Flowery Friday

I do like the riparian reeds and if a boat floats into view so much the better. Away from the coast on the Lancaster Canal, the weather was warm with hardly a breeze.

As you can see I was so mesmerised by the reeds I have managed to cut off the reflection of  the tree as we walked away from Carnforth towards Borwick.

Like the reeds the lesser celandines delights a riparian bank although there are a few dandelions in there as well, great survivors,  who will grow anywhere and in profusion but here

  the celandines outnumber them. And perhaps at the moment

also the daffodils, here in front of a canal mile post.  This side shows the mileage to Lancaster and on the other, unseen side, how far to Kendal.

A lone Blackthorn in flower always of interest if you are fond of making Sloe Gin, although I have my own favourite tree closer to home, which was weighed down with fruit last autumn.

The people that live and leisure by this canal would agree with the sentiments of Ratty the water vole in The Wind in the Willows -  "there is nothing, absolutely nothing half so much worth doing as

simply messing about in boats"

ABC Wednesday - Hest Bank

 

No question of where I am this week. The sign says it all.  And as a side issue you may notice there is a fish and chips quiz night on Friday the 19th.  Nothing beats the British love of deep fried cuisine.

 

After all that build up it might be a bit of a disappointment to see the bridge, which is practical rather than beautiful, a footpath over the canal, and as you know already, swings away to let the canal boats pass.

It is located by the village of Hest Bank (which has become sort of dormitory town for the nearby city of Lancaster)

 

and sits on the shore of Morecambe Bay.  The views were hazy on Monday but on a clear day you can see the hills of the Lake District so it is the opposite of the view I normally have, as I look across towards Hest Bank.

Three photographs and not a sign of the canal so here it comes

 

round the bend, with just the remains of a sliver of morning ice on the surface,

and to Hest Bank Bridge, stone and solid.  For any Arsenal fans that may be reading this, one of yours lives here, because the red boat far left is called, The Gooner.  There are also a fair number of seagulls in this image because the canal runs very near to the shore and at one time (pre 1826) goods were trans-shipped here between sailing boats in Morecambe Bay and canal barges.

You have seen the practical bridge and now here is a pretty one.  The Hest Bank Occupation bridge.  I don't know why it is called that, but the Hest Bank Hotel is near here, which was on a coaching route to Grange Over Sands on the opposite side of the bay. A light in the window facing the shore would guide coachmen across the sands.

 

But now I journeyed on and past the Hest Bank bridges and looked back to the white houses of the village standing on the horizon. This next section from Hest Bank to the Lune Aqueduct is pretty part of the canal, it runs through fields and agricultural land but no more H, apart from a

Heron which was perched firmly on the fence looking well away from the water, I wonder what it was looking for, perhaps there is a fish farm nearby, or perhaps like us, it was just enjoying the warm spring day.

 Hurry over to ABC Wednesday where there are lots more words beginning with H

Dozing Ducks, Bridges and An Aqueduct

Dozing while waiting for the ice to melt. I'd do the same if I had an inbuilt duvet.

Mallards on the the Lancaster Canal, just in shot on the barge is where they and I was, Carnforth. Setting off this morning for a stroll along the winding path, heading for Lancaster.

A blue, sunny and cloudless day. How still was the water, I may have overdone the number of bridge pictures taken today. Here is Barkers Bridge, its canal number, 126, if you were puttering down the canal by boat and wanted to check where you were.

Not a bridge but the Lune Aqueduct.  There is always something wonderful about aqueducts and this one is a beauty. Built from local stone, designed by John Rennie, it carries the canal 51 feet above the river and 664 feet from one side to the other. It is showing some wear in part but its been stood here since 1797

On the top the canal crosses the Lune, in the distance are the faint outline of the snow topped Yorkshire flat top hills but we are definitely in red rose Lancashire here.

ABC Wednesday - Un

Unexpected to see these lying by the side of a narrow fell road, and unexplainable, but no-one with a camera can resist taking a shot through an opening to frame the signpost and track on the other side. Passing by a few weeks later, untraceable.

