Soldiers who helped reunite Workington after the floods were back to visit the town.

Members of the 3 Armoured Engineer Squadron were among the 200 soldiers who built the temporary Barker Crossing in just 10 days, following the natural disaster in 2009.

They were welcomed by Len Davies, mayor of Allerdale, Alan Smith, leader of the council, Ian Frost, chief executive and other members of the council.

Paul Bilbao, who was one of the soldiers who built the bridge, said: "Until today I didn't realise what an impact that bridge made to the town. 

"For a week it was 12 hours of work a day for us, we didn't have any perspective of what was going on around us.

"I was waking up every day at noon, coming up here to work on the bridge until midnight and then going to bed.

"Once we got the bridge to the other end, there was a guy who had served in the army waiting to chat to us.

"He said 'I'm glad you built this, now I can go to the other side and have a drink in the pub with my ex-army mates.' That made it worthwhile.

"The hospitality was great, we had women bringing us food and cakes to the tent where we were eating our meals."

The soldiers enjoyed a display of pictures and articles from when the bridge was being built and were presented with picture of them working on the Barker Crossing.

Coun Smith said: "You just don't know how much this bridge meant to people and it was done in record time."

Mr Frost said: "You are truly friends to this community and you will always be welcome here for the support you gave us.

"People were having to travel 20 miles when they only lived 20 ft away from the river."

The soldiers were visiting Cumbria as part of a six-day army-challenge, which saw them climbing Scafell Pike, Snowdon and Ben Nevis.