Canal Life

Mrs B and I walked our favourite stretch of the Leeds/Liverpool canal today. This part of the Leigh Branch just outside Wigan runs to the Bridgewater canal in Manchester, and passes through a local Wildlife Trust site called Scotmans Flash, where the canal is flanked by large areas of Flashes (lakes caused by mining subsidence), and wildlife havens reclaimed from the mine and industrial workings themselves.
Just as we were approaching one of the locks, this colourful narrowboat was entering, and the steerslady was happy to smile for a photograph.

Extra shows a group of canoeists on Scotmans Flash enjoying themselves before the dark clouds rolled in.