Tonic required. Send in your photos of what is nice on the waterways now.

[Dav and Pen]

Actually found a photo of this day 2016 Grugey Canal burgundy 

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, David Mack said:

Don't recognise any of the boats, but I do recognise the location. 1988?

ten years out

[Athy]

23 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

Actually found a photo of this day 2016 Grugey Canal burgundy 

I don't know that one, and the internet seems unaware of it too. Where is it?

[Dav and Pen]

Mike . Sorry not very good heading. The little village is called Grugey on the Burgundy canal near the summit of the canal on the Saone side.

[PeterScott]

On this day 1999

above Bagnall Lock on the offside - T&M

A "living sculpture" above the lock

[ditchcrawler]

2 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

On this day 1999

above Bagnall Lock on the offside - T&M

A "living sculpture" above the lock

I have never seen it looking that good, must be a matter of timing 

[David Mack]

3 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

ten years out

On the way to Salford Quays then. 

[PeterScott]

 

2 hours ago, PeterScott said:

 

On this day 1999

above Bagnall Lock on the offside - T&M

A "living sculpture" above the lock

1 hour ago, ditchcrawler said:

I have never seen it looking that good, must be a matter of timing 

2018 at this time of year - 5th May - I guess that as an art installation it's expected to evolve over the 20 years since it was created. It lost the archway fairly early on, and is now an undualting hedge. Have to ask the artist if that's what they wanted to achieve - or maybe someone was supposed to prune it every year ...

[ditchcrawler]

58 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

 

2018 at this time of year - 5th May - I guess that as an art installation it's expected to evolve over the 20 years since it was created. It lost the archway fairly early on, and is now an undualting hedge. Have to ask the artist if that's what they wanted to achieve - or maybe someone was supposed to prune it every year ...

Isn't it like a lot of things, money and enthusiasm to create something and nothing to maintain it

[WotEver]

52 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Isn't it like a lot of things, money and enthusiasm to create something and nothing to maintain it

Half a day with a hedge trimmer and it'd be looking beautiful.

[ditchcrawler]

19 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Half a day with a hedge trimmer and it'd be looking beautiful.

Another case is the old Iron Lock on the T&M I think its called Therwood (apologies if I have the wrong one ) a couple of years ago it was landscaped and made into a garden area, now its overgrown.

[PeterScott]

9 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

[Thurlwood] ... a couple of years ago it was landscaped and made into a garden area, now its overgrown.

Yes, there are a few 'old-days' pics from earlier #615 #713 and before the garden #612 This one was last year on 3June2019

The plaque on the bench says the garden was opened on 2June2016. The larger picture below is just from another angle in an attempt at being at the same place as pictures inside the operational lock. The (small and technically poor) picture gives an impressions of the colours of the new garden on a damp day on 30Oct2016

 

[John Liley]

Booming back on board the Luciole. It's not as easy as it looks - the list of incidents with these things is endless. People swing out too much if they are going ashore and come half-way back. Or they don't go far enough. They get the height wrong and bash their knees. Or they just fall off. Famously, on a barge entering a lock, the boom swung out on its own and speared the electric control box. They don't seem to be used so much nowadays.

[Dav and Pen]

On this day last year, not barging as sold it but on the Royal Clipper off the Amalfi coast Italy.

[PeterScott]

13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

money and enthusiasm to create something ...

Yes, lots of examples of that across the waterways, of which I particularly enjoy Newbold Tunnel:

This is from 2005 and consisted of blue white (red??) and green floodlighs in groups on the disused offside towingpath through the tunnel. iirc it was quoted as about £90k worth of works (for the tunnel lights as part of bigger project) which lasted until all the bulbs run out, and it's now dark again with a lot of scrap metal floodlight holders on the offside ex-towingpath. Overall, not an improvement in the waterways scene. The sign outside says:

13 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

... and nothing to maintain it

TUNNEL OF LIGHT -  This innovative light display was switched on by the Mayor of Rugby on Thursday 27 October 2005. Ten groups of red, blue and green floodlights have been installed throughout the tunnel, creating a 'rainbow effect' to light the way for boaters and walkers alike. The lights give an etherial glow, beaming arches of coloured light across the tunnel roof that merge to form white light on the towpath side of the tunnel. The lighting also creates a spectacular optical illusion - when reflected in the still canal water below, it appears to form complete circles of light. A permanent fixture, the lights are switched on from morning until sunset. PARTNERSHIP -  The lights are part of a £200,000 project by British Waterways and Rugby Borough Council to improve this popular section of the Oxford Canal. The project proves the worth of working in partnership with like minded organisations. By pooling resources, the Council and British Waterways have been able to achieve so much more than either could have hoped for individually. BATS - Bats use the canal as a feeding corridor, catching insects that are attracted to the water. So that the lighting does not stop the bats coming out from roosting or interfere with their hunting patterns, the tunnel lights are switched off at sunset.

