Tuesday 21 May 2019

The Grand Western canal


Am trying to get Hubby and myself out walking a bit more. Both of us need the exercise and there's no excuse really as we live in a most beautiful part of the country. So yesterday we took a stroll over at our local canal, the Grand Western. It's only 11 miles long as that's all that's been restored, although it was never very long to start off with. It's now a designated country park and used by many people, everyone we passed said hello and one couple, complete strangers, stopped to chat for about 15 minutes about the birdlife and so on. A simple thing to enjoy a walk but it was just delightful.

A few photos.





Mum and Dad standing guard.



Wildflowers, the yellow ones are obviously buttercups but am not sure about the blue...





Cow parsley and pink campion.




I think if you click on the pics you'll get a better look.

~~~oOo~~~

12 comments:

DesLily said...

Wow! You know how to shock me with a new header photo!!!!!..

Cath said...

LOL Pat. I took that at Lacock Abbey a couple of weeks ago... quite pleased with it to be honest.

Kay said...

That is just lovely, Cath! I'd love to come walk along that path with you. Bet we could come up with a few topics to discuss. Ha! Thanks for sharing it! Enjoy your walking!

Sam said...

Absolutely stunning walk, Cath. I don't know how you could resist walking along that canal every single day. It's just beautiful.

It reminds me of the much simpler-landscaped canal I used to walk along back when I worked in Uxbridge. I could only manage a mile out and a mile back during my lunch hour, but it was exactly what I needed to relieve whatever stress I had built up over the morning. I remember one time having to trow heavy stones onto the iced over canal in order to free a duck who had managed to get his feet frozen below the surface...silly duck. I saw people fishing along the banks every so often, too, not something one would expect in a business center so close to London. Great memories.

Judith said...

Oh Cath!!!
How absolutely gorgeously luscious! (Am I too over the top with that?) Thank you so very much for the photos of this walk. I am entranced. So different from my part of the world. Lovely.

Nan said...

Did you walk 11 miles??!!

Cath said...

Kay: Wouldn't that be wonderful? I have a feeling too that we would not run short of topics of conversation.

Sam: We certainly plan to go a lot more often than we have been, it's so perfect for my husband to get back to walking again.

Loved hearing your memories of when you worked over here, I don't know Uxbridge at all but quite a few cities have these canals and in Birmingham they've now made a real feature of them. Lots in the countryside too and over the years we've walked the towpaths of quite a few.

Judith: Good luck with your presentation tonight.

No, luscious is fairly appropriate, the early Spring green everywhere is just that in my opinion. That said, your part of the world is wonderful too.

Nan: Noooo, Peter's not up to that and I suspect I wouldn't be either, especially as we'd then have to walk 11 miles back!

Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yvonne @ Fiction Books Reviews said...

Hi Cath,

Love your new look header!

I couldn't quite make out your mystery blue flowers, however I found this lovely website, so wondered if you could pick them out of this lineup?

https://www.countrylife.co.uk/gardens/a-simple-guide-to-the-wildflowers-of-britain-71271

Much of our walking is done around the towns and villages, in our weekend work as 'Treasure Trails' authors, either writing or repairing one of our vast catalogue of trails. I know that hubbie would much prefer to be rambling over fields and along river banks and canal sides, however the arthritis in my feet and toes prevents me from getting walking boots on, so this can only be a summer option if I go with him.


He will also stop and chat to any other willing walkers along our route, although I have to admit that I am a little more reserved and find it difficult to strike up a random conversation with complete strangers.


Some great pictures and good on you for making the most of this lovely spell of weather. We have family commitments on Friday and Sunday, but holiday Monday will definitely be a day off the roads and away from the Bank Holiday traffic :)

Yvonne xx

PS. Just reposted to try and get rid of the typos, but as it is almost midnight, please excuse any more you might spot!

Cath said...

Yvonne: Thank you... I took my new header picture at Lacock Abbey funnily enough. On the path walking towards the entrance. I just turned, saw the sheep amongst the trees and light shining off the leaves in the foreground and knew immediately there was a decent photo there.

Your activities as Treasure Trail authors sounds fascinating, I've not heard of this before, will have to look it up. I can sympathise with having arthritis in your feet, I have this too. On the worst foot I've also had a fungal infection on one of my toenails for almost a year, so you can just imagine the discomfort and sheer unpleasantness of it all.

It seems quite a lot of people like to strike up conversation with strangers. I'm one of them but it must also say something that people do make a beeline for me too, to tell me their life histories. My husband is more like you, happy to say 'hello' but not really the sort to start a conversation.

Enjoy your Bank holiday, we're pretty much free over the holiday but it's half-term so we'll be minding our grandson for three days and then going away again on Friday for a long weekend... to Surrey this time.

LOL... ah yes, typos. I can sympathise.

TracyK said...

That looks like a lovely walk. We like to take walks and take photos, but we have done less of that lately. I have been doing some back-breaking weeding in the small amount of "yard" we have in front and back of our condominium.

Cath said...

Tracy: Same here with the garden, lots to do but not always able to work for hours on end so have to do a bit every day. I love being out there though.