Journey's End

I left a gloomy south Devon and headed North and East. As I drove the weather became worse and became drizzly. I arrived in Halberton and parked with the aim of walking up the Grand Western Canal to Tiverton. I'd been admiring some images by Tim the Sarum Stroller of the Kennet and Avon and thought I'd enjoy a canal walk. You get old trees, wildlife, boats and reflections. That's alright for a dull day. Trouble is there aren't as many canals left in the deep south west as there are in other parts of the country. Grand Western's quite nice though, it even has horse drawn barges in the summer.

It was an enjoyable walk, it's about three miles each way, through pleasant farming country. Eventually it comes into Tiverton and the last bit is bordered by houses before you end up in Tiverton Basin. I sat at a picnic table and enjoyed my sandwich and coffee before doing the return journey.

I'm sure you're aware that when the dredge canals they come up with all sorts of rubbish, shpping trolleys, old bikes and prams but they found something a bit bigger when they dredged part of this canal. This was in 2003 and it turned out that a Canberra bomber had crashed there in 1963 when the crew turned aside to save from crashing on Tiverton. The canal company must not have been aware (I suppose people weren't tha interested in canals at that time) and it was only local passers by that informed them of the crash. You can read more about it here if I've got you interested.

My blip is from the Tiverton Basin where the canal starts, or ends depending on how you look at it. There are some more images here if you'd like to see them.