Edited May 14, 2020 by PeterScott

[Athy]

6 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

Yes, lots of examples of that across the waterways, of which I particularly enjoy Newbold Tunnel:

This is from 2005 and consisted of blue white (red??) and green floodlighs in groups on the disused offside towingpath through the tunnel. iirc it was quoted as about £90k worth of works which lasted until all the bulbs run out, and it's now dark again with a lot of scrap metal floodlight holders on the offside ex-towingpath. Overall, not an improvement in the waterways scene. The sign outside says:

TUNNEL OF LIGHT -  This innovative light display was switched on by the Mayor of Rugby on Thursday 27 October 2005. Ten groups of red, blue and green floodlights have been installed throughout the tunnel, creating a 'rainbow effect' to light the way for boaters and walkers alike. The lights give an etherial glow, beaming arches of coloured light across the tunnel roof that merge to form white light on the towpath side of the tunnel. The lighting also creates a spectacular optical illusion - when reflected in the still canal water below, it appears to form complete circles of light. A permanent fixture, the lights are switched on from morning until sunset. PARTNERSHIP -  The lights are part of a £200,000 project by British Waterways and Rugby Borough Council to improve this popular section of the Oxford Canal. The project proves the worth of working in partnership with like minded organisations. By pooling resources, the Council and British Waterways have been able to achieve so much more than either could have hoped for individually. BATS - Bats use the canal as a feeding corridor, catching insects that are attracted to the water. So that the lighting does not stop the bats coming out from roosting or interfere with their hunting patterns, the tunnel lights are switched off at sunset.

Went through it several times, but have been saddened in recent years by the gradual dying of the light. Why has this happened? Can it be so difficult to replace light bulbs from time to time?

[PeterScott]

On this day in 2018

Sunny day on the T&M. Good advice to wear a hat

[PeterScott]

On this day in 2017

Knowle flight GU

[PeterScott]

On this day in 2010

Whittington Brook Coventry Canal

[PeterScott]

On this day in 2006

Marsden end of Standedge Tunnel. Nigel about to leg through

[Athy]

I have probably said something similar already, but this really is the thread that keeps on giving. All credit and many thanks to Peter, Dav and Pen and the other members who have so tirelessly plundered their archives for our pleasure.

[Chris Lowe]

I need to find my archive to plunder it it's all buried in the loft, as well as cruising photos I have 100's of black & whites of the early days of Wey & Arun canal restoration when I was the trust photographer.

[PeterScott]

6 hours ago, Athy said:

Went through [Newbold Tunnel] several times, but have been saddened in recent years by the gradual dying of the light. Why has this happened? Can it be so difficult to replace light bulbs from time to time?

Yes, after installation in 2005, the lights had almost all disappeared by 2011, and here's Henry photographing the last of them.

By about 2013 it had been darkness again, although iirc from most recent trip in 2019 (I had to provide my own flash for this picture), the sign outside is still saying how brilliant it was for BW to partner Rugby Council with the installation. Maffi's blog described contacting Rugby who said it was BW's fault and BW blamed ... The spirit of co-operation was alive and kicking. Or maybe not.

1 hour ago, Athy said:

I have probably said something similar already, but this really is the thread that keeps on giving. All credit and many thanks to Peter, Dav and Pen and the other members who have so tirelessly plundered their archives for our pleasure.

Yes, the therapy of looking at the waterways through my pictures and the other excellent ones hereabouts is much better than contemplating the grass outside, why it needs even more mowing, and why it hasn't heard that it ought to be locked down ?

 

 

[PeterScott]

1 hour ago, buccaneer66 said:

I need to find my archive to plunder it it's all buried in the loft, as well as cruising photos I have 100's of black & whites of the early days of Wey & Arun canal restoration when I was the trust photographer.

There'll be a loft ladder somewhere that we can send around. I haven't many W&A pictures ...

Rowner Lock July 1979

[Bee]

8 hours ago, John Liley said:

Booming back on board the Luciole. It's not as easy as it looks - the list of incidents with these things is endless. People swing out too much if they are going ashore and come half-way back. Or they don't go far enough. They get the height wrong and bash their knees. Or they just fall off. Famously, on a barge entering a lock, the boom swung out on its own and speared the electric control box. They don't seem to be used so much nowadays.

That looks 'easy' in much the same way as pole vaulting or ice skating!  Hopefully we'll see Luciole in France next year, stuck fast in Belgium this year.