The dry grass path passes through a small valley. Soon, sheltered by a curtain of trees, a dusty pool forms, strewn with branches, without the least sign of moisture. It is, however, the source of the Thames. Now a theoretical source. miles downstream, the course of this iconic UK river can at best be summed up in a few muddy puddles, a stunning relief from the drought that has gripped much of the country.
“We haven’t found the Thames yetsaid Michael Sanders, a 62-year-old computer scientist who came with his wife to walk the Thames Path, a marked path that follows the meandering course of the river from its source to its estuary. “It is completely dry. There are puddles, mud, but so far no water at all, we’re sure the River Thames will be downstream, but it isn’t.“, – testifies this vacationer in the village of Ashton Keynes, located a few kilometers from the spring.
It is in this picturesque region, at the foot of the Cotswold Hills, not far from Wales, that the river rises from a water surface before meandering some 350 kilometers to the North Sea, watering the pass of the British capital. But for those who normally liken the English countryside to a golf course, the shock has been severe this summer, after a winter and spring almost unprecedented since records began.
Haven’t seen any animals in days
“It feels like we’re walking through the African savannah, it’s so dryexclaims 60-year-old retiree David Gibbons, who is walking with his wife and a few friends to the opposite end of Michael Sanders’ path from the mouth to the spring. Within a few hundred meters of the destination, he admires the wildlife that meets the waterway, which transforms from a strategic and industrial navigable artery of the London region to a tourist attraction between river pleasure and bird watching. .
“But for the last two or three days we have not seen any animals because there is no water. He disappeared about 10 miles away (16 km, editor’s note) from hereAccording to David Gibbons. “We have never seen it so dry and emptyAdds Andrew Jack, a 47-year-old local authority who lives about fifteen kilometers from Ashton Keynes, reached by narrow country roads lined with stone houses.
Calls to save water
Between the village’s main street and the pretty flower-lined buildings, the river bed, spanned by small footbridges, is striated with cracks that fly over wasps, evoking images of African backwaters in the dry season. There is no peace in sight soon. The National Weather Service has issued a heat orange warning for southern England and east Wales between Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, with temperatures reaching 35 to 36 degrees Celsius.
Local authorities are stepping up calls to save water, and London’s water supply company has announced upcoming restrictions on consumption, which will be added to restrictions already in place in the south of the country. But David Gibbons refuses to panic. “I’ve lived in England all my life, we’ve had droughts before“, He says. “I think it will be green again by fall“.
Andrew Jack, who has come with his family to walk the creek bed where there is nothing left to measure on a single graduated scale, admits to being more pessimistic;There are many English people who think “Great, let’s enjoy the weather” (…), but it means that something has changed, and it’s bad“. “Personally, I am concerned about the situation getting worse. The UK will have to adapt to a warmer climate with more and more summers like this– he is afraid.
Source: Le Figaro
