...I always use the cycle path that runs through the nature reserve and then parallel to the road but on the other side of the hedge - it has various patches mended with a sort of chicken wire and marked "Flood damage! Take care!"
I generally use the cycle path too, but it was under even deeper water at the time. Besides which,if you are on the road the hedge will catch you before you go in the river.
The chicken wire is an improvement over just the coarse mesh that's underneath it, which has been there since the path was constructed.
Originally, it was the other way up, with crosswise strands on top and longways strands underneath. However the decking started to subside and put quite a cross slope on the Maisemore end of the longer section, and the crossways strands gave very little lateral grip if it was wet. Someone apparently came a cropper trying to ride over and fell into the concrete road edge, so the mesh was turned over. However with the longways strands on top you get quite bad tramlining, so it was even worse in my opinion (even before I got overconfident on the way back from the pub one night, fell off, and
bent my elbow over backwards).
