Chesapeake & Ohio Canal

A few weekends ago, I decided to end this long period of neglecting my blog and accepted an offer to go hiking on the Billy Goat Trail. Part of it lies along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, and is technically a towpath; the other part follows the Potomac River. The map:

The dashed line are approximate-- its really hard to see trails from space.

Riverside Walk, Sarum

Continuing the digression of the previous post into non-navigable waterways, I recently visited the Riverside Walk in Salisbury, once known as Sarum. Here's the map, which is less linear than normal, and pretty small:

Riverside Walk, Canterbury

Thesis-writing and exams have kept me from the towpath for far too long. Although this wasn't really a canal, nor even a canal trip, there was a towpath, and there was some boat traffic, so I seized the opportunity. Here's the map:

De Herengracht

"The Gentlemen's Canal"


To my mind there have been four centers of canal culture in the history of the world: the Great Canal of China, the cities of Venice and Tenochtitlan, and the Netherlands. Recently I had the pleasure of visiting one through the city of Amsterdam.

The map, travelling south to north:

Regent's Canal, part two

I learned a new word today, "gongoozler." This is apparently a person in Britain who watches canal traffic.

I decided to finish the Regent's Canal. Here's the usual map:

Regent's Canal

Riding the Bakerloo line today, I discovered that all service was suspended south of Paddington. A perfect opportunity to start on the Regent's Canal, where I left off yesterday! So, leaving the station I backtracked to Little Venice.
And I was glad I did- the weather was amazing.

Here's the map, east to west again:

From Little Venice, over the top of Regent's Park and London Zoo, and ending at Lock 17 in Camden.

Grand Union Canal

First post! Today, I walked along the Grand Union Canal, specifically the Paddington Arm, from Willesden to the canal's terminus behind St. Mary's Hospital near Paddington Station.

I walked east on this map:

The canal was amalgamated in the early 20th century from a series of smaller canals, in this case Grand Junction Canal and Regent's Canal.