Oldbury Canal

As a leg-stretcher after driving to Oldbury (Birmingham area), I took a walk along the Oldbury Canal to where it runs under the M5 and where a lot of reconstruction work is being done.

 

CCC London Trip: Morning at King's Cross

Fourteen members of Cambridge Camera Club visited London with the main objective, night-time photography along the Thames staying overnight in Southwark. The morning was free choice but most people visited the Granary Square and Canal area behind King's Cross. Here the light installation in the Square behind the coal Drops Yard with two comparison images of the area back to 5 years ago when they were converting the Gasometers to residential apartments and none of the other buildings were there. Colour coordination was everywhere but this couple with their dog in knitted coat were the best example. The Gasometer Park with its mirrors is always a draw for the camera and otherwise I played around with LiveComposite mode on the Olympus (takes continuous timed exposures in light blend mode) and multiple exposure with the Fuji using Dark mode - I find this technique very compulsive as you can build up Escher-like images where slopes etc lead you through fantasy worlds.

December 2017 - looking towards the buildings on the left in above photo

May 2022 - water feature on the right has gone.

Regent's Canal

The Regent's Canal Company was formed in 1812 to cut a new canal from the Grand Junction Canal's Paddington Arm to Limehouse, where a dock was planned at the junction with the Thames. Completed in 1820, it was built too close to the start of the railway age to be financially successful and narrowly escaped being turned into a railway. The canal survived and carried huge quantities of timber, coal, building materials and foodstuffs into and out of London into the 1960s. It was closed to shipping in 1969 and its future looked bleak. but in 1979 the British Waterways Board allowed underground electricity cables to be laid in a trough below the towpath between St John’s Wood and City Road. Pumped canal water is used to cool these high voltage cables, which now form part of the National Grid.

Outing to Kings Cross 3. The Environs including Nature Reserve

Our route on Saturday took us through Coal Drops Yard - now a fashionable place to shop (and hold Hen Parties), past the Gasometer apartments and Garden and then back along the Canal to the London Wildlife Trust Reserve where we were captivated by the hundreds of Ermine Moth caterpillars that had stripped the spindle trees and were descending on silk threads.

Trip to London: Regent's Canal and Limehouse Basin

Yesterday we took the coach from Cambridge to Mile End (an impressive service taking just over the hour) and explored various areas. Regent’s Canal was named after the Prince Regent, later to be King George IV, and first opened in 1820. We walked part of the Canal down to Limehouse Basin in cool showery conditions. There are some surprisingly wild areas with abundant bird life.

Limehouse Basin links Regent's Canal to the Thames and was, at one point, the principal entrance from the Thames to the entire national canal network. The redevelopment of the Basin started in 1983. The Docklands Light Railway is carried on a viaduct originally built for the London and Blackwall Railway above the original wharves along the north side of the basin.