Friday 3 April 2009

A stroll in the sun........

Don't tell everyone but it was a wonderful Spring afternoon here in my part of the sceptered isles. Gone, although I'm sure temporarily, are the clouds and mist. I walked along the bank of the river Weaver toward the town of Northwich. We have a splendid new tow path, courtesy of EU funds, which was sorely needed, as this stretch of the river gets quite busy during the Spring and Summer months.

This view shows what is left of the old Yarwoods shipbuilders which is slowly converting to the needs of weekend leisure sailors and their boats. I have a blog to write about T E Shaw (Lawrence of Arabia) and the time he spent at this yard in 1934, and how my late grandfather added a small piece to family history....

Further upstream, looking toward the Blue Bridge. I'm just so happy we have this new path.

The Hartford Bridge, known locally with a simple logic, as the Blue Bridge, which carries traffic between Manchester and Chester. The bridge was built in 1939 and the story goes that it was built as a propoganda response to the autobahns being built in Germany at the time, the road either side of the bridge being four lane.

A local narrow boat the Lunar Sea, blowing the cobwebs off prior to the Easter break and a journey into north Wales along the Llangollen canal. These boats are immaculately fitted out and maintained - I feel another blog coming on !

Fred (above) and Ginger our local swans who breed successfully each year. For some reason Ginger seemed a little unhappy with Fred, honking and flapping her wings furiously. I left them to their tiff and wandered off contentedly.

Have a pleasant Friday nice people......

6 comments:

  1. Lovely little bit of England. Thank you.

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  2. Wow.. now your canal looks wide. The one by me (Stratford) is also beautiful.. but not so broad. I love cycling and walking along its tow path. I too have been enjoying this spring weather....

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  3. What a wonderful tour. Between yours and Treesparrow's blog about spring I was ready to rob a bank and hop over to England. Windy here and snow scheduled for tomorrow.

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  4. I want to hear more about Shaw and your grandfather!

    Lovely pics.

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  5. Hi Michael,

    Your tow path does look good. The EU is good for some things! Seems like the good weather has gone again today. Windy and cold!!

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  6. Hello, Michael! Fred & Ginger, please tell us more about those two. I especially love the walk along the river. These are marvelous scenes of your corner of England! Thank you!

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