Strolling along the lush canals ...

 Everything is glorious & green with summer lushness & hedgerow flowers bursting in to bloom. 

The fields are golden yellow & the sight of harvests is evident all about our county. 

Today, my choice of a Sunday stroll was to visit the canals which snake through our county of Shropshire & Staffordshire. I treated the Godsons to a special trip on the same canals some years back, in midwinter. In winter, the canals take on a mystical view with ice & frozen water. 

They were the highways of times gone by, carrying goods around & especially the delicate pottery from the many potteries in our counties. This pottery from Coalport & Stoke on Trent was world famous & the waterways helped to move it about. 

Our canals have many interesting trips like this afternoon tea last September.  Summer is beautiful along the canals with green leaves & light filtering through the canopy of leaves.

Today it was just the local one with a deep cutting & a long tunnel that give beautiful views on both sides. 

The tunnel is long & it gets dark towards the middle before emerging at the side with elegant strands of ivy draping over the tunnel. 

As we approached the tunnel, 3 sets of canoeists were making their way towards the tunnel, a boat going the same way, hung back for them  & then an approaching boat had to pull up for the 3 canoes to safely transverse the tunnel. 

Voices echo in the tunnel & then the throb of the approaching boat reverberated around the stone & brickwork. 

We walked back to the spot where the boats moor up & I am always impressed by the handpainting details on boats. Many have solar panels on the roof now & their plant boxes are briming over with herbs, tomatoes & more. A reminder of autumn is evident with firewood stacked on top - it can be cold on the water & most of the boats have a woodburning fire in them. 

A lovely time in nature, enjoying the feeling of space along the canals. It is the little things in life that reset us ... 

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Dee ☔️🪴🚙🚣‍♀️