I try to have at least a short walk most days (don't always manage it) and my default is to walk down to the canal, along the towpath and back home up through Saltaire village. There's usually something interesting to see. It's not often, however, that I see kayakers on the canal and certainly not so many together. They were a colourful sight. They had to stop a few yards further on and haul all the boats out of the canal to carry them up past the lock. There are signs on both sides that mandate 'Porterage'. I imagine a lock isn't safe for such shallow, light craft; it would be like trapping them in a washing machine as the water poured in.
At exactly the moment they sped past me, I also spotted a toad crawling quite rapidly across the towpath to the canal. It was a feat of some dexterity to manage to get photos of both. The toad was soon gone, with a belly flop into the water. Perhaps it was on its way to spawn.
Good to see there are still toads about! Road traffic keeps killing so many.
ReplyDeleteThe kayakers make a colourful group. Yes, a normal lock is not doable for a normal kayak. I've been on a few kayak tours myself and we always had to carry the boats around the lock. In some places there is a sort of "slide" at the side of the lock, where kayaks can go through, but of course it only works one way, from the higher to the lower water level.