Another ramble along the water of Leith.

These photos were taken recently, after we had some ridiculous quantities of rain (3 weeks worth in a day). Since they were taken in August, technically they're out of seasonal order (I do have pictures from Spring to post), but I'm posting them next because they show the river flooding properly. Ish. (I've seen it higher, but not much.)

Teaser:





Click on the photos twice to see them full size.


Looking downriver again. The arches which are visible in the first photo of the previous post are just out of sight, but they were almost completely covered.


Taken on the other side of the bridge, looking upstream.


The footbridge. In the previous post, I told you to look at the trees beyond the bridge; here is why. One of them was undermined and has toppled over.
The path is significantly flooded now; no way of walking underneath the bridge at all, the flow is too fast.


The tree is rather large...


Looking downriver. The quayside visible here:is round the corner, under about 2 foot of water.


The tree is very happy; the pedestrians are less so.


As you can see, it's just toppled over. The terrible thing is, the council notice posted at the end of the bridge talks about chopping the tree up. That would be a shame; surely it might be possible to haul it upright again.


Tree from above. This is taken the next day, which is why the water is lower.


Anything standing upright in the river collects detritus.


There are plenty of rapids making the water break in waves that appear to be going upstream against the current.


Lots of water coming round the far side of Telford Bridge.


A close-up.


This does not look like a summertime river.


It's beyond the banks further down.


More shots of it having broken the banks.


Arty shot. There will be a few of them.


The water is moving very fast.




I like the way a long exposure shows the shapes on the surface of the water.


More lumpy water. The white streaks almost make it look hand-drawn.


Another arty shot.


At this exposure you can see how the water was really billowing.


It was very noisy.


When not covered with bits of deceased bridges, this is usually a lovely bronze sculpture of a swan taking off upriver. It sits on a shelf of rock that you can wander out to and even sit on.


These steps take you down to where the swan is. The river has swallowed the bottom of them.


More lumpy water.


A slightly different angle. I couldn't decide which of the two I liked best.


More water textures. It was going so fast that when it hit an obstacle it folded back on itself.


Again, I couldn't decide which I preferred.


These rocks are usually quite high on the bank.



Next: The river in Springtime - in which it actually looks more summery than it does here.