England on the Sharp's narrow boat Hawkeye, Day 11, May 25.
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Today, we cruise to Daresbury. This leg includes three tunnels - a first for Dot and I on the canals. The canal route in the Google Earth image above is shown by the small arrows. The three tunnels are labeled.
Immediately on getting underway, here are the Ducks.
The first leg of the day was where the Trent & Mersey Canal follows the periphery of Barnton. Most of the route was wooded and there were lots of wild flowers along the canal.
Here you can see the route and the first two of the three tunnels. The Barnton tunnel is 572 yards and the Saltersford tunnel is somewhat shorter at 424 yards. You can see the wooded nature of the route along the periphery of Barnton.
The few houses we passed close to the canal were typically English with flowers in the gardens, on the balconys and, in this case, wisteria growing on the walls.
The light at the end of the tunnel. We have entered the Barnton tunnel. The light on the ceiling is from the boat's light. Frank says he can tell where he is better with it here than on the water.
Left, closer to the end of the tunnel. Right, this is the view out of the tunnel into the pool beyond the end.
Some of the few photogenic views in the tunnels were the reflections on the water as we approached the exits. Here, the first image is from further back, the angle of incidence is smaller, thus the trees on the bank opposite the exit are reflecting on the water. In the second shot, we are closer to the entrance and the angle of incidence is greater, reflecting the sky above the trees.
More flowers on the banks of the canal along the route between the Barnton and Saltersford tunnels.
A king fisher patrols the canal.
And into the Saltersford Tunnel. A narrow boat waits in the pool at the exit and here's another reflection.
Now we are underway toward the Preston Brook Tunnel and Daresbury. Most of this leg in through the countryside and there are many wild flowers along the way. Here are some examples.
A herd of goats enjoy the grass along the canal.
More flowers.
Hawthorne Shrub and Hawthorne Blossoms.
We saw many of these evergreen shrubs with yellow blossoms. The right hand image shows a closer view of the flowers.
More flowers. Left, a yellow iris - there were many of these along the canals but they were very difficult to photograph because the long stems swung around in the slightest breeze. The little buttercup like yellow flowers and the blue ones were also common but the fox glove (right image) was less so.
Left, a viaduct. The farmhouse was the next one seen after a sign advertising Hope Farm.
Left, the blossoms on this shrub looked like cotton. Center, I thought these grass heads silhouetted against the sky were photogenic. Right, another rape field in bloom.
We reached the mooring across from the Cockcroft Institute, an International Center for Accelerator Science, just before noon. After tying up, we walked into Daresbury and had lunch at the Ring O'Dell. After lunch, we decided to stroll over to All Saints' Church, the Parish Church where Charles Ludwidge Dodson, better known as Louis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland fame, was born and lived.
Along the way, we saw these flowering shrubs that appear to be Rhododendrons like we see in the Appalachian Mountains in the spring.
The tower of All Saints' Church. The tower dates from the 16th century. The church body was burned in 1798 and rebuilt in 1803 but the tower was relatively undamaged.
On entering the church, we were welcomed by an absolutely charming young lady who was showing visitors around the church. The first thing she showed us was inside the tower where there were names scratched into some of the stones. Apparently these were the residual of workers who worked on the Tower earlier in its history.
One of the more interesting things about this church is its emphasis on its role as Dodson's home. This stained glass window was in the chapel to the right of the alter. The left most panel shows Dodson (Louis Carroll)and Alice. The small panels along the bottom show the classic characters from Alice in Wonderland.
A closer view of the left hand panel showing Dodson/Carroll and Alice along with the lower one showing two of the Alice in Wonderland characters.
Leaving the church, we walked back to Hawkeye but I stopped to photograph these small flowers along the way.
We had dinner, watched TV and enjoyed this beautiful sunset.
Goto Day: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17-19
England on the Sharp's narrow boat Hawkeye, Day 11, May 25.