Where am I, internationally?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Here’s an infamous canal to start a new thread,

It’s not my photo, straight of internet, but 20 years ago I did visit (unfortunately not by boat)

And I did buy a few vodkas by the roadside on my travels there and back,

 

 

 

[kevinl]

Just going past my house, it's the one on the right, knock on the kitchen window if you fancy a brew.

K

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

😃

make your own voddie too?

 

 

[matty40s]

Our most fascinating,  interesting, and scary holiday was to Russia, I doubt we will be returning again unless massive regime change happens. We would love to be plore more though.

Volga-Don canal, linking the West to the East, only completed shortly after the 2nd world war, another link was started, but the USSR collapsed and it was abandoned.

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

Yes, dug by German prisoners from the war and Russian criminals from the Gulags.
 
I had a great time travelling around Russia by train,

but I’ve no plans for going back,

 

But I hope to go visit Ukraine again. 

[Bacchus]

10 hours ago, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Yes, dug by German prisoners from the war and Russian criminals from the Gulags.

 

That kinda links to to this one; any takers?

 

[Alan de Enfield]

 

"The Canal of Death"

40 miles long & running from the Danube River to the port of Constanta and built by Political prisoners

 

 

[Bacchus]

4 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

 

"The Canal of Death"

40 miles long & running from the Danube River to the port of Constanta and built by Political prisoners

 

 

 

Fast!

 

I visited the area twice - once in 2015 when Romania was a member of the EU, and once in 1976 when it was fully Communist. Fascinating contrast. Beautiful country.

[Alan de Enfield]

Sister in Law emigrated to Bulgaria about 20 years ago, we drive thru Romania to get to her (near Varna)

[Pluto]

The idea of a  Volga-Don Canal dates back many years, as seem in the pdf below, translated from an 1841 German book on Russian Canals. The most successful attempt was by the Englishman Captain Perry circa 1700, and he went on to build the first Volga-Baltic canal at Vyshny Volochek.

 

I have an interesting German video looking at the lower Danube, where they interview a couple of men who were in the force labour building the Constanta Canal. A memorial has been erected to the many who died. In Russia, forced labour was used to build the Baltic-White Sea Canal and the (new) Moscow Canal in the 1920s and '30s. Many of those who built the former were sent via the first Gulag, which used a 16th century fortified monastery on the Solovki Island in the White Sea. The monks had already built a canal system on the island, part of which was used for navigation in the 19th century. A British-built steam launch - the hull still survives just - was used for towing rafts of logs.

1841 Stuckenberg Beschreibung, English.pdf

[magpie patrick]

6 hours ago, Bacchus said:

 

That kinda links to to this one; any takers?

 

 

Is there a line of bubbles where the top gate of the right hand lock should be?

 

[Alan de Enfield]

53 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

 

Is there a line of bubbles where the top gate of the right hand lock should be?

 

 

I think it has dropped down into its 'pocket'.

[Richard T]

Which navigable river does this swingbridge cross. The bridge has now been replaced as it became unsafe with a high level one. My other post might help you out

[matty40s]

2 hours ago, Richard T said:

Which navigable river does this swingbridge cross. The bridge has now been replaced as it became unsafe with a high level one. My other post might help you out

Looks like a better version of the one which used to sit in the fields below Junction Lock on the Soar/Wreake. 🙂

 

[Mike Hurley]

On 14/01/2024 at 23:20, beerbeerbeerbeerbeer said:

Yes, dug by German prisoners from the war and Russian criminals from the Gulags.
 
I had a great time travelling around Russia by train,

but I’ve no plans for going back,

 

But I hope to go visit Ukraine again. 

I believe the Feeder canal in Bristol was built by German POWs?

[beerbeerbeerbeerbeer]

15 minutes ago, Mike Hurley said:

I believe the Feeder canal in Bristol was built by German POWs?

