My mum and I are walking parts of the Grand Union Canal.
On 5 May 2008, together with Dad, we walked the Slough Arm
which runs from, er,
Slough, to Cowley Peachey Junction. It was a short walk, only
about 7 miles. We finished up at West
Drayton.
Start of the canal
An interesting building on the way to the canal. Sadly it is no
longer the Leopold Coffee House, but some kind of bargain-basement
KFC ripoff.
1/350 at f8, 187mm, ISO200
The start of the canal had a weird feel about it to me.
Obviously, when
a canal comes to an end, that's it; it just stops. Not like a river
which sort of peters out into little streams (and not like the other
end of a canal, which is usually in a river).
The end of the canal, just visible among the reeds in front of the
builder's yard.
1/180 at f13, 22mm, ISO200
Strange fish.
1/125 at f13, 123mm, ISO200
The first bridge.
1/125 at f5.6, 250mm, ISO200
Warning pattern painted on a bridge arch.
1/90 at f4, 55mm, ISO200
Industry
I was surprised to find that the canal runs close by an actual
working factory: ICI Paints (owned by Akzo Nobel). A working factory?
With like chemicals and things? In the south of England?
Pipework and an aeroplane (Heathrow is nearby).
1/750 at f8, 250mm, ISO200
Tanks.
1/500 at f8, 22mm, ISO200
More pipework.
1/250 at f8, 154mm, ISO200
A bulk transport tanker.
1/350 at f8, 214mm, ISO200
Less surprising were the abandoned industrial buildings that
followed.
Factory skylight through broken window.
1/2000 at f8, 250mm, ISO200
Half a bridge.
1/350 at f8, 22mm, ISO200
Opposite, a firm that (presumably) hires out those cherry-picker
things.
1/1500 at f8, 163mm, ISO200
Two of said things.
1/1000 at f8, 109mm, ISO200
Leaving the canal
We crossed at a 'conveyor bridge' and took a detour past a sewage
farm (and across the M25) to the small town of Iver. This had a
picturesque church (locked and wrapped in scaffolding) and shops.
After buying ice cream, we returned to the canal.
Underneath the 'conveyer bridge' which, it should be noted, was in
no condition to convey anything other than by walking over it. So
just a bridge, then.
1/45 at f8, 163mm, ISO200
Looking through the bridge rail back down the canal. (There was
actually a boat moving, but you can't see it in this picture.)
1/500 at f4.5, 22mm, ISO200
Sewage tanks.
1/350 at f5.6, 250mm, ISO200
I have no idea how I took this picture or what it is. Obviously
I pressed the shutter by accident. Still, after fiddling with
the exposure, I kind of liked it. :)
1/4 at f4, 55mm, ISO100
To West Drayton
Looking into a World War 2 pillbox near the canal junction.
1/45 at f8, 55mm, ISO200
Aqueduct over a river; probably the
Colne, it usually is.
1/60 at f8, 55mm, ISO200
We left the canal a little before the junction and headed into
West Drayton, which has a railway station. It also has a well-organised
scrapyard.
Part of the scrapyard.
1/180 at f8, 22mm, ISO200
Another part.
1/350 at f8, 20mm, ISO200
Metal container haiku.
1/500 at f8, 17mm, ISO200
Tubes.
1/250 at f8, 60mm, ISO200
That was it; back to the railway station for me (and to a broken-down
bus for my parents, although a working one did eventually arrive).
