The new Lodgemore bridge

Helena wanted to go for a walk once the sun started shining today. She hasn't been well for some time so getting a breath of fresh air was a good idea. She suggested going down to the canal around Lodgemore Mill, which is just on the other side of the centre of town.

We drove over this bridge to the entrance to Lodgemore Mill on the south side of the Stroudwater Canal and parked next to some old workmen's cottages before walking along the towpath. We hoped to see Lower Wallbridge lock that has just been completely renovated, but when we got near we saw that the towpath is still closed until the lock surrounds have also been finished. Last Friday Prince Charles visited Wallbridge and formally 'opened' the newly restored Stroudwater Navigation and the Thames and Severn Canal. He was taken in a Canal Trust barge from Upper Wallbridge basin, through that lock and then along the canal as far as Lower Wallbridge lock.

It has been a huge local project linking six miles of the disused canal from Brimscombe in the east to Stonehouse in the west.  The next stage is to link it up to Saul Junction so that this canal can once again rejoin the national waterway system, via the Sharpness to Gloucester Canal.

We eventually did a circuit going past Fromehall Mill, and its big and rather silted up millpond, and back along the towpath to this bridge. By the time we got here the sun had returned and I liked this light on the canal looking eastwards towards Stroud. The former swing bridge has been replaced by this lifting bridge which works by hydraulics. Canal users will be able to manually operate it to pass it by, as this saves space. The land which the swing bridge used to utilise had been sold off when the canal went into disuse in the early part of the last century, so a more modern approach was designed.

You can just see Helena walking along the towpath on the right.