tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post8654042642984727456..comments2024-02-09T06:24:16.626+00:00Comments on upside down in cloud: canoeing down the ThamesDru Marlandhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-21407783781811582672010-09-09T08:41:04.464+01:002010-09-09T08:41:04.464+01:00I had to look up the Cheaspeake and Ohio Canal, La...I had to look up the Cheaspeake and Ohio Canal, Larry. It seemed somehow surprising to see what looked so like an English canal, in the US. Here are a couple of local(ish) canal features in these parts<br /><br />http://www.flickr.com/photos/belvedere/810619732/<br /><br />http://www.flickr.com/photos/belvedere/1305159056/<br /><br />Thank you for the plant ID! I shall add an edit to the post.Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-49884591577551568542010-09-05T23:26:44.901+01:002010-09-05T23:26:44.901+01:00Good of you to give Maud the experience, Dru. I wa...Good of you to give Maud the experience, Dru. I was probably her age or a little younger in the mid-50s when we lived near a lock on the C&O Canal adjacent to the Potomac which has some Great Falls about there. You could see why they built a canal. I waited till my son was a Boy Scout before river canoeing---with him as my teacher--on the Delaware, and much later the Des Moines. <br /><br />The unidentified flowers look like Lythrum salicaria, Purple Loosestrife (Purple Willow Herb, Blooming Sally, etc.). They were brought to America from England and are common along many streams. Check out your favorite herbal for more info.larry whitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05659637420532771765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-64023123173648341112010-08-18T08:59:57.965+01:002010-08-18T08:59:57.965+01:00You can sometimes get lucky with unwanted canoes o...You can sometimes get lucky with unwanted canoes on Freecycle... I see that there is someone making origami canoes too, though it may be more fun to make your own entirely if you have the time, which by the sound of it you probably don't :-)<br /><br />I look forward to the tale of the Yangtze! Even the biggest of English rivers are v small comapred with Forren ones, as I realised when I crossed the Loire for the first time and thought "Blimey! It just goes on and on!"Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-34634623933120485682010-08-17T18:41:00.703+01:002010-08-17T18:41:00.703+01:00On the Ouse: we were walking. (Oh for a canoe!) On...On the Ouse: we were walking. (Oh for a canoe!) On the Yangtze: we were in the tiniest passenger ferry you could imagine. This was 1983/4... and you've got me going now. I shall have to blog the rest... speaking of ancient...xAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-40296070999748637392010-08-17T12:17:13.317+01:002010-08-17T12:17:13.317+01:00coincidentally... our day-out-at-the-seaside in th...coincidentally... our day-out-at-the-seaside in the 60s was always Fleetwood, Lancs, and the boating lake had little catamarans made out of paired drop tanks, with holes cut in the top and seats, so that they could be paddled along by two people, in our case my brother and me... all part of the creative use of leftovers from the war, I guess.<br /><br />We sometimes used to see the wives and children of the fishermen waving goodbye as the Arctic trawlers set off. Now the trawlers are gone, and there is a statue of a family group waving goodbye, on the promenade. And I feel ancient...Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-40937956681427663082010-08-17T12:08:40.970+01:002010-08-17T12:08:40.970+01:00Grumman canoe? For some reason I started to think ...Grumman canoe? For some reason I started to think about drop-tanks.<br /><br />As I read this post I was thinking "Surely she's talking about a different river", then the answer came, you did this on a weekday, didn't you. I associate the river below Oxford with wall-to-wall gin-palaces, but then again I tend to see it at the weekend when all the idiots come out. Hang on...Jennyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08027942517258679266noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-57046825864572145482010-08-17T06:13:51.832+01:002010-08-17T06:13:51.832+01:00It's a burglar alarm, Melissa. V common over h...It's a burglar alarm, Melissa. V common over here. I didn't realise that Grumman made canoes, until now anyway. I suppose Wildcats looked a bit canoe-ey, now I think of it... my canoe is quite wobbly, but so far we've managed to avoid capsizing it, apart from a botched beach launch into surf in Pembrokeshire once, very dramatic...<br /><br />There might be a bit more mileage in the no-photos thing, Federay; after the event, I was struck by the way I'd not taken pictures of so many things that I wished that I had done. Including a comprehensive set of photos of The Cyclists Of Abingdon, which strikes me as being a v good thing to do. <br /><br />I just had a look at some pictures of Yangtze locks. Crikey. <br /><br />Have you got a canoe now, then, or were you walking?<br /><br />I do, don't I, Anji? I think it may be something to do with boats. They can bring out the best in people. And sometimes the worst. I am always careful and considerate with fishermen, paddling quietly and giving them lots of space, and they still glower. I get the impression that they go and sit on their own on riverbanks because they want to get away from women and children, and rather resent an intrusion into 'their' space.Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-6287428194510700562010-08-16T19:35:17.451+01:002010-08-16T19:35:17.451+01:00glad you made it home in time. I don't like l...glad you made it home in time. I don't like locks, Especially the descending part.<br /><br />When I was small my granddad told me to always be quiet around anglers, they don't like you to fighten the fish away (so that they can catch them and thow them back in again!?)<br /><br />You always seem to meet such helful people.Anjihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02562210585479814093noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-14802750287663053982010-08-16T19:24:47.106+01:002010-08-16T19:24:47.106+01:00I've seen the film and that's not Marlon B...I've seen the film and that's not Marlon Brando. <br />I did a wander with my boys down the Ouse recently and you're dammed right about fisherman. Not even a flicker as the eldest jumped up and down shouting "Come on fish! Up you come!"<br />There are more photos in this post than the last one which has more promises of photos than photos and I was wondering if that was a new literary device you were trying out. But it appears not.<br />I am with you on the lock thing, and glad it was uneventful. I was on a boat in a lock in China once... long story. But it was the Yangtze (I'm not being competitive here) and I swear to you we sank the distance of a twenty-storey building from above it to below it. I have since been terrified of the smallest locks in our friendliest waterways and would never have been coaxed to try it in a canoe. So I enjoyed the vicarious thrill.<br />A day out's not a day out unless you're pressed for time at the end. I reckon.<br />xAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-49578850689907742712010-08-16T17:00:08.175+01:002010-08-16T17:00:08.175+01:00Lovey pictures as always. What is that metal box o...Lovey pictures as always. What is that metal box on the front of the house that says Titan on it?<br /><br />Canoes are fun, just don't both of you ever paddle hard on the same side at once! I learned my lesson the hard way along time ago, in a narrow Grumman aluminum model, and ended up in the drink as the canoe rolled over. Fortunately the water was only four feet deep in that part of the lake, so we were able to retrieve most of our gear from the bottom. <br /><br />Melissa XXMelissahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04600684740584460891noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-79398710702246089992010-08-16T09:40:29.057+01:002010-08-16T09:40:29.057+01:00point well made, and taken :-)point well made, and taken :-)Dru Marlandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03697874363783821382noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448752251053894818.post-59825231932276177842010-08-16T09:36:47.697+01:002010-08-16T09:36:47.697+01:00There are epic journeys across Europe where there ...There are epic journeys across Europe where there is no visible evidence that I was actually there, I should have handed the camera to my companions once in a while. Just saying...<br /><br />Caroline xxxCarolinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02133031265351841626noreply@blogger.com