The beautiful nautical blue of the Muirtown basin at the northernmost end of the Caledonian Canal in Inverness – complete with moored boats in the background – taken on a surprisingly sunny Bank Holiday afternoon! 🙂
Nautical Blue
Tag: Caledonian Canal
Kayak Water Polo
When walking along the Caledonian Canal at Muirtown Locks over the new year I saw a group of people playing what seemed to be kayak water polo in the canal basin – it was gray and raining, and the colours were really dull, so I brightened up the images with an online art filter post-processing effect 🙂
Sunday Stroll, Interrupted
Sometimes fresh air is the best medicine – I’ve got a thumping headache today so decided a walk along the canal close to home might help, and I took my camera with me for company. It was sunny enough with blue skies when I left the house, so I was in no rush.
But before long the sky darkened, and I got not too far along the canal basin when I felt the first spits of rain so turned around much sooner than I’d intended and it’s such a good job I did – the heavens opened and by the time I made it home again I was soaked. Even now the rain is still hitting hard off the window just to remind me it’s still there…
Sadly my headache is no better but I did enjoy my walk – well, at least the first half – and did get a few decent shots before the winter weather turned for the worst… 🙂
Near and Far
Near to where we live in Inverness is the Caledonian Canal – it’s about a five minute walk heading west from our front door. Alternatively, a ten minute walk heading east brings me to the River Ness. A pleasant half-hour walk heading north along the canal takes me to the Beauly Firth, while a half-hour walk heading south along either the canal or the river to the edge of town brings me to a narrow strip of land where I can easily see both the canal on one side of me and the river on the other. So luckily for me, in whichever direction I choose to walk when leaving our house, at least one body of water is never far away 🙂
Into the Sun
My phone takes perfectly decent photographs for general use – I mean, I know my camera takes technically ‘better’ pictures, bigger sensor, bigger lens, better light intake, more pixels. So usually for ‘proper’ photographs I prefer to use my ‘proper’ camera.
But sometimes, to my surprise, I actually prefer the less than perfect images produced by my phone, especially when looking into the sun. The limited light coming in to the limited sensor can create a much darker, moody image than the more visually balanced ‘correct’ version made by my camera, and I really like the way the increased highlights and low-lights give an altogether more dramatic effect that captures far more accurately how I’m feeling at the time.
So sometimes, from a creative perspective, I find that art trumps science and photographically less really is more… 🙂
Friday Afternoon Walk
A few images from this afternoon’s leisurely stroll with my husband along the banks of the Caledonian Canal in Inverness. We saw boats, and ducks, and enjoyed the warm but breezy weather and beautiful blue skies.
It was nice just spending quality time together in the fresh air, walking and chatting and comfortably putting the world to rights – and to cap it all off we bumped into an old friend who was also out for a walk with her son, so we stood and chatted with them for a while too, which was lovely.
Altogether we whiled away a relaxing couple of hours in the sunshine, a perfect Friday afternoon walk 🙂
Sea Lock Gates
It’s called a lock gate, but to all intents and purposes it’s a solid metal door – or actually a pair of doors – holding back the waters of the Caledonian Canal at the point it joins up with the Beauly Firth in Inverness. When the tide is in, the water levels are pretty much equal both behind and in front of the lock gates, but when the tide is out the water behind in the canal remains high while in front the sea level ebbs and flows.
Straight and Narrow
This weekend’s Weekly Prompt is ‘straight and narrow’, and the system of locks for raising and lowering boats at the end of the Caledonian Canal here in Inverness is certainly straight and narrow – and deep! 🙂
Tomnahurich Swing Bridge in Action
There are three very similar swing bridges over the Caledonian Canal here in Inverness – two road bridges and one railway bridge, all working on the same principle and constructed around the same time. Yesterday I was passing by just as the bridge at Tomnahurich opened, so stopped to capture the scene on camera .
The road crosses over from left to right of the picture (or right to left, depending on the direction of travel) and the bridge sits really low on the water so boats travelling the canal cannot pass underneath without the bridge moving out of the way. The traffic is temporarily stopped on either side and the entire bridge swings open sideways on a pivot and wheel (very much like a giant heavy door opening) until it sits at right angles to the road. The boat sails on through, the bridge closes again immediately, and the waiting traffic is free to pass over once more.
During the summer months this process takes place multiple times a day, and it never ceases to fascinate me – I really love the clever engineering involved! There is a warning siren that sounds continuously to let people know the bridge is opening and closing, but amazingly the mechanical operation of the bridge itself is silent and smooth and surprisingly speedy – it only takes a few minutes. This particular metal bridge has been in situ since 1938, a replacement for a previous wooden bridge that apparently worked on an entirely different principle.
I know this is a long and boring gallery if you’re not interested in seeing a series of static images of a bridge opening and closing again, but the fault is mine for not thinking to video it in action instead – duh! Anyway, I’m hoping my swing bridge opening and closing can count as an honorary canal door for today’s Thursday Doors – I know Dan loves bridges as well as doors, so fingers crossed I might just get away with it! 🙂
Today’s Canal Walk
While the weather’s been nice I’ve been spending a lot of time in the garden, so haven’t been out on as many walks as usual.
But this afternoon I decided to forego the weeding and instead went for a wander along the banks of the Caledonian Canal here in Inverness. The change of scenery did me the world of good, and of course I took my camera with me – to my surprise I took almost 300 images and almost used up a whole battery charge by the time I got home.
I really enjoyed my leisurely walk on such a lovely June afternoon, and it feels really good to have taken a whole new collection of photographs from beyond my garden – definitely something to smile about! 🙂
And as a bonus I got home to find Cee’s Midweek Madness Challenge this week has the option of posting images of water or landscapes – perfect!
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