During Lockdown it has been difficult finding new inspiration for paintings. Okay, I can look online and obviously there is a great wealth of choice within various places such as Instagram and particularly Pinterest....(I save a lot of potential inspirational paintings there).
However, there is Nothing like getting out there. Now with lockdown eased a bit more, it has been possible to travel further afield. I went down to South-East Devon and stayed with our daughter (Lil). As she is into photography it worked for both of us as we set off to find something new to photograph/paint. Although I didn't take my painting kit with me, just my iPhone, which was perfect to slip into my pocket, stop when I saw something good to refer to later and move onto finding something else to take a snap of.
We drove to Tiverton Canal namely the Grand Western Canal. Depending on which way you are facing, it starts in Tiverton Devon and ends about 5 mile shy of Wellington Somerset. The whole canal is approximately 11 miles long. Small fry in terms of canals in the UK, and it is totally landlocked, unlike other canals that join up and go for mile upon mile. I'll add a link or two at the bottom of this in case you would like a read up about this particular canal.
Plus we put our bikes in the car (and little Hamish) - this meant we could travel much further than walking along a small section of the canal.
We didn't start the cycle ride at the Tiverton basin though, but found a car park further on at Halberton.
I think you'll agree the photos show how much there was to enjoy...including the oversized plastic heron in the picture above. Works for a business though, it catches the eye and then you see it's a B&B.
Of course, daughter took photos and very often without my knowledge she photographed me!
(I have absolutely no idea what I was jabbering on about and pointing, but it must have been important at the time)
....you see little Hamish there ↑ He got to run along sometimes, but when we felt he might get tired, daughter popped him back into the trailer (strapped in, just in case he decided to go for a swim!)
and he loved the attention he got from passersby
and then there was this....
Yes the caption should read:
"An outing for care in the community"
Lovely of her to have got me eating an apple, where I can only say I was deep in thought about a possible painting view on the opposite bank -
I really do need to wait my opportunity to get my own back some time!
click the image below for a very short video clip ⤹
here are some links about the canal:
Grand Western Canal - wiki
Tiverton Canal
Where we parked:
Halberton - canal car park - if you happen to use What3Words then the 3 words for this are hilarious:
pacemaker.dentures.rotate
- incidentally, you don't need the App for this -
Just go to Google and put:
What 3 Words > fill in the place you want to look for > then you get the 3 words
pacemaker (dot) dentures (dot) rotate
Although we didn't cycle the entire route, at least this is something for another visit...
and
Lil did manage to do some photography but she also quickly got some snaps of a deer on the opposite bank. Although it didn't stand there long - plus Lil wasn't prepared with her camera at that second - she still got these
Yet more reason to go back another time, that's a definite.
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