A-Z Challenge 2018 - British Rivers: 'K' - Kennet

The River Kennet is one of the 161 chalk streams in the UK. It is a tributary of the River Thames; its navigable length to Newbury makes, with that of the River Avon and The Avon and Kennet Canal, a waterway that stretches across England from Bristol to London.

River Kennet near Avebury, Wiltshire

Its tributaries north of Avebury combine with water from the source at Swallow Head Springs near Silbury Hill.

The area between Malborough and Woolhampton is a designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) due to the wildlife (brown trout) and the chalk stream aquatic plants it supports such as rununculus, the creeping buttercup. 

Mouth of the River Kennet at Reading
(With Brunel's GWR bridge)

The Kennet flood plain at Burghfield in Berkshire contains many gravel pits renowned for their fishing. The river section is one of the most prolific for barbel with weights registered of over 17lbs.

A Burghfield Lake

Photo attributions:

• River Kennet near Avebury: upload to wikimedia commons 16 December 2011 - CC BY-SA 3.0 licence
• Mouth of the River Kennet: 10 March 2013 by Quentin UK - CC BY 3.0 licence
• A Burghfield Lake: 30 January 2008, ex geograph.org.uk by Andrew Smith - CC BY-SA 2.0 licence.

British Ships - Sunday Stamps II

Violet's theme this week of 'ships.boats' enables me to show a favourite set including some ships that were/are world famous.

Great Britain - British Ships,  15 January 1969

Did you know that the Cutty Sark has a figurehead of a witch's hand holding the tail of a horse? 

This is derived from the Robert Burns poem Tam O'Shanter  where Tam is chased by a witch wearing a short shirt (a cutty sark). Witches cannot cross running water and as Tam rode over the Brig of Doon the witch pulled off the horse's tail and was left with it in her hand as Tam and his horse Meg escaped.

If you don't believe me you can always visit the restored Clipper Ship at Greenwich to see for yourself.

These 9d stamps were arranged in horizontal strips of three across the page.

The 1/- stamps below were in horizontal strips of two.

Great Britain - British Ships

You may visit Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous steamship the SS Great Britain in Bristol's Great Western Dockyard; the place where it was built - and restored  for us to marvel at.

The SS Mauretania was a Cunard Line ocean liner, launched in 1906, which held the Blue Riband for the fastest Atlantic crossing for 20 years from 1909.

For other maritime stamps cross over to Sunday-stamps-ii-8.

Art on Sunday Stamps

I joined Sunday Stamps hosted by Viridian in the second week it ran and have participated since up to this, its 200th edition. As Viridian is handing over the baton after this week to Violet Sky I must pay tribute to Viridian for all the hard work she has put in for us to reach that 200 milestone.

Over the weeks there have been many stamps depicting art of various forms, but I am returning to British paintings on stamps issued on 12 August 1968. I have shown two of these before but have since acquired the full set of four.

Great Britain - British Paintings

The paintings are:

• 4d Queen Elizabeth I - unknown artist
• 1s6d Ruins of St Mary Le Port - John Piper
• 1s Pinkie - Thomas Lawrence
• 1s6d The Hay Wain - John Constable

The 'Darnley Portrait' of Elizabeth I hangs in the National Portrait Gallery.Painted about 1575 it was named after a previous owner and shows the Queen with a crown and sceptre on the table beside her. The portrait is the source of the face pattern 'The Mask of Youth' used for portraits of Elizabeth for years to come.

John Piper was commissioned as a war artist during WWII to paint the 'Home Front.' His series of paintings of bombed buildings included the Bristol church of St Mary le Port which had been hit in attacks on Bristol Docks in November 1940

Pinkie, painted in 1794 by Thomas Lawrence hangs in the Huntington Library at San Marino, California. The museum has given it the title of Sarah Barrett Moulton, Pinkie. Sarah was about eleven years old when she posed for the artist.

Constable's Hay Wain finished in 1821 is one of the greatest and most popular English paintings. It show the wagon in the River Stour between the counties of Suffolk and Essex - the left bank is in Suffolk, the right in Essex.

For links to other art, cross over to Sunday-stamps-200.

