Despite working in Derby, I am getting up earlier tomorrow and heading to Cromford, Matlock and the Darley Bridge area first thing in the morning because some (admittedly mild) floods are the order of the day apparently. I might take my camcorder with me and report back my findings.

This is the report from BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-12377235 LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Last edited by The Doctor on 7th Feb 2011 9:47 pm. Edited 2 times in total

Went up to Holloway today, only about 4 inch on roads between Cromford and Lea The missus - SD4 HSE - Black - 2012
Me - BMW 330d Saloon - Black - 2011

We just returned from our 'break in' road trip from Sydney to Melbourne and back and had a good chance to do some wading on the way back along the coast road. The night before our return trip an arm of Cyclone Yasi hit Melbourne (yes the other end of the continent from Northern Queensland - it was THAT big) and caused extensive flooding. We got out of the city without issue the next morning however, wading through a number of instant intersection lakes and onto the coast Motorway.

We ran into trouble just as we got out of the suburbs however as the police had closed the entire motorway in both directions due to flooding and were directing all traffic off onto a dual carriageway - suffice to say gridlock quickly ensued! My trusty navigator broke out google maps and plotted an alternate course that would take us about 20kms out of our way, but looked like it would bypass all the traffic and get us back onto the motorway about 30kms down the road (the police had said the motorway was closed for about 20kms). There appeared to be several unsealed roads on our route so we expected traffic to be light and it was.

After crossing a couple fast moving overflowing creeks with no issue we were feeling pretty good about our new purchase. We then came to a line of cars backed up with groups of people standing around contemplating their chances at the Little Bunyip River which had overflowed the road, was moving quite fast and (after watching a 4x4 go through, about 60cm deep) about 30m across a stretch of sealed road. We went in slow but continuous and had no problems what so ever, this river later caused evacuations of 4 towns downstream so we made it across just in time in my estimation.

We got back on the motorway and headed East again, staying alert as there was flood signage out, we saw flashing lights up ahead and the police were just arriving to close another section that had flooded across the Motorway to about 40cm but they had not set up as yet so we rolled on through, again no issues, just slow and steady. For the rest of the afternoon we were pretty much alone on the Motorway as I suspect we were almost the last to get through, and saw few cars.

We stopped over for the night in a place called Lakes Entrance, headed out the next morning and saw 'smoke on road' signs along the highway. As the storm had passed over us the evening before we thought this a bit humourous until we hit what has obviously been a pretty severe bush fire the day before. Still smoking trees and eerie barren landscape on both sides of the road for kms (pic in my gallery), with a few houses that obviously were fighting from their rooftops as the fire came in. Still smoking trees were everywhere and I expect the storm was a godsend for these country folk as you could see where the fire came up to within meters of their homes (and I expect as far as their fire fighting hoses sprayed out to) and passed by or just stopped short.

A great road trip for our first week in the FL2, we were very glad to have it as we would not have gotten out in our old car and an impressive demonstration of the awesome force of Mother Nature and how a tragedy for some can be a blessing for others, we were truly humbled by it.

Next month, we head on a road trip north to visit the wife's family in QLD and lend a hand with the rebuilding for a few days.

Love our FL2! 11MY SE SD4 in Lago Grey just arrived with a free Garmin thrown in! This could be the start of a beautiful relationship (I'm an eternal optimist, and former FL1 owner)!

Great post - thanks - you have certainly had some problems this year!

Aha! I went this morning and to my disappointment (and the local residents delight) the waters had receded somewhat. However, there was some deep-ish water by the crossroads and the deepest bit came upto the bottom of the doors.

Enough to stop a bloke in a BMW 5 Series though

Apologies for the brief and poorly filmed clips but here they are:



http://www.youtube.com/user/thedoctor007dfw#p/a/u/0/X8PEMfIpTb4 LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Found this though, a Freelander 1 in pretty damn deep water. Did not think a Freelander could cope with this but not sure I would want to risk mine:

 LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

The old FL1 (XEDI) had a float that closed the main air intake, this diverted the intake to a smaller "snorkle" high up under the bonnet on the passenger side.
The newer FL1 had it's air intake inside the wing liner, the rear would float before the engine flooded, but the alternator is much lower on the BMW TD4, compared to the older Rover unit so was suseptable to water damage. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Whats all this "Yeah Baby"  Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

The Doctor wrote:

Found this though, a Freelander 1 in pretty damn deep water. Did not think a Freelander could cope with this but not sure I would want to risk mine:

That was impressive  Freelander 2 HSE Lux 2013MY - Barolo Black with Ivory Leather. Alpine DVD - Privacy -Evoque 20" Dynamic Wheels and more to come.........

Mav71 wrote:

Whats all this "Yeah Baby"

The Doctor wrote:

Found this though, a Freelander 1 in pretty damn deep water. Did not think a Freelander could cope with this but not sure I would want to risk mine:

This is impressive - just goes to show what you can do with a humble freeloader...

Doc - kinda puts your flood driving to shame! Freelander 2 TD4 Auto, SE, Narvik Black, Alpaca full leather, Rear Headrest Entertainment System, 6 CD, 18 HSE Wheels, Privicy tints

Captain Worm wrote:

The Doctor wrote:

Found this though, a Freelander 1 in pretty damn deep water. Did not think a Freelander could cope with this but not sure I would want to risk mine:

This is impressive - just goes to show what you can do with a humble freeloader...

Doc - kinda puts your flood driving to shame!

We crossed the River Otter at Newton Poppleford on New Years Day during a day out with Land Rover Experience Honiton. We had water up over the bonnet (hood for our friends from USA) but once we'd created a bow wave all was fine until we got out on the other bank to find the front number plate hanging from one screw.
See http://www.wetroads.co.uk/devon.htm and scroll down or search for Newton Poppleford. On the question of the Right of Way, LRE Honiton have arrangements with land owners giving permission to use this and other off road routes around Devon.