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shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Shadowed Eyes
@shadowedeyes.bsky.social
310 followers 25 following 640 posts
Boatlife, Canals, Heritage...
...plus a bit of Gloucester Heritage (https://gloucester500.co.uk)
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shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Shadowed Eyes @shadowedeyes.bsky.social · Nov 26
River Cherwell, aka Oxford Canal, photographed in October 2022 less than two weeks into the new boatlife and just a few days before boatlife reality struck and a stuck starter motor left me stranded in the Oxfordshire boonies for eight days.
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat #boatlife #OxfordCanal
Autumnal, warm-tinted image of the canalised River Cherwell with a narrowboat moored near a bridge over the river and the Oxford Canal continuing round right.
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Worst of #boatlife, engine going up in cloud of black smoke, forcing me to haul boat and ailing old bones long distances for essentials 😨

Best of boatlife: Jules Fuels CT&M, who, unsolicited, towed me thru a storm to boatyard safety 👼

#ukcanals #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of an 18th-century wharf at night with boats moored in the canal alongside
December 10, 2025 at 7:41 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Coventry Canal and Oxford Canal at Hawkesbury Junction. Both were troubled projects, the Coventry requiring completion by two other canal companies and the Oxford requiring a second Act to raise the funds to complete it.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo taken from the top of a cast-iron footbridge over the junction of the Coventry Canal, which passes down the left hand side of the image, and the Oxford Canal, which begins at the junction. In the middle distance to the left stands the former pump house which fed the Coventry with water. To the right, a stop lock watched over by a lock-keeper's cottage protected the water of the two separately owned canal companies.
December 8, 2025 at 7:05 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Hardy December hire boater having negotiated the Hawkesbury Junction U-bend head up the Coventry Canal past the 1837-built former pump house that used to keep the canal topped up.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a narrowboat passing under a footbridge that spans a narrowed section of the Coventry Canal, just before passing a very small cruiser moored (and looking abandoned) on the