The aqueduct

Repeating the same local walks, with minor variations, for much of this year leaves very little 'new' to photograph though I seek to continue to find things. 

I don't think I've ever shown these two views of the aqueduct that carries the Leeds-Liverpool Canal over the River Aire, about a mile outside of Saltaire. Designed by the famous engineer James Brindley and constructed in 1773, it carries the canal at a height of 9m (30ft) over the river. It has seven arches and, nowadays at least, the river only flows through a few of them. It drops a lot of silt and debris, which has built up over the years and blocked some of the arches.

Now the vegetation on the banks has died back a bit, you can actually get nearer to the river to see the bridge (above). It's quite an amazing piece of engineering. A few years ago they had to drain the canal to do some repairs - see HERE for what that looked like. 

The canal towpath at this point is on the left of the picture below. It takes you across the change-line bridge at Dowley Gap (behind me as I took the photo) and then, taking a little track round the mill buildings at this point, you can access the other side of the canal from below the aqueduct. You can cross the aqueduct bridge on the footway on the right hand side, as you can see from the photo, which means - happily - I can do a circular walk out along the canal and back through Hirst Wood (or vice versa).