A Knight’s Tale (123: Nearing Leicester)

Here are further images of the journey through England’s midland waterways taken by me walking alongside Sam and James in Pacific Pete in July 2003.

This stone stork beside the Cherwell section of the Oxford Canal seemed amused by the attempts of their mother to draw her offspring away from him.

Small bridges, narrow locks  and a few narrowboats on this section required careful negotiation by the rower. Navigator James looked quite thoughtful in the third picture.

The River Soar for part of the Oxford Union Canal stretch. The towpaths here were better tended than some, which was fortunate for James when he took a turn at towing. Willowherb thrived in the brickwork of this bridge.

Dragonflies mated; waterlilies bloomed; and a stone wall provided a backdrop for wild flowers.

An art group concentrated hard on a lock as we approached Leicester.

Nearing the city of my birth, we passed a derelict graffiti-bedaubed factory,

Leaf on waterweed

outside which a leaf lay on a bed of water weed.

Soon Pacific Pete was gliding through the city.

50 comments

  1. Such wonderful images and beautiful countryside. I was amused by the stone stork with live mallards. The wildflowers by the wall photo is beautiful.
    The art group made me think of my mom.

  2. Whenever you get a group of artists, somebody always does that trick with a pencil, as if they’re trying to get a better signal.

  3. A carefully guided journey, and no easy task! That water weed you see looks like duckweed. It can cause a fish kill by eliminating the oxygen in the water.
    I saw on my news that the UK now has a new strain of Omicron Covid called X E. They said it is not as dangerous as the original Covid-19 and there was no cause for alarm. Just take care of yourself.

  4. With scenery like that the traveling-adventure was not boring! 🙂
    Lovely photos, Derrick! My faves are the stone stork with the live ducks, the bridge, and the wildflowers!
    HA! I, also, love the expressions on the artist’s faces! 🙂
    (((HUGS))) 🙂

  5. Those bridges are so pretty and kept the guys on their toes. Your eye for nature shots is consistent in any situation.

  6. The epic journeys continue, those of Pacific Pete and your parallel trekking through wilderness and obstructions of all sorts. Wonderful photographs.

  7. These photos and your creative writing are superb! I especially found poetic this part of the post:
    “Dragonflies mated; waterlilies bloomed; and a stone wall provided a backdrop for wild flowers.” You paint pictures with your words. Beautiful, {{{Derrick}}} ❤️👍🏽

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