We could probably have another thread again: ‘canals built by German POWs 😃

Britain kept them for at least 3 years after the war to help on the Suez

 

[Richard T]

On 17/01/2024 at 17:04, Richard T said:

Which navigable river does this swingbridge cross. The bridge has now been replaced as it became unsafe with a high level one. My other post might help you out

This is the entrance to the Mira river in Cape Breton island. It is navigable for small boats for about 40km.

[magpie patrick]

19 hours ago, Mike Hurley said:

I believe the Feeder canal in Bristol was built by German POWs?

 

As it was opened in 1809 that is unlikely

 

There is some suggestion that French prisoners of war helped build Caen Hill Locks, and there are a number of French place names in the wider area, including Caen, Dunkirk and Petty France (Petite France - little France). There is also some stonework locally cut in the french style, that is with an axe rather than a saw, although I don't know that any of the locks feature this. 

 

A waterway beyond the UK shores below

[Stroudwater1]

1 hour ago, magpie patrick said:

 

As it was opened in 1809 that is unlikely

 

There is some suggestion that French prisoners of war helped build Caen Hill Locks, and there are a number of French place names in the wider area, including Caen, Dunkirk and Petty France (Petite France - little France). There is also some stonework locally cut in the french style, that is with an axe rather than a saw, although I don't know that any of the locks feature this. 

 

 

 

 

Thats interesting and sent me into my Vereys Gloucestershire book. It seems that Petty France, Near Hawkesbury had an inn built in 1777, still there

. It then states the name was transferred from Petty France in Westminster. I dont have London books in that series so resorting to Wiki, it suggests that the name in London was mentioned in 1598, and is doubtful of Huguenot derivation being too early. It is stated to be named from French wool merchants who lived there. 

 

With Dunkirk Mills no mention of a date, but above is Dunkirk Manor, "a late 18th century House probably  by a Bath architect." 

 

No mention of the Dunkirk that is just by Petty France, Dunkirk Mills being off the A46 between Stroud and Nailsworth 

 

Overall that seems to suggest both were named in the late 1700s, perhaps a bit early for Caen hill locks but only by a bit. I dont know enough or anything much about French POWs except that generally we were at war with France for much of 200 years. It does seem very possible that the name is linked with POWs as its after the main persecution of the Hugenouts that completely stopped in the 1780s but was  less so in the late 1700s overall and much more common in the 1600s. 

 

 

[Dav and Pen]

2 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

 

As it was opened in 1809 that is unlikely

 

There is some suggestion that French prisoners of war helped build Caen Hill Locks, and there are a number of French place names in the wider area, including Caen, Dunkirk and Petty France (Petite France - little France). There is also some stonework locally cut in the french style, that is with an axe rather than a saw, although I don't know that any of the locks feature this. 

 

A waterway beyond the UK shores below

 Could be the Loire.

This is not in the uk and when we visited the waterway beyond the lock was not then navigable.

[magpie patrick]

5 minutes ago, Dav and Pen said:

 Could be the Loire.

 

 

 

It is the Loire, at Orleans, during the Festival de Loire in 2019. On the front of the moving boat are the Breton folk duo Agites du Bouzon. There were around 500 boats at the festival, on a river that is regarded as unnavigable by most modern standards

[Dav and Pen]

I could see the Breton flag but the sand bank gave it away.

 

[StephenA]

Here's an odd one

[matty40s]

18 hours ago, magpie patrick said:

 

It is the Loire, at Orleans, during the Festival de Loire in 2019. On the front of the moving boat are the Breton folk duo Agites du Bouzon. There were around 500 boats at the festival, on a river that is regarded as unnavigable by most modern standards

A bit further down at Saumur...

[Dav and Pen]

The only part of the upper part of the Loire that is navigable is at Decize where the Nivernais canal drops down into the river for about a mile. There is a big weir on a bend and there used to be a chain tug to pull the barges across this stretch. The tug has been preserved, we have done this stretch a few times but can’t find a photo.