Canals, David Oakes - Images, England, Everyday Humour, Everyday Life, PHOTOGRAPHY,, postaday

A Winters Canal side Walk….

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Wood End Bridge and Lock

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Fradley Wood Length

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The Swan at Fradley Junction

The Trent and Mersey Canal, Staffordshire

A bright sunny day, very much a change from recent days and not one  to be wasted, so it was off to Fradley Junction for a walk along the Trent and Mersey Canal.

Now Fradley Junction (named as the spot where the Coventry Canal joins the T&M) is normally a hive of activity. Boats and people everywhere, boats passing through or just passing time at the canal side Swan Inn. At its busiest as hectic as any motorway junction.

But I had overlooked the fact that this length of canal was closed for a ‘winter stoppage’ –  vital repairs to one of the locks at Fradley. So no traffic on the waterway….the only boats are those on permanent mooring or who had chosen to stay put for awhile.

So it was indeed strange yet enjoyable to have  the mornings walk all to ourselves.

Canals are evocative locations……today was just so quiet and ghostly, yet charming and beautiful….but even on a busy day in the 21st century it is hard to capture the importance of this once busy highway.  Originally horse drawn barges, later steam powered, then diesel  engines on a seemingly endless convoy moving goods across the country.  A major part of our industrial heritage yet still today an important way of life for many, a recreation place for boaters and for me and Buster just a great place to stretch the legs.

17th February

David Oakes

(C) 2017

20 thoughts on “A Winters Canal side Walk….”

    1. Glad it appealed to you….it is an interesting location but I suppose just one of a great many on our historic canal network. Would have been great to have had a few narrowboats going about their business.

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  5. Great photos and fascinating narrative. We have some canals and locks in America…mostly along the east coast. I learned quite a bit about Britain’s canals from historical novels. Man’ ingenuity and nature coupled to create commerce.

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    1. It all happen at once, canals, railways, steam power, diesel and petrol…then motors and lorries. No sooner than one innovation when along came the next. I know we often say that toady technology moves at a pace….but back then it was the building of the infrastructure we still use today. 🙂

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  6. The first and last photo make me get a feeling of Constable landscapes and quaint houses and mills etc. It breathes that atmosphere for me. Lovely day you had. Photos are very beautiful. Hope the pub wasn’t closed?

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      1. I understand. On the other hand, one customer inside a shop or a pub could draw in more.. It often works that way.

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