I walked at the canal again today, starting from the Jubilee bridge this time. It does a horseshoe loop that is quiet disorientating, you feel as if you’ve turned around on yourself. It started cold but once the sun broke through it became a gorgeous day for a stroll, towards Halberton. 
The tow path winds its way through the Devon countryside for eleven miles.
With lovely views of farmland.
Under some very old bridges, the Devon section of the canal opened in 1814 so the bridges must be roughly the same age.
It was a muddy day and welly boots were called for – sadly I wasn’t wearing mine! Never mind, it was worth it to see this stunning tree.
There is lots of wildlife, but I took the wrong lens. When I was there a few weeks ago I had the zoom lens and needed the the standard, this time if I had the zoom I could have got a decent shot of . . . I’m hoping the Hobbit will tell me?
If you live in the UK you will have heard about the damage to the canal bank in November last year when many parts of the country suffered severe floods. This gallery shows some of the damage, and the temporary dams that are in place to prevent further problems until the repairs begin. Thankfully Devon County Council have budgeted three million pounds to rebuild the thirty metre breach in the embankment. The work begins in June and will take nearly a year to complete.
Now I’ll leave you with a photo from the end of today’s walk, hope you enjoyed it.
Lucid Gypsy 
I dd enjoy it. Thank you
nice stroll! We like to stroll along our river banks too – the river Ruhr in North-Rhine Westphalia …
Nice walk. Enjoyed your photos of it.
BE ENCOURAGED! BE BLESSED!
Really great story and pictures- love the tree and the hawk!
I had a lovely and pictorial stroll at Grand Western Cana.. I’ve never been there before. Tee Hee. Thanks, Gilly.
those long towpaths must provide wonderful walking opportunities … even if you need your wellies … but the final photo is a triumph of spring erupting … the classic beauty of the english countryside … and what a good thing the canal bank is being repaired … do canal boats still use that stretch?
https://lucidgypsy.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/grand-western-canal/
I posted above a few weeks ago, there is a picture of the horse drawn barge that operates trips along the canal. I don’t think it will do very well this year because of the breach a section is closed. The canal is great for walking and cycling all year round. I’m glad you like the last photo, I nearly didn’t use it because of the polythene stuff keeping the soil warm, but it was there and perhaps it adds something to the image. Thanks for your lovely visits 🙂
The field in the last photo looks interesting.
A lovely walk. Canals are now such wonderful havens for wildlife. If only the builders knew…….
Beautiful wanderings and photos 🙂
A wonderful stroll!
Ah, what a wonderful walk!!!!
🙂
Devon is my favourite part of the UK, but then I’m biased being a west country girl!
Are you? sorry I didn’t realise,thought you were in warmer climes!
Real nice photos with interesting history
wheres the hobbit I’m waiting for an ID.. lovely photos…
He is so slow I did it myself!it’s a buzzard 🙂
We have 5 different specie of Buzzards here and I didn’t want to be presumptuous and say I thought it was a Jackal Buzzard as I don’t know if it comes there… but it sure looks identical to our Jackal buzzard… great capture by the way…
Wunderschöne Landschaftbilder Ich wünsche eine gute glückliche schöne Woche.Gruß Gislinde
Wonderful places Gilly, Thanks for sharing my friend 🙂
Lovely photos, Gilly. How nice that you had some sunshine. It’s been raining here for most of the past few days. I love the sky in that last pic. 🙂
Thanks for taking us along for that stroll Gilly. Love the last one.
What a beautiful winter walk. I love the colour of blue the sky goes in winter 🙂 yesterday I did a lovely walk along the beach, but today winter has covered everything with snow again!
Nice stroll, Gilly!
Just so peaceful with lots of surprising adventures. The last picture’s blue sky…stunning.
looks like a fair bit of work needed to repairs some of this Gilly
Love that last photo. Looks like a painting. Just beautiful. Margie