A canal walk

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Horus
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A canal walk

Post by Horus »

Yesterday I took a pleasant walk along a stretch of my favourite canal, these places are often overlooked as a good place to walk due to their past industrial heritage. However I find them to be full of interesting things and usually take my camera (and dog) with me, it is still that great time of the year in England when trees are in full leaf and lots of wildflowers are in bloom. At the moment you can see every shade of green in the leaves, grasses and plant life, that of course will change as the year wears on, but for now everything looks and feels so fresh.
This picture shows the canal with a set of double locks in the distance.

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Double locks
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These double locks are a common feature along this canal and were intended to facilitate the huge amount of traffic during the industrial revolution and were built by people such as James Brindley the famous canal engineer.
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They were used to raise or lower the barges up or down as the canal climbed over the higher terrain and they can often be found as a series of locks very close together. The barge would be hauled into the empty lock as seen below, then flooded to raise the water level and with it the barge and cargo.
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A modern day powered barge leaving the lock having been raised to the new level. Modern barges are used soley for recreation, whereas in the past a family with children would have to share the barge with the cargo and usually it was their only home.
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During the industrial era the barges would be pulled by horses along a tow-path that ran on one side or the other of the canal. It was a tedious job to keep un-harnessing the horse at each lock, or if the tow-path changed sides along the canal, so they used some clever designs.
Some cross over bridges are of a reversed letter ‘C’ shape if viewed from above, this allowed a horse with tow rope still attached to walk up a slope on one side of the bridge, cross over the bridge, walk back down the slope on the opposite side and then continue walking under the bridge along the opposite side canal tow-path, without ever unhitching the rope, all very clever.
Most locks however allowed the horse to continue walking up a cobbled slope at the side so that it could continue pulling the heavy barge fully into the lock.
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This often meant that the towing ropes would cut deep grooves into the corners of brickwork and cause damage. To prevent this happening, they would fixed bars of iron onto the brickwork to take the wear. In this picture you can see the cut marks caused by countless thousands of tow ropes wearing the iron away in over a hundred years of use.
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Of course the water has to go somewhere when a lock is emptied and in a series of locks it will be used again lower down the flight, This picture shows the water being released from a lock being emptied.
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To be continued if you wish :D


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Post by Teddyboy »

5 or 6 years ago, when the trains weren't running, I spent an afternoon at Nuneaton railway station in the company of a quite elderly lady coach driver who happened to be playing at replacing the train service.
The time passed too quickly as she recalled her early years growing up on a working barge on the canals. It was fascinating!
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Post by Grandad »

Nice series of pictures H, but you didn't say what canal that is?

Your comment H
these places are often overlooked as a good place to walk due to their past industrial heritage
For me it is that rich heritage that makes canals, old railways, beam engines and the like irresistible.....

I hope to take a picture or two tomorrow of something in that vein....if it works out I will share it in this thread.
Grandad :gg:
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Post by Christine »

I for one would love to see some more photo's H.
It was only a couple of years ago when Alan got so very sick that we sold our boat, but prior to that we spent many a happy spring summer and autumn up and down our British Waterways, some with Locks some not, hurrying to catch the alst of the river/canal before the lock-keeper retired for the day, because then you were on your own, and opertaing some of those locks was heavy hard work :Phew: :) .
You get out of life what you are prepared to put in x
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Post by WIZARD »

Lovely. :)
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Horus - please please please more more more 'of everything!' - photos, the history - all truly fabulous!
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Post by Goddess »

Lovely pics Horus. Makes me miss my canal walks. The Mahmoudiya Canal in Alex isn't quite the same. :cry:
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Post by Horus »

Thank you all for your comments, :)
I purposely did not make this thread a photography topic as we have plenty of those elsewhere.
My intention was just to describe a walk along a canal and where possible to add a bit of history, the odd observation about wildlife, wildflowers etc. and where practical to illustrate it with some photographs. The pictures are not taken for artistic merit, but just for explanation and for looking at, :) Hopefully I will continue my walk and observations soon. :D
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Post by LovelyLadyLux »

Please do H!!! Totally enthralled and fascinated! The thread could be for all of us to incorporate a bit of our local history to share into a similar vein. Am eagerly awaiting chapter 2 please!!!
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Post by A-Four »

I was going to buy my brother a cannal boat,so he could travel around Britain,as he's a bit of a gippo, then I found out how much it is to moor (park it) in Limehouse near to where I live. Its £120 per week plus leci etc.

A mate of mine has one in Little Venice, to avoid payment when he see the rent man, dose a runner, then when he's gone returns. This little ritual is performed twice weekly. I would'nt mind, but he must have £1m in the bank.
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Post by Horus »

£120 P/W aint bad for 60 foot of canal, it took thousands of Irish navvies ages to dig em you know :lol:
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Post by A-Four »

Yer but I'm from up-North, we like to hold on to our brass.
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Post by Horus »

"Where there's muck, there's brass" and "If th'a does ow't fer now't, then do it fer the sen" :lol:
I know how tight you lot are ;)
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Post by A-Four »

Eye, and al tel yer something else farr nowtl lass, chip butties are nt as cheap as they use t' bee.
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Post by Horus »

Ah, theyt rayt theer lad ;)
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