Uncooperative, a pair of swans facing each other, but, as one came up into the air the other dipped under the water in amongst the interesting water weeds and intent on food. Giving off an air of unconcern with their surroundings but just an allusion. I stood for ten minutes trying to get a shot of both with their heads out of the water, never happened, unbelievable.

This view is of the Lancaster Canal and I am stood where it ends in the north, at Stainton Crossing. Unfortunately this is the result of motorways and roads built over its path, originally there was another 14 miles from Tewitfield to Kendal.

And here surrounded by undergrowth is the dried up canal bed. The traffic from the road can be heard thundering past nearby. This is Hincaster tunnel, 380 yards long, the only tunnel on the canal, built to take barges close to Sedgwick Gunpowder Works.

The canal was built by one of the great engineers of the period, John Rennie, and hundreds of nameless navvies, the unsung heroes. Undoubtedly it is a great piece of surveying and engineering because it is mostly a contour canal, that is it follows the lie of the land at certain contour levels. The original surveys were done by James Brindley in 1771 (he died in 1772) so Robert Whitworth continued in 1772 but the scheme was dropped; however Rennie was asked to re-survey in the 1790s, but he had greater ideas of transporting coal and limestone as well as agricultural products (which happened) but of also linking it into the the other canal systems. Unfortunately this was unaccomplished.

An Act of Parliament was obtained and construction began in 1792 but progress was slow due to financial problems and so twenty two years past before the canal reached its full length. Rennie designed and built 22 aqueducts to carry the Lancaster canal over the many rivers that mainly flow from east to west, some are magnificent structures. Rennie had a flair for bridges and would go on in later years to build three of the capital's famous bridges, Waterloo, London and Southwark.

There is a scheme for restoring the northern reaches of the canal but the cost may be prohibitive although a suggestion has been made to do it in three parts, starting with the re-watering of the canal head for a mile and a half. In the meantime it is still possible to walk or cycle, unrestricted, the full length, and appreciate both the engineering and the ecology of this lovely stretch of water.

Rennie's dream of linking the canal to the rest of the network was not an Utopian one it just took a couple of centuries, and came to pass in 2002, with the opening of the Millennium Ribble Link. Its level is controlled by a rising sector gate near the tidal Ribble estuary and five locks along a 2 mile length, with a three rise staircase lock connecting into the main line of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal. John Rennie's bones, which lie in St Paul's Cathedral along with the great and the good, no doubt said, about time too.

To see more participants of the ABC Wednesday meme go here

By River and Canal

The field have been harvested, the nights have turned cool and touches of colour are appearing in the trees.

River Kent, Levens Bridge

I went to see if the row of oaks at Levens were turning colour. The answer was, no, they were almost as green as summer with the leaf edges just starting to turn. Being English oaks they no doubt think it is still summer as the warmth is still in the air.
The sunny day tempted me on through woods, and along the Lancaster Canal near Hincaster where the water was so still that the reflections and trees almost merge.
You can walk a long way along this part of the canal so it is very popular with dog walkers. Both they and their dogs comes in all shapes and sizes.

On the way back the long haired goats were by the river bank. There were a couple of young kids of which this was one with its mother keeping her eye on it, or maybe not, they are not as skittish as sheep.
These are the Bagot goats, a rare breed brought into England around in the time of Richard the Lionheart, 12th century.
Reaching the end of my amble fell into conversation with someone I had seen on the other side of the river earlier in the day with a camera in hand. She was doing a photographic project on the River Kent from its source onwards. (Its a very short river, only about 20 miles long). The stillness of the day was a delight for her and was about to dash to Kendal to photograph the Kent as it cuts through that grey stoned town.

What and interesting project. This set me thinking which river I would choose. My favourite local river is the pretty Crake which runs from Coniston Water to the sea but is even shorter than the Kent. Perhaps this is something to do in those short winter days to come, brrr, what am I doing thinking of winter in October.