Boat Museum - Ellesmere Port.

[daveh]

The boat museum is about 12 miles from where we live.

[Doug T.]

Those are very good shots.
What sort of boat is that being carried on the figures' back? Was it something that was used in marshes?
I love open air museums, it's like stepping back in time, you get a feel for how people lived.
Who's the little fellow? He looks like he's enjoying himself

Doug

[daveh]

Doug,

The boat being carried is a coracle, made from wattles and laths with a tar-coated cloth as the skin.

The little lad is my step-grandson.

There is a row of four cottages, built in the 1830s. Each has been set up downstairs to illustrate a different period: 1830s, 1880s, 1920s and 1950s.




Just a note on film speeds: Some were taken at 100 (lock gates 1/3 sec f22) then up to 3200 for the dummy worker (1/6 f3.5) and even 6400 for James doing his stuff (1/250 f4).

Dave.

[Doug T.]

Dave,
That really looks like my kind of place. I lived in Germany for almost 20 years ,1974 til 1993, and travelled a lot, but never made it to the UK. I wish I had Now that I'm retired, and have the time, I don't seem to have the money.
I guess I'll have to go back to work to afford to take time off from work.

Doug

[daveh]

Doug, were you in the forces? That always seemed to be the main reason (if not the only reason) for being in Germany.

Dave.

[Doug T.]

Dave,
I was in the US Air Force from 72-76. I liked Europe so much, that upon discharge, I stayed there. I met & married a German girl (that didn't last long), took an apprenticeship as a cabinetmaker, and worked there until 1993 ,when I got very, very homesick, and came back to the states . Sometimes I think that I should have stayed there, but that's a whole different story.

Doug

[mickeyobe]

I was never very demanding in the wish department but one of the things I have always wanted to do and still would like was to rent a Narrow Boat and cruise some of the beautiful English canals.

I still have all of the brochures and the possible routes I plotted out in 2000.

Now, after a knee replacement and the addition of 10 years I am not sure that I would be up to hopping from boat to shore and back again at every lock and at every docking.

Thanks for the pictures and the reminder.

Mickey

[Doug T.]

Mickey,
You could still take a trip on the Erie Canal. It's not that far.
I wish I'd taken a trip on that Chinese Junk that was at the Toronto Harbour front. Is it still there?

Doug

[daveh]

The two inland boating holidays in England are the canals and the Norfolk Broads. I have never done either, though have occasionally thought of going.

Perhaps we should have a Camera Collector outing on the Shropshire Union Canal. Ellesmere Port is at one end of the system. I wouldn't have to travel far.

Useless fact number 1: Birmingham is said to have more canals than Venice.

I remember going into Birmingham on the train in about 1960 and the canals were just dumping grounds for everyone's rubbish - prams, bikes, beds, you name it. They have been cleaned up now: you wouldn't know it is the same place.

Doug, the Germans are too organised for my liking.

Mickey, get someone to do the jumping on and off for you.

[mickeyobe]

Aug 9, 2010 13:57:25 GMT -5 Doug T. said:

Mickey,
You could still take a trip on the Erie Canal. It's not that far.
I wish I'd taken a trip on that Chinese Junk that was at the Toronto Harbour front. Is it still there?

Doug

Doug,

I drove by bits of the Erie Canal a number of years ago. It did not look very appealing. Perhaps it has been restored but it has no narrow boats.

I don't know if the junk is still there. I hope it is. It's a beautiful boat.

Mickey