5/7/2019 Canal naming seems to fall mainly into one of 2 categories. An exception is when 'navigation' is in the title, or a person's name is the canal name - the Bridgewater is an example of the latter, named after the supposedly misogynist and certainly unmarried Duke of. Place name canals • The Leeds to Liverpool Canal leaves you in no doubt of its beginning and end. The northern most crossing of the Pennines • the Worcester and Birmingham Canal, which leaves me wondering why it is not 'to' Birmingham? • Gloucester and Sharpness is another with a stated city for its start and finish. • other place name canals simply take one major place name, ignoring a less known finishing place. Examples include the Oxford, Stratford-on-Avon, Llangollen, Huddersfield, Rochdale - the latter two also Pennine crossings. • and not to fo...
21/7/2019 At Warwick we were joined by 2 energetic capable friends, kindly devoting a long weekend to boating, and locking! Excellent company, and we hope to welcome them aboard again. Sara has given us a painting of Santiago, herself the excellent artist. The Hatton flight of locks climbs 146.5' from Warwick, westerly towards Birmingham. It is an energetic 2 to 3 hours of windlass wielding, pushing gates, walking. At the top lock is a very popular cafe, boaters, cyclists, walkers stoking up for their next exertions. The Stratford Canal joins the Grand Union at Kingswood, but we are heading for the metropolis of Birmingham. A further 5 locks at Knowle, rising another 42'. green lovely country, farms, hamlets. Footpaths snaking across fields, styles. Ovaltine was manufactured nearby, and from 1925 coal was delivered to the factory in canal boats emblazoned with 'Drink delicious Ovaltine for Health'. At times the trees form tunnels over the canal, home to...
Here we are, back from Switzerland, reunited with Santiago. Sad to leave our Swiss friends, such a bittersweet time with one of them very ill. Nearly 2 weeks there, mountains, lakes, a mad fun folk club evening, trains through and round mountains, one to Italy for a day. And time to reminisce 50 years of friendship. Santiago rocks gently on her mooring, resplendent in her repaint, needing a good clean inside. And so for decision time - which agent to select to sell her for us, what route to take for a last trip. What to throw out, donate, keep. Amazing how much can be stuffed into a small boat. Today a 40min bus trip along the flanks of the Pennines, Pott Shrigley, Bollington to Macclesfield, where my mother was born, worked, married, and from where she left with our little family to Oz. An old mill town, bordering the canal, so familiar to us. Back with our shopping 🛍 along the same winding bus route. Another passenger pointe...
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