It is still very windy here at the moment... and I had another day of running after my cap.
I went back to Anderton Boat Lift and had a walk along the canal towards Marbury Country Park.
The Trent and Mersey canal is just under 95 miles long and was completed in 1777.
The canal has more than 70 locks and five tunnels.
I had only walked a few hundred yards when I arrived at one of the local marinas.
Narrowboats for sale and to hire.. plus plenty of mooring berths for private use.
I went back to Anderton Boat Lift and had a walk along the canal towards Marbury Country Park.
The canal has more than 70 locks and five tunnels.
Narrowboats for sale and to hire.. plus plenty of mooring berths for private use.
The bright paintwork of the barges gave me the chance to add some colour to this post.
This noisy little pump was bouncing as it emptied the dry dock.
The canal can take narrowboats 7ft wide and up to 72ft in length.
Over wintering private craft at the Marina.
The names of some of the boats made me chuckle.
It's a popular pastime... most of these will have central heating and shower rooms.
Leaving the canal I entered Anderton Nature Park... reclaimed industrial land stretching from the boat lift right up to Marbury Country Park and the flashes Neumanns and Ashton.
The Northwich Woodland continues to grow and with the inclusion of land around Uplands Farm it now extends to some 323 hectares of public open space in total.
Relics from the areas industrial past.
There are a few fishing lakes in the reserve... permits are required.
Created from what was once largely derelict land the woodlands now provides a rich and green environment to the north of Northwich town centre.
Northwich Woodlands is made up of nine countryside sites each with a different character and history.
The Weaver Navigation and the Trent and Mersey canal flow through the heart of the reserve adding further variety to the landscape.
Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)
As I returned to my car I spotted this lovely male Bullfinch... Nature can be just as colourful as a narrowboat.
As I returned to my car I spotted this lovely male Bullfinch... Nature can be just as colourful as a narrowboat.
Great post Andrew!! Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
ReplyDeleteI heard that British Waterways had been disbanded. Be a pity if the canals became isolated to just popular sections.
ReplyDeletenarrow boats are photogenic beasts, these look grand.
narrowboats. how cool are they?! nothing i've seen here in the States!
ReplyDeleteCanals are so appealing. We took a canal boat when in the Brecon Beacons in Wales--I have to say, for me, the best part was choosing to walk back alongside the canal, where you could look at the canal boats and all else.
ReplyDeletegrade reportagem, muito interessante
ReplyDeleteabraço do Brazil
Milton
well the bull-finch is the sweetest of them all, but I've often thought how tranquil the ride, drifting along one of those canals. 72' is quite some barge-boat; it'd be interesting to see how they're fitted out. I should do a google... I'm imagining you racing around after your cap :) Quite the hassle with camera in hand and the other things we seem to have to hang off us when venturing out.
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to ride on a Canal boat
ReplyDeleteLike TWG said, nothing like those here in the states I know of. Marinas here like in San Francisco Bay for example have house boats people live on full time. Some of those narrowboats look like people live in them. Is that so?
ReplyDeleteSo it's where the boats live:)
ReplyDeleteI love them!
That would really be neet to live on one of those long Canal Boats. Love your photos today.
ReplyDeleteGreat post! Bully for you all for reclaiming the land in such a wonderful way.
ReplyDeleteThere are some canal type boats that ply the St. Lawrence Seaway in North America. A friend of my vacationed that way 2 summers ago.
Those are cool looking boats! I've never seen any quite like those. I love the signs and colors they have.
ReplyDeleteHi Andrew...I still can't get over the interesting culture of where you live...I have learned and seen so much from your blog of your part of the UK then I would ever get to...this post was fascinating ..makes me want to get a loan and buy a ticket...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing ..That is one beauty of a Bullfinch!!
Gracexx
Hi Andrew...I still can't get over the interesting culture of where you live...I have learned and seen so much from your blog of your part of the UK then I would ever get to...this post was fascinating ..makes me want to get a loan and buy a ticket...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing ..That is one beauty of a Bullfinch!!
Gracexx
Have you had a nice walk, though windy, you captured the beautiful photo.
ReplyDeleteHello Andrew.... I think that bullfinch is absolutely lovely. I don't believe I have ever seen those around where I live. Also really enjoyed seeing those ferries along the Mersey. Not to date myself, but bet that is what the beetles song was about.... way back when. To further date myself, I went to their concert about 1964?? in the Cow Palace in San Francisco, and all of the parents were having such a fit that the Beetles were so wild.... Good thing they did not see what was coming later.... Anyway, your photos of this area were really enjoyable. Also, thank you for stopping by my blog. Cheers to you! Jeanne
ReplyDeleteIn a way it's weird to see all these colourful boats. They look like gypsy boats. never expected to see something like that there.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful in their own way (minus the noisy pumps,....)
Lovely to have a park like that when it once was an industrial area.
I love it when nature claims her territory back!
Wonderful, colourful shot of the Bullfinch too!
:D
Beautiful photos and the narrowboats are amazing. I love the restaurants on boats!
ReplyDeleteHi there - I have just returned from the wild, woolly and less that wonderful world of wireless only internet - so now I'm catching up.
ReplyDeleteGreat set of shots – I often wonder if the canals will ever have a second lease of life when the price of oil really goes up. Nice image of the Bullfinch – splendid bird.
Cheers - Stewart M - Australia
these are very interesting to me, i have read about boat canals like this but never seen one. i like the long narrow boats, especially the back of the colorful one. i like the marina, looks nothing like the ones we have here but makes a lot of sense the way they have it laid out. beautiful photos
ReplyDeleteLovely pictures Andrew.
ReplyDeleteNot long after I became a widower, a couple of my daughters tried to persuade me to sell my house and buy a narrowboat instead. I didn't, but I still think it must be great living life on the waterways.As a family, we had a holiday in Norfolk on a houseboat quite a few years ago. What a great summer that was.
Beautiful photos and barges are brightly colored to make a note of color
ReplyDeletehttp://ventanadefoto.blogspot.com/
Andrew
ReplyDeleteYou sell our wonderful county of Cheshire in such a memorable and colourful way with your posts on this blog. I am sure the readers are all dying to come over and visit.
Brilliant stuff mate
Those boats are so cool! Lovely view and bird at the bottom.
ReplyDeleteThose barges are really cheery and colorful! Do people actually live on them, or are they more like holiday homes or "seagoing camper vans"? Great post!
ReplyDeleteIf I were rich and had all the time in the world, one of the first things I'd do would be take a narrow boat canal cruise through your beautiful countryside. I like the "Breakfast All Day" .
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, and the bird is beautiful!