Crossing Water - Sepia Saturday

This week's prompt is a 'Couple Crossing a River' with a boulder apparently threatening the pair's success.

It's a widely held belief that you cannot cross running water without there being consequences.

Now if you doubt that this tale is so,

I met that spook just a year ago,

Now I didn't stop for a second look,

But I made for the the bridge that spans the brook,

Cause once you cross the bridge my friends

The ghost is through, his power ends.

— The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad

If I had to cross the river at Bristol I'd definitely use the suspension bridge.

Clifton Suspension Bride

The Avon is a long way down even from the road that skirts it.

Looking down from the bridge

Daphne du Maurier first saw Cornwall's River Fowey at the age of 19 when their hire car deposited  her, her mother and sisters at the foot of the hill at Bodinnick by the slipway for the ferry to Fowey.

The ferry slipway is at the centre left edge of the photo above. The house with the blue door is the house the du Mauriers were to buy and rename Ferryside and were Daphne was to write 'The Loving Spirit', the first of her novels.

I'm not a lover of ferries as the only Channel crossing I ever took (in 1959) was horrific even before we had left Calais.

The brook that our sons were threatening to jump looked much more friendly in the 1960s'.

Andrew & Adrian

The rocks did not look big enough to be stepping stones.

However some do not need any help to cross. 

Egret in the Fowey Estuary

Other damsels chose to rest on reeds beside a lake. 

Bluet Damselflies

Some just pause to drink at the water's edge with no thought of crossing.

Fawn at lakeside

But are those rocks intimidating her.

This pup has been cast adrift to make the crossing on his own.

Scout getting ready to paddle with his stick

Now grown up, he would just jump in and swim across.

We have just left him back in Michigan where he lives next to that lake. Of course we have to take a plane back across the pond. But first we have to decide whose in charge.

In the Airbus Cockpit (2013)

Do we push or pull?

Well we crossed safely again this year and now it's time for you to cross over to see what other watery treats are on offer at Sepia-Saturday-254.

Multiples - Thematic Photography

One of the things I like about the weekly challenge set by Carmi is that it makes you look at your photos in a different way. This week it's "Multiples" and although I could take a shot of the multiple snowflakes falling as I write,  it's easier to raid my archives again.

Birds figure on Carmi's shot used as the prompt; I'm starting with birds as well.

Beechwood Rookery - 2011

The rooks were making quite a din when I walked by earlier today when there was many more birds to see and hear. Not as many though as in my next shots taken on the Isles of Scilly.

Gulls on Tresco - August 2008

If ten is not enough, look what happened when I move to a different vantage point.

Tresco Gulls (and multiple cattle too)

Back in Bristol you might need to take this shot with a pinch of salt.

Barrel Store on Quayside for SS Great Britain

Meanwhile in my local town you can find multiple arches in a half-mile stretch, far more than in this photo.

Yarm - Railway Viaduct

That completes my repertoire for this week. For multiple more multiples check out Thematic-photographic-230.

Broken - Thematic Photography

Once broken, never forgotten but rescued and restored to all her glory Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain sits today in the dry dock at Bristol's Historic Quay

When launched by Prince Albert in 1843 she was the biggest ship in the world, At the time she was the world's first ocean liner and completed her first trip to New York in 1845 in 14 days and 21 hours.

Brunel had designed the ship to be run chiefly by steam but but she could also use her sails.Between 1852 and 1875 she undertook the role of Emigrant Steam Clipper taking families to a new life in Australia. !856 saw SS Great Britain carry troops to fight in the Crimea; in 1861 she carried the first England cricket team to Australia.

In 1882 her role changed again as she was converted to carry cargo, her engine and funnel were removed. With three tall masts and broad square sails she became a 'windjammer' carrying coal to San Fransico.

Badly damaged by storms  rounding Cape Horn in 1886 she took shelter in the Falkland Islands where she was used as a floating warehouse for coal and wood. Her working life ended in 1933. In 1937 holes were made in her hull and she was scuttled in a remote windswept bay.

If you visit the restored ship in its Bristol dry dock you can see the 'broken' state of the great ship below the 'waterline.'

