Narrow Boats (2217) July 2006
Photomovie : Narrow Boats (4.10 mins)
Music : I Wonder as I Wander by Jacqueline Schwab from Down Came An Angel
The narrowboat has been part of an industrialised transport system stretching back over 200 years. Narrow boats were first built in the late 18th century to move goods, such as coal, iron, and cotton along the rapidly expanding canal system in England. One of the earliest canals, opened in 1761, was developed by a renowned engineer, James Brindley, to carry coal to Manchester. This canal proved highly effective as it allowed larger quantities of coal, up to 30 tons, to be loaded into a narrow boat and be pulled by one horse along a canal. The effect of moving large quantities of coal was to reduce the price of coal in Manchester by nearly two-thirds within a year. Previously, low volumes of coal were pulled by horse and cart along tracks, which kept the price high. Over the next 70 years huge sums of money were invested in building canals for transporting large quantities of goods and commodities around the country. But, by the mid 19th century the railways had taken over most of the canal-based transport market and by the middle of the 20th century the Goverment was considering closing many of the canals. However, the leisure industry was rapidly expanding during the 1960s and people began to fit modern engines into narrowboats and use them as floating holiday homes. Today, 27,000 narrowboats chug along the canals, and with the intrepid walker using the towpaths, people have the time to slowly discover fascinating places and explore something of the history of an industrial revolution.
Canal Junction
Posted on 7/19/2006 10:35:55 PM | Comments (TA)
 1. Posted by stewart on 7/19/2006 3:38:29 PM
A nice shot and interesting text,and thanks to the leisure industry most of the canals are now refurbished and navigable and the towpathes are now in use much to Roberts delight.
 2. Posted by Keystone on 7/19/2006 4:11:24 PM
nice shot
3. Posted by shirley schwab on 7/19/2006 4:33:47 PM
So pleasant to look at a cool picture. Temperature in the 90's here. Interesting history. We have enjoyed walking along the towpaths. One photo tells quite a story.
 4. Posted by tony on 7/19/2006 11:44:29 PM
Hi Stewart, thanks, yes, I was thinking of Robert walking the canals as I was doing this.
5. Posted by tony on 7/19/2006 11:45:20 PM
Keystone, hi and thanks, good to have you drop by.
6. Posted by tony on 7/19/2006 11:47:52 PM
Hi Shirley, it's been hot here all week, in the high 80s .. and no air-con. I hope you manage to see the other story in the Slideshow.
 7. Posted by Greg on 7/20/2006 12:02:43 AM
A lovely and tranquil image Tony, it’s the beauty of still waters with polite little wakes that never seem hurried enough to rise above a ripple… let alone ever build into a wave that might break the calm.
8. Posted by tony on 7/20/2006 12:12:00 AM
Hi Greg and thanks, it's been very hot here this week and wandering by the water brings a sense of relief.
 9. Posted by swig on 7/20/2006 3:25:18 AM
Great composition. I love the way the waves sit. Very realxing shot
 10. Posted by Maurits on 7/20/2006 4:14:29 AM
lovely shot Tony....
must be nice on these HOT days...
 11. Posted by Hoosierguy on 7/20/2006 6:45:26 AM
Cool shot.
12. Posted by tony on 7/20/2006 9:27:31 AM
Swig, hi and thanks. These boats move very slowly, and the engines are well insulated and are therefore fairly quiet .. many people find the chugging sound relaxing ..
13. Posted by tony on 7/20/2006 9:33:45 AM
Maurits, thank you .. travelling slowly on the canals during these hot days seems idyllic.
14. Posted by tony on 7/20/2006 9:34:22 AM
Hoosierguy, hi and thanks, good to have you stop by
 15. Posted by Roel on 7/20/2006 1:40:18 PM
woow beautiful slide show tony and the music also beautiful
your great
16. Posted by Tony on 7/20/2006 2:44:34 PM
Roel, thanks very much, I'm glad you liked the slideshow. I was fortunate to find this piece of music by Jacqueline Schwab.
17. Posted by roel on 7/20/2006 3:09:39 PM
the music meandering (your word) by the pictures, btw I visit the other sites, breath taking pictures Tony thats what photografy meens
 18. Posted by twig on 7/21/2006 10:12:47 AM
I love these waterways, they are cool in several ways and I like the way they carve 'secret' paths through London. I got the slideshow sound eventually and think it was just a 'glitch' on the PC as it worked fine on the notebook. Love the images, some very interesting reflections and they have a saturated quality which fits the subject. Did you use auto exposure?
Hope Maldon is kind!
19. Posted by Douglas on 7/21/2006 10:46:55 AM
Equally impressive in parts and as a whole. Music (Christmas music in July!) is great, so are words, and the photo brilliant. It is like a magic trick, how did you do that! 90's for Shirley and over in London. Time to take to the waterways rather than the air conditioner!
 20. Posted by izZZ<-- on 7/21/2006 2:44:29 PM
The water flow is lovely Tony, gr8 as always .
 21. Posted by robertm on 7/22/2006 1:50:53 AM
Hi tony, the weather has been great on the Kennett & Avon, Oxford Canal, Grand Union Canal, and Leicester Arm of GUC, so far. I believe about 2000 miles of 4000 miles have been restored. Before the canals, it took two horses to haul a cart with a ton of coal at 2 mph (or something like that). I like the pattern of waves. Is that the blow-up bridge by Regents Park, with columns swapped? robert
22. Posted by twig on 7/23/2006 12:51:25 PM
The Blow-Up bridge, Regent's Canal?
That reminds me of the 'Blow Up' alley all those years ago ~ David Hemmings going into a club (Rikki Tik) in slough? and coming out of the club in Regents Street London (England for some TA'ers)
23. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 10:17:35 AM
Hi Roel, you visted my other blogs/sites .. I seem to have a burgeoning collection of places for pictures and words, I think I will need to figure out some way of consolidating this stuff in the future.
24. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 10:27:12 AM
Hi twig, I've never really explored the Regents Canal, like many of these, especially old, marks in the land history can be found written on it in many ways.
I did use auto-exposure on many of the pics, a few were aperture-priority, and a couple were compensated - and I processed the images with Apple's iPhoto, using saturation, contrast and a little sharpening.
25. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 10:37:47 AM
Hi Douglas, hi and thanks, long time no hear. Ye, the music just seemed to go along with these pics, maybe the composer was dreaming of summer days when she wrote this piece.
I'm still learning to acclimatize to the hot weather, it hit 90 again today and, even though I'm drinking the water, I'm still wilting.
26. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 10:41:11 AM
Hi and thanks izZZ<--, the lilting water seems to create a feeling of calmness.
27. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 11:01:30 AM
Robert, it's very good to hear from you. This seems the perfect time to 'really' be walking the canals - can you imagine what it was like 200 years ago travelling along these canals with your horse and narrowboat full of goods, and maybe your family living in a small area at one end of the boat?
Canal Junction has a fair amount of information and history about the English canals, I'll put a link with the text above.
That is blow-up bridge in the distance, I have a close-up pic of the 'turned-round' columns on my web site, with the embedded rope marks just visible on one of the columns.
28. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 11:21:42 AM
Hi twig, this is the bridge Jude walks over each day on her way to work.
I remember this 60s Riki Tik snippet, I think Windsor also had a Riki-Tik - I wonder if a cultural/social history of this time has been written about in detail anywhere?
 29. Posted by Pook© on 7/26/2006 4:32:09 PM
This is lovely :) And I love the information, thanks. ;)
30. Posted by tony on 7/26/2006 4:35:15 PM
Hi Pook, and thank you
31. Posted by stewpot on 7/27/2006 7:14:59 AM
This slide is much better with music now I am on sound.
32. Posted by tony on 7/28/2006 1:31:43 AM
Hi Stewart, the soundtrack helps move things along .. hence, photo..movie.
Flickr Comments
Black Dust a.k.a. odonbd says: That effect on the water makes me think that the boat are being moved by rowing. Very nice picture and perspective.
tonypraxis says: Odon, hi and thanks .. the boat moved slowly and gently along the canal, driven by an imperceptible diesel engine.
stewpic says: I like the multi reflections in the ripples.
tonypraxis says: Hi Stewart, water can sometimes produce fascinating shapes and reflections.
clifsnap10 says: Grand slideshow.......you should work for the B.B.C.
tonypraxis says: Thanks Cliff - I think working for the BBC would be too much like 'real work' - I'm sure most working environments will soon squeeze you dry of creative juice - and I'm not sure how much juice I have left anyway ;-]
*angela* says: What a beautiful slideshow Tony :) The water added such a richness to all of these shots. I particularly loved the tiny white feather. If you ever happen to post that shot solo here, I'd add it to my favs in a heartbeat!
Free2bJ.C.?Photos says: I absolutely love this :)
tonypraxis says: Angela, hi and thank you. Funny you should mention the feather, I had it in my mind to make another slideshow about Camden Lock which begun with this feather - maybe I'll re-visit this idea. Thanks again.
tonypraxis says: Hi Pook, thank you, it's good to have you stop by.
*angela* says: I still haven't forgotten that feather ;)
tonypraxis says: Angie, the feather that's in the Narrowboat photomovie? I tried to incorporate it in the Camden Lock Market photomovie but it didn't quite work out.
Now you've reminded me, I'll probably start looking for close-up pics of feathers when I'm out on my photowalks now!
Mike_tn says: so nice with the ripples! Congratulations!
Your pic becomes nominee of "Shield Of Excellence"
Please add this photo to
Shield Of Excellence Group
tonypraxis says: Hi Mike, thanks very much for this, I'll check out the Shield Of Excellence group.
stewpic says: Again I have now seen this slide and rate it very high. better late than never to make a comment. I am now going through all the photomovies of yours that I have missed.
tonypraxis says: Stewart, it's good you're able to see the photomovies now, if you click 'photomovie' in the tags that should bring up all the photomovies here.
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