Gloucester to Sharpness canal from Parkend bridge

I stopped to watch the scene after driving over Parkend Bridge. This scene is of many residential boats on this canal looking northwards towards Gloucester. The bridge I stood on is a swing bridge which at this time of the boating season is closed for much of the day, although there is still a bridge keeper in attendance.

The canal was built to service the inland docks at Gloucester allowing seagoing ships up to about 1000 tons to travel up the canal from Sharpness docks, where they could leave the Bristol Channel via  the locks into the tidal basin.  At the far end of the Gloucester Docklands is the next lock which provides access onto the River Severn and a northerly route to the extensive inland waterway network of Britain.