At the weekend i headed up to Attenborough in Nottinghamshire. There, i revisited the nature reserve (which are former gravel pits) and then walked along the Trent until i reached the Beeston Cut (or canal). This was a nice walk with some good scenery, and plenty of boats too!
You can see my photos of the Attenborough nature reserve here, and my photos of the Beeston Cut here.
Another of my blogs has now reached the end of it's life (though will remain viewable in it's afterlife of course). This is the big one, my canal blog which has been going for over sixteen years! The blog was updated daily (week days that is) with a photo from my journeys around the canal network. However, i now have a British waterways website so its time to retire the old blog.
Project Deblogification continues, just one blog remains to end... this one. However, there is a new blog which will replace it. More details soon.
I'm not at work this week, on Monday i had my car serviced. As the garage to near to where i used to work in Perry Barr i decided to go home via the Tame Valley Canal. I used to walk along this canal most lunchtimes when i worked nearby. It's what gave me my interest in canals and this is why i created my waterways blog... and probably why the others followed.
A nice walk before it got too hot, you can see my photos here.
Wootton Wawen in Warwickshire is one of my favourite places and i returned there at the weekend. The church in the village, St Peter is Saxon and the oldest church in the county. It has never been open when i have been visiting the village... until now! It was great to finally see inside it. I also had a walk along the Stratford Canal until the heat wore me out! You can see my Wootton Wawen photos here and the canal ones here.
At the weekend i felt like a change from the heavy railway diet i had had recently, so i headed to Leicester to explore the waterways there. The Soar Navigation, part of the Grand Union Canal, stretches around quite a bit of the city centre and is a terrific walk with some amazing bridges. You can see my waterways photos here, other Leicester photos can be seen here.
I headed up to Liverpool this weekend for the first time this year. I didn't have the time to scratch off any new stations so instead did a walk along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal up to it's terminus at Stanley Dock. Then i walked back into the centre past the old dock lands. You can see my photos of Liverpool here, and the canal can be found here.
Originally, i planned to go to Derbyshire last weekend but a train cancellation forced me to change my plans. Instead, i went up to Runcorn in Cheshire on the Mersey. Runcorn and Widnes are linked by the rather fine Silver Jubilee Bridge. When i was a kid, and i went up to Liverpool to see family, my Dad often drove across the bridge. This time i walked across!
You can see my photos from both sides of the bridge here, Runcorn and Widnes. There are also some photos taken along the Manchester Ship Canal.
Today i headed up to Derbyshire and revisited Whatstandwell. I have been before but usually i go for the Tramway museum which is a very (very!) steep walk from the village. This time though i wanted to do a walk along the Cromford canal. The weather was not very good but the storm hitting Britain was not that bad up in the dales. You can see my canal photos here and my other Whatstandwell photos here.
At the weekend i went to Acton Bridge in Cheshire, to see Acton Bridge! This is a rather fine swing bridge over the river Weaver. The village is also called Acton Bridge, as is the railway station. So, i visited all three Acton Bridges! You can see my photos of the bridge and Weaver here, and other Acton Bridge photos here.
My waterways photo blog is my oldest blog, the first posts being way back in 2009! Today we reached a milestone with the 3000th blog post! Actually earlier in the year i was thinking of ending the blog on post 3000 but later i changed my mind, it is going to continue. We begin the road to 4000 tomorrow...
The final piece in my new website jigsaw (at least for now) has been fitted, so to speak. The British Waterways section of the site is a companion to my waterways blog and will go more into depth* on the subject of Britain's canals with maps and historical information as well as photos. Go check it out and do some gongoozling!
* No pun intended!
Yesterday, i returned to the east Midlands but this time went to Market Harborough in Leicestershire. I have been to the town once before but didn't visit the Grand Union Canal that time. My main aim on this trip was to rectify that omission and you can see my canal photos here. Other photographs of this pretty town can be seen here.
I went to Rugby yesterday, one of the few Warwickshire stations i have yet to re-visit in my ongoing effort to update my available imagery for my forthcoming book on Warwickshire railway stations. The weather was not that great though, being rather murky and humid and with some light rain. Though i never seem to go to Rugby when it is good weather!
I also did a walk along the Oxford Canal in Rugby, covering some new ground (or towpath to be exact) that i have not been along before, including two neat aqueducts. You can see my canal photos here.
Yesterday i went to Earlswood on the edge of Warwickshire to update my photos at The Lakes railway station and also see Earlswood Lakes again, the reservoirs of the Stratford Canal. In the end i went a bit further than planned and also had a canal walk along the Stratford Canal up to Dickens Heath in Solihull. You can see my Earlswood photos here and my canal photos here.
It's been some time since i visited Ambergate in Derbyshire, one of my favourite places, so at the weekend i did just so! I had a walk along the Cromford Canal and also around near the station. Nothing new though enjoyable all the same. You can see my Ambergate photos here and the Cromford Canal photos here.
