Barry's 'Random Top Ten Waterways Images' (part 2)

Here's the next random selection of images. They are all colour corrected and possibly retouched, and form part of our photo library (from where the prints, including cards and postcards, may be purchased if you're interested).  Click on Sanbar Photography Library

 Pontcysyllte Aqueduct on the Llangollen Canal

  Moored narrowboats on the Shropshire Union Canal near Brewood

Eckington Bridge over the Lower River Avon

Lock 21 and Bridge 36 on the Stratford Canal at Lapworth

   Tern in flight over the Chesterfield Canal

Clarence Docks in Leeds on the River Aire

Mill buildings at Saltaire on the Leeds & Liverpool Canal

Hay field and the 'Dog and Doublet' pub on the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal 

Old working boats at the Black Country Museum at Dudley

Warehouses beside the River Avon at Bath

An eventful Monday in Milton Keynes - sorting and grinding with a couple of surprises thrown in!

We're experiencing a delightfully balmy winter in Gisborne at the moment, and it's certainly assisting me in coping with the season I've been dreading having successfully avoided it for four years!  So much so that I believe many of our daytime temperatures recently, of around 20ºC, have been higher than those in the UK in their summer.  I hope it picks up again for everyone there soon.

Monday 18 October 

Today was clear and dry, and we were on schedule distance-wise, so we took the opportunity to remain in one place.  Barry busied himself grinding the foredeck ready to paint, while I began the tedious task of sorting all of our collected 'stuff' out - we'd amassed so much it's untrue!  The piles consisted of what to take back to NZ, items to take to my parents to store, anything we wouldn't use again to recycle at charity shops with remaining items being disposed of.

Very picturesque with the yellow leaves

Barry must've been using his power-tool rather vigorously, as at one point the shaft of his grinder snapped off and broke, having lasted us since 2009.  Not the best timing!  So off he set on the bike to find the nearest B & Q (or equivalent) which he'd been told was on the other side of town, to find a replacement. 

Barry reported back that Milton Keynes was an 'interesting' place.  He'd taken a wrong direction and ended up cycling along some very busy roads trying to get back on course, but did eventually find what he was searching for whilst having a good deal of unplanned exercise along the way.

'Midsummer Boulevard' is a wide dual carriageway/main street of Milton Keynes, with parking bays either side next to shops and offices, and a walk/cycleway through the centre

It's like a conglomeration of the modern parts of every city in one - no 'historic' buildings here!

Some strange sculptures at various sites along the street

At the canal end is Campbell Park looking out across the Bedfordshire countryside

The view from the top of the park - the canal is hidden somewhere behind the trees

The tree-lined towpath, with the canal camouflaged to the right

Late in the afternoon we set off to the nearest water point, about two miles away, to fill up.  With most of the packing and sorting completed, all that was left was removing it from the boat and getting it to its next destinations.  Barry got a lot of work done once he'd replaced the grinder, so we were on track for our last couple of weeks on board. 

At around 2200hrs we had a phone call from a number I didn't recognise, and were surprised to discover it was Sue, a woman I went to school with from the ages of five to eleven and who I've caught up with every now and again over the decades since then.  She and her husband Dave live not far from Milton Keynes, so they suggested we meet up somewhere tomorrow night for a drink - but of course, what an unexpected pleasure!

Barry's choice of 'Ten Random Waterways Photographs' (part 1)

I thought I might keep the interest going by posting now and again ten different photographs from our trip at completely random places. I may or may not put where they were taken. All of them will be colour corrected and possibly retouched, and form part of our photo library (from where the prints may be purchased if you're interested).

Click here to view photography library

  British Waterways working boats 'Leo' and 'Scorpio' on the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal near Wolverhampton

Stourport Basin on the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal near the junction with the River Severn

Barrel-roof lock cottage on the Stratford Canal

Colourful working boats 'Clover' and 'Fazeley' moored on the Upper Oxford Canal

 A flock of swans along the River Withan in the centre of Lincoln

Summer cruising past the mill at Low Bradley, on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal

Housing development at the junction of Birmingham Main Line to the left, and the Sherbourne Arm to the right

Tranquil moorings on meadows close to Stafford, on the Staffordshire & Worcester Canal

 Permanent moorers beside Radlett Power Station on the River Ouse

Old working boat 'Harold Turpin' permanently moored on display at Enfield Basin

I hope you enjoyed looking at them as much as I took pleasure in being there and taking them.  More to follow soon ...