The road bridge in the top centre passes over the River Deben and carries the road from Woodbridge and Melton to Orford. The river is tidal at this point even though the bridge is 18 km from where the river enters the sea at Bawdsey.

The bridge is very low even though the tide is out in this picture. At high tide the water is only 1 metre from the underside of the bridge. This stops boats travelling any further upstream.

Without the embankments built up on either side the river would flood the land during spring tides or after heavy rain or snow. Maintaining these embankments is expensive but without them a lot of land would be lost.

All of the rivers in Suffolk flow in valleys that were made after the ice age and which have since the ice melted, become filled with glacial sands and gravels. These gravels have been quarried for aggregates, used in the making concrete and in the building trades. The holes left behind are called gravel pits. The ones in the right of the picture have been landscaped and are now used for fishing. Though this pit was being worked up until recently others in Suffolk have been worked out and are now disused.