The canal below Cheapside, Stroud

I had a long standing arrangement to take our car to the garage to have new door stays fitted and I had to be there by 9am. The frost had just melted by the time I arrived and the day was warming under blue sky and bright sunshine. It was delightful after so many grey days and rain recently.

I had to leave it for several hours, so walked about two hundred yards to the canal towpath which is easily accessible from the industrial estate where the garage is sited. This whole area lies on sloping ground stretching down from the railway station in Stroud town centre towards the river Frome and has been the subject of a lot of work and consideration as a councillor. We know that we need to devise a workable plan for this whole neighbourhood to allow it to be developed for the benefit of the whole community and not just developers.

The canal here lies under a steep bank down from the railway which has partially collapsed. Potentially there could be an amalgam of wonderful housing, canal side tourism, shops and community access spaces. I will be having meetings tomorrow on this very issue.

Today I had a camera and as soon as I reached the towpath I saw a collection of ducks, moorhens and a young swan vying for the rather small space in the overgrown canal. I hovered and took pictures as I loved the particular light and the reflections of the building high above which was catching the sun's rays. The birds were active and obviously beginning to feel springlike with ducks and drakes all eyeing each other up.

I have put a few other pictures from this scene here on Flickr.
I then continued along the path to the river at Capel's Mill viaduct, still looking to get a good kingfisher photograph, but didn't see any there. In fact the river was so high that the path through Fromebanks had become impassable and the water flow seemed too strong for any birds to easily fish there from perches on trees. I shall return again.