[Leica] Re: Canal bridge

[Frank.Dernie at btinternet.com (Frank Dernie)]

Near where I used to live when I worked in France the Loire canal  
crossed the river Alier. There was also a canal level change so after  
watching the barges cross the river on high, passing from the Nievre  
into the Cher one could watch them descend through a series of locks.  
Great to watch from the terrace of the adjacent restaurant.
The French canal system that I saw there was much less crowded than  
the English system around here.
I never tired of watching boats cross a river on a bridge.....

I am retired and a canal trip would bore me out of my skull BTW  
though we recently enjoyed a birthday celebration evening trip on a  
narrowboat from Hungerford, with a pub visit either end.

Frank


On 10 Jul, 2007, at 03:30, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:

>
> On Jul 9, 2007, at 9:35 PM, Hoppy wrote:
>
>>
>> Graham and Jerry, that is truly amazing. Jerry, you are saying  
>> that the bridge is an aqueduct, part of the canal system, actually
>> passing over the natural water course?
>
> Yes, indeed. It is a bridge for canal boats (narrow boats).
>
> A canal boat vacation is a leisurely drift from pub to pub through  
> bucolic scenery. You either love it or hate it. A recent BBC TV  
> special on vacation sites interviewed canal boaters and found, to  
> no one?s surprise, that retirees loved it and teens were bored out  
> of their skulls. The British countryside is relatively flat and  
> only a few locks are needed to cross most of the small hills. The  
> Llangollen Canal is one of the exceptions. The beautiful River Dee  
> runs in a gorge near the town. To keep the Llangollen canal  
> relatively level, the builders hired Thomas Telford, a 19th.  
> century engineering genius, to build a 1007 foot long, 121 foot  
> high aqueduct to cross the river. The canal boats simply float over  
> the river at the height of a 10 story building. The Pontcysyllte  
> aqueduct, perched on 19 stone arches, is another one of those  
> engineering marvels that boggles the contemporary imagination. How  
> could country stone masons, without the benefit of steam shovels,  
> bulldozers, and power tools build a structure, literally a stone  
> sculpture, that has stood for 200 years when more modern bridges  
> have crumbled into piles of rust? Just like the Leica cameras of  
> the 30's still function relatively trouble free while the M8 - - -  
> - . You fill in the rest.
>
> Larry Z
>
>
>
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