SS Great Britain Scuttling Holes

SS Great Britian - c1968 'broken' but rescued

The ship came back to England in 1970 on a pontoon and now takes centre stage on Bristol's Historic Quay.

SS Great Britain - Bristol 2011

 A long way from that Falkland's windswept cove.

Add caption

 For more broken artifacts don't forget to look in on Carmi's thematic-photographic-205

Orange - Thematic Photography

I have shown photos before of Brunel's steamship the SS Great Britain in its Bristol dry dock; the orange theme this week allows me to show two more.

Rudder of SS Great Britain

This shot is taken through the 'glass' covering that surrounds the ship. Visitors may go into the dry dock and walk round the hull of the ship. You can get a different view of the rudder and go right up to it.

Propeller and Rudder - SS Great Britain

Boat races are held on the River Tees on Yarm Gala Day; the boats fit our theme.

Boat Race on River Tees

During my holiday in Michigan this year one of the jobs to keep me amused was to cut the grass.

Orange mower

If you are wondering about the driver, he's behind the camera ready to take photos of the wildlife before moving them out of harm's way with that metal snow shovel.

Snapping Turtle laying eggs in the grass

It's not often that you get the chance to see a bird of paradise but this is one I like,

Bird of Paradise flower

growing in my son's flat in Cornwall.

For orange treats you need to pop over to Thematic-photographic-204 where you will find others who have responded to Carmi's challenge.

Looking Up - Thematic Photography

I often think that we do not look up enough. As soon I saw this looking up theme I remembered two photos I had taken where I had deliberately shot what was over my head.

Brunel's SS Great Britain towers above in its Bristol dry dock.

SS Great Britain

However there was another shot where I lay down on my back much to the amusement of other people.

SS Great Britain - masts and rigging

Last week when the theme was trees I thought about using this shot, taken looking up.

Sycamore branches overhead

 

Sometimes though it's not necessary to point your camera straight up as you can get a power shot without doing that. (I just wish we could get some weather like this now!)

Power lines

If you want more things to look up to I suggest that you visit Carmi's thematic photographic 196

Screens - Thematic Photography

When I saw that the topic for this week's thematic photography was 'Screens' I decided I only needed one new shot,

Thematic Photography - picture archive

I just hope you can read the header. Other photos are a selection from my files.

Middlesbrough Transporter Bridge - Visitor Centre

Wall display plus small screen of bridge in action

The Tees Barrage is up-river from the Transporter and there I found a different type of screen, this time designed to keep people out.

Archimedes Screws at Tees Whitewater Rafting Centre

The four screws recycle water from the rafting course back to the start. Only the two centre screws were lifting water when this shot was taken.

There's a ghostly look to my next set of screens in use back in the early 1940s.

Mosquito Nets - Egypt - UK naval base

You may think my next picture does not include a screen but there is still a maritime connection.

Rudder on SS Great Britain in Bristol Dry Dock

I would claim that the glass cover to the dock screens out the sunlight at least..

In the next a glass screen in the form of a box encloses a model.

Truro Cathedral inside Truro Cathedral

The crowd has still to arrive in this basketball stadium in Lansing, Michigan and the screens are blank.

Graduation Day for Thomas Cooley Law School

And for the golfing fans.

Olazabal Takes A Putt

For a leisurely ride home there is nothing to beat the view through a windscreen like this.

Helicopter approaching Nice.

Here's two who are saying it's time to go.

You Drive

But before you go make sure have your sunscreen on when you visit Carmi's Written Inc. screens

Strangers - Thematic Photography

Strangers in my photos are there for a variety of reasons. On Brunel's SS Great Britain it was the anchor I was interested in.

Anchor for SS Great Britain 

No matter how I tried for a picture of the anchor in the Bristol dry dock under the bows of the ship, strangers got in the way.

In other pictures the stangers are needed as an integral part of the action like this one shot in Norway.

A Foal's Feeding Time

In Germany this street scene would not be complete without all the strangers involved.

Freiburg Street Market

My final photo is one where the strangers had to be included although the dogs were the stars for me.

Forest of Dean Dog Show - Judge under pressure?

For other 'Strangers in Paradise' photography visit them here on Carmi's blog