, any street in San Francisco is probably
deadlier.

~~~
JoeAltmaier
Well, not per-capita.

------
shajznnckfke
This article could use some pictures!

~~~
fuzxi
It has some, they're just not loading for you.

~~~
shajznnckfke
Interesting, AdBlock via mobile Safari’s content blocker feature was blocking
the images.

~~~
rusk
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?

~~~
shajznnckfke
I’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.

