Today, Friday 10 January 2014, the entire Thames Path at Shiplake which only recently opened on the line of the towpath is under water along with the adjoining meadows and the gardens opposite. The tiny Lash Brook is now like a major river.
This is just one of many stretches which are now impossible to walk and where the water will get higher.
I am remaining on the tidal Thames since it is unwise to attempt to visit the upper reaches however tempting. In many places it is of course impossible and one would just be in the way of rescue work.
Such is the magnitude of the flooding that when scenes are shown on television it difficult to recognise the location.
In writing reports and guides to the river over more than thirty years this is the worst and most prolonged flooding I have known.
It will be some time before the entire Thames Path is available again but even longer before riverside homes will have dried out.