Looking back on the past years cruising I was taken by the number of bridges one crosses or passes under. I suppose these could be a metaphor for life or something and indeed the act of crossing a bridge, or passing below ones will always mean you are 'on a journey' and I didn't any more than that to think I could write a blog about some we have encountered in the past year on the boat.
The first is strictly speaking not a bridge but an aqueduct over the River Calder but I have included it as it was the forerunner to a bridge. The trough of the aqueduct is suspended from a cast iron arch, the same principle as the Sydney Harbour Bridge, but a hundred years earlier. The Stanley Ferry Aqueduct on the Aire and Calder Navigation was built in 1839. You can see the Doric arches that make up the architecture of the neighbouring Stanley Ferry Yard where lock gates were built.
A little further along the Aire and Calder Navigation you come to Castleford at the junction of the the Leeds and Wakefield Branches of the Canal and then onwards to the South Yorkshire canals and Goole. The delights of the Junction pub, where there is always a warm welcome and beer from the wood, and the Millenium Foorbridge over the River Aire make this a good spot to stop over.
King George V bridge was opened by the King of the same name in 1916. It carries a double track railway and a road and was a Scherzer Rolling Lift Bridge. The lifting section to the left rolled and lifted. It was originally powered like a narrow boat, petrol generators charged up batteries that supplied power to the lifting motors. It was last lifted in 1956 and is now welded shut. It is the first bridge you come to as after leaving Keadby Lock on the River Trent when heading up river.
The much photographed Drayton Foot Bridge spanning the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal near Fazeley Junction.
Well not a bridge at all now, but the remains of the Severn Railway Bridge near Sharpness. This was a swing bridge to allow vessels to move up and down the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. The round tower on the right was the bridge pivot tower. It was opened in 1879 to bring New Forest coal across the River Severn. It was only seven years before the Severn Railway tunnel was completed so became a white elephant, but continued in use as an alternative route. a couple of sections collapsed after two Harker's oil barges collided with a column in the river and caught fire. They had overshot the entrance to Sharpness Dock in dense fog and strong tides. Five were killed. It wasn't deemed worthy of rebuilding so it was demolished between 1967 and 1970.
The first Severn Road Bridge was opened in 1966 by the Queen. The main span is 3240ft and it cost £8 million. There is also a smaller span over the River Wye. It has carried over 300 million vehicles since it opened. There was lots of congestion in the 1980's.
The second Severn Road Bridge was opened in 1996 By Charles, the Prince of Wales to relieve the congestion after four years of construction. The longest span is 1496' and the cost was £380 million!
Clifton Suspension Bridge over the Avon Gorge by Bristol was a lovely finale to our day from Sharpness to Bristol and the icing on the cake was having 'Balmoral' pass under it for us. The bridge was built to plans by William Barlow and John Hawkshaw who based their design on an earlier plan by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. The actual start of construction was in 1831 and it was finally all completed in 1864!
This is actually the Hertford Bridge but is more commonly known as the Bridge of Sighs after the similar one in Venice. It actually was built to link the old and new quadrangles of the Oxford University Hertford College. It isn't that old either as it was built in 1914.
As a bit of a contrast we have the elevated section of the M5 motorway passing over the Blakeley Hall canal bridge Bridge on the Birmingham Canal Old Main Line between Spon Lane and Oldbury Junctions. The motor way was constructed around the late 1960's and the canal bridge about two hundred years earlier. The scale is a little different but as you can see with all the scaffolding I doubt very much that the motorway bridge will still be there in another two hundred years as the concrete pillars are already crumbling
No trip up the 'Curly Whirly', or Wyrley and Essington Canal would be complete with out a photo at the mirrored arch. (not strictly a bridge again!). It is about half a mile from Horseley Fields Junction.
Here we are on the Birmingham New Main Line and passing under the Engine Arm Aqueduct that links links the Rotton Park Reservoir with the Old Main Line. I have never passed under when another boat is crossing. In the canal ahead is a toll island where boats gauged for assessing charges.
This roving bridge is almost as well known as the double bridge at Braunston Junction. This however is the one at Hawkesbury Junction where the Coventry Canal meets the Oxford Canal.. It is a bit of a rite of passage for the boatman as the turn coming from the stop lock through the bridge and to the left is quite a turn to get round in one go. Usually there are plenty of boating folk drinking outside the Greyhound pub to assess your skills and be glad it wasn't them that got it wrong on the day.
Hopefully these post will bridge the gap until we are back cruising and if nothing else are a good reason to look through my old photos and relive this years trip.
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