Wrapping Up Our Canal Adventure


Hard to believe we are already completing our two-week canal cruise. Common sights on any cruising day covered a wide range. Daily we saw various water birds, including the grey herons, which are pretty close to our blue herons.


Coots. Their babies are very noisy and demanding. 


So many swans. I don't like it when they hiss. They are huge! 

We encountered cows.

We saw these beautiful sheep. Also tons of less interesting sheep. 


So many cool bridges. The angles on the bricks on this one!



This is the only swing bridge we encountered. Boaters have to get out and push it to move the boat through. It's so well balanced that it is light as a feather. 

Cute. 

We also enjoyed the various houses and barns.


Everyone has a shed or other out building. 

Typically while cruising, at least one person would sit up front to keep an eye out for oncoming boats (or swans). Often someone would stand and keep the skipper company. In this case, Diana is the skipper.

The locks gave us an opportunity to work our muscles and appreciate 18th century engineering. 

And at night, we always had a safe and quiet place to moor. 

By the time we finished, we covered 114 miles and went through 125 locks. You can see our path in colors in the image above.  Kevin tracked our daily route. 

We are so grateful Kevin and Diana joined us for this trip! (Here they are in Birmingham collecting blackberries.) It was an honor to share this once in a lifetime experience with them. We look forward to the next one, whatever it may be. 


Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 26, 2024 at 2:11 AM

    Looking forward to "the next 'once in a lifetime experience'," literally, a wonderful oxymoron! One that I wholeheartedly agree with! Kevin

    ReplyDelete

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