Tuesday 4th November 2025, 10.00am (day 5,185)
This is definitely a stock shot, but what the hell. The Rochdale Canal is definitely worth a regular viewing, particularly at the peak of autumn.
Rochdale Canal (stock shot)
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: barge
Clare, nine miles in
Sunday 30th March 2025, 1.10pm (day 4,966)
The wife was doing her latest excessively long bout of exercise, as she trains up for her second marathon in April. 22 miles today I believe. 9 miles in, our paths crossed briefly, then, off she went eastwards.
On the canal
Monday 7th October 2024, 2.20pm (day 4,792)
At this time of year, good weather needs to be used — there may not be a great deal more of it for a while. It was too nice an afternoon to be spent sat around indoors, so a walk along the canal was mandated. I have a number of pictures that follow this same general theme today.
Boatman
Thursday 31st August 2023, 11.25am (day 4,389)
I don’t know whether the 19th century did outdoor seating and umbrellas in quite the same way as the Stubbings Wharf pub does in 2023, but otherwise this picture could well have been taken 150 years ago: man (with beard) waiting for nearby lock to fill, and trying to stop the boat floating away while he does so. It’s a slow way of life on the water, which I guess is why plenty of people like to live it.
Towpath life
Wednesday 30th March 2022, 3.55pm (day 3,870)
Sometimes in my more romantic fantasies of downsizing I wonder what it would be like to live on one of the barges on the Rochdale Canal — but these thoughts never last all that long before I think of the music and movie collections. If I really wanted to do it I’d probably already be doing it. The immediate neighbours would be Canada geese, too.
Boatman Pete, and cooling cows
Sunday 18th July 2021, 10.30am (day 3,615)
A day out on the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, which takes a roundabout route between those two cities so is here pictured near Skipton — place #350 to be depicted over the lifetime of the blog. Old Master Pete, the boatman, waves as he takes the family past a herd of cows who seem to have the right idea about how to deal with the day’s heat.
The Canal Street lock
Friday 30th April 2021, 9.20am (day 3,536)
It’s always nice to see Canal Street, in the centre of Manchester, actively live up to its name. Lock open, rather than lockdown. Perhaps I could have stood a bit to the left and made this a more symmetrical shot, but never mind. The guy at the gate has busted the photographer.
Ducks and barges
Tuesday 11th December 2018, 2.40pm (day 2,665)
The first four-in-a-row for Hebden Bridge since June — the 14th to the 17th June, in fact. Yes, I record these things. I did get a bit further away from home today than on the last two days.
Here, I like the way the red and blue theme is repeated both on the barges and the reflections of the windows in the water. The ducks are a bonus, really.
By Canal Street, Manchester city centre
Thursday 3rd July 2014, 9.40am (day 1,043)
Canal Street in Manchester is best known for being the street in the midst of the Gay Village; but it does actually still have a canal beside it. This is probably the first time I have seen a working boat on it. If you barge it for long enough, by the way, in a generally northerly direction, this is also the canal that goes through Hebden Bridge, as seen many times on this blog in the past.
The dry dock in use
Monday 9th June 2014, 4.50pm (day 1,019)
This doesn’t happen that often, but when it does it’s kind of impressive. The dry dock at Hebden Bridge marina is fully functional, and as you can see, well placed for a half-decent pub.
Being 42 