Desolate English path has killed more than 100 people (2017)

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 The construction crew was astonished to find a car at the bottom where the highway abruptly ended when the bridge was retracted.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.

"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.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Corbi%C3%A8re

[2] https://www.google.com/maps/@49.1806882,-2.2470043,3a,75y,22...

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

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.

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.

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.

It's well worth a visit - it's a beautiful place. https://holy-island.com/gallery/ybphotography.htm

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/worm-s-head-tidal-island

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.

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.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broomway