Yesterday whilst I spun, I watched All Aboard - A Canal Trip along the Kennett and Avon Canal, 118 minutes long it was watched in two sessions. About 5 miles of travelling slowly with a fixed camera, no talkover, no music just the slipping musical sound of water, bird song, the swish of an occasional bike wheel on the canal path. This has been the time when the BBC have returned to 'slow' the Handmade series, the beautiful 'Dawn Chorus' set over three sites, and absolutely marvellous camera work introducing us to those rare birds that live elsewhere in this country. Should our conservative government ever let that horror Rupert Murdoch near our beloved BBC - there will be blood on the carpet, or at least its equivalent in red paint....
The canal trip started in Bath, past Bathampton, funnily enough you could not see The George pub from the boat because the camera was fixed on the water ahead and this was a joy, the eye followed the course of the canal. Bathampton is where I would usually start from, we used to take Mark at about 5 years old to cycle along the towpath, Moss in his day plodded along happily. The Limpley Stoke valley was beautiful, and of course after Dundas Aquaduct you will eventually arrive at the pretty town of Bradford-on-Avon. The canal follows the River Avon, and of course there is an old railway line as well.
Words were digitally produced on the water, and one fascinating fact was the canal was seen as a defense line in the second world war, and had those funny pill boxes set along the path. It reminded me of the course of the Roman road from Bath to Chippenham, and when I get the next book I have ordered, about the Roman Wheel Dale road, a similar 'straight line' seems to have been drawn by the Romans in the battle against the native inhabitants.
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| Dundas Bridge Aquaduct, the canal boats pass over the River Avon here. @ Creative Commons |
We didn't watch this but wished we had done so as it got such a huge audience and tremendous write-ups. Glad the spinning is going well.
ReplyDeleteWatched all of those programmes on BBCIPlayer, which is a godsend if you can find things Pat.
ReplyDeleteI did enjoy those programmes - especially the chair (how lucky you are to have a similar one) and the canal boat. And I caught the end of a programme about dolls' houses the other night - I thought you would have found that very interesting, did you see it? I must watch it in full. My OH's face could not have been more disinterested. Perhaps there's something in the domestic = women's sphere after all :) I thought he might at least be fascinated by the idea of miniature imaginary worlds like I was!
ReplyDeleteHi Rhiannon,
ReplyDelete"Perhaps there's something in the domestic = women's sphere after all :)" O Rhiannon never thought to hear those words from your lips. Yes I did watch the programme about dolls' houses, actually I thought I might go back and start again!. Years ago I did room boxes, Farleigh Hungerford Chapel, Prittlewell Saxon burial and a couple of others, loved the miniature world and the stories you can tell through them. Very theraupetic carving. X