View allAll Photos Tagged towpath
From this barrier marking the end of the towpath in good condition lies only a mile and third of heavily damaged trail.
This old faithful is outfitted perfectly for the towpath. My pal Dave is the owner who was kind enough to let me ride it twice on the C and O.
The Bridgestone is setup with gat tires, Surly front fork flat handle bars and pedals, fenders and a well-worn leather Brooks saddle. Fender and rack are nice commuter touches. I threw on some lights just in case we wanted to ride after sunset.
The Mile 112 (distance of bike ride in Ironman) has a fine pedigree. Check out this original catalog: www.sheldonbrown.com/bridgestone/1986/pages/07-mile-112.html
The old Grand Canal towpath at the back of the AIB offices in Percy Place has a statue of a horse and bargeman, reflected in the canal and a permanent and impressive monument to the horse drawn canal traffic which used to pass along this line.
Nightshot from Herbert Place.
CRT have been busy around Wheelock this week.
The Hawthorn Hedge between the towpath and the Wheelock Rail Trail has been reduced by about fifteen feet.
Wheelock, Sandbach, Cheshire. 22/01/2021
Adox Silvermax 21 shot with Kodak Retina IIa, developed in R09 One Shot (Rodinal) 1:25, 8 minutes at 20ºC.
photo-analogue.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/adox-silvermax-1002...
This barrier marks the eastern end of the damaged section of the towpath. From here Dam Number 4, the towpath is wide and inexcelent condition except for a few trees down and the lack of a packed surface (due to disuse). The rock wall that has lined this damaged section drops away and in those places where the towpath has shown erosion there is plenty of space to realign the main trail.
No idea how old this is, it refers to the 1957 act but uses lower case and Thames Water and only the raised letters imply it was made in the 50s.
The heronry is on the Lune, a short flight away. They pop up to the canal occasionally. This one kept landing on the towpath, and had to fly off when bicyclists came charging down on him. he found this spot and was catching small fish when we caught up with him again.
Looking at that bill remindsme I once found a heron's skull with bill and 'scalp lock' attached. I had it for ages until one of the dogs noticed it and chewed it up.
The Kennet & Avon Canal was designed by John Rennie, and was constructed between 1794 and 1810; the Bath-Devizes section opened in 1804. In 1852 the canal was bought by its main competitor, the Great Western Railway, who raised tolls and slowly decreased maintenance. The GWR were refused permission to close the canal in 1926, but by the time of nationalisation large parts of it were no longer navigable. Restoration started following the 1963 separation of British Rail and British Waterways, and was formally announced complete in 1990.
Bridge 5
Old Red Lane Bridge.
This is thought to be one of the original 18th century, James Brindley era bridges.
The Coventry Canal dates from the early pioneering days of canal building in Britain and was promoted by a group of local business men with the chief aim in enabling the export of coal from their mines in north Warwickshire. In 1767 the Coventry Canal Company committee engaged James Brindley, the foremost canal engineer of the day, to survey a 38.5 mile route from Fradley to Coventry via Tamworth, Atherstone, Nuneaton and Bedworth. The construction of the canal required an Act of Parliament, which received Royal Assent on the 29th January 1768. The canal company appointed Brindley as engineer and surveyor and work began in Foleshill Parish, probably at Longford, in May 1768. The work proceeded in both directions and within six months coal was being transported from Bedworth to Longford. The canal reached the Coventry Basin on the 10th August 1769 where according to the Coventry Mercury newspaper;
"two boats laden with coal were brought to this city from this side of Bedworth. Being the first ones, they were received with loud cheers by a number of people who had assembled to witness their arrival".
James Brindley was also the engineer and surveyor of the Oxford Canal which was under construction at that time; Brindley anticipated that both canals would join together near Coventry to create a canal linking the Thames to the Mersey. The site of the junction was intended to be at Gosford Green to the east of Coventry City Centre, but the Oxford Canal Company decided that they wanted a junction at Bedworth instead. This would have saved the Coventry Canal Company the expense of building a branch to Gosford Green, but would also have deprived them of several miles of toll revenues. The dispute between the two companies dragged on and resulted in the Coventry Canal Company dismissing Brindley in September 1769 for his perceived clash of interests. A compromise was eventually agreed whereby the junction was built at Longford in 1777 with the canals running parallel alongside one another for a mile from Hawkesbury.
The Coventry Canal had reached Atherstone in 1772 but financial problems resulted in a lengthy break in construction and the final link to the Trent and Mersey Canal at Fradley was not completed until 1790. The completion of the link enabled goods traffic to travel from northern England to the south through Longford and meant that the four and a half miles from Longford to Coventry effectively become a branch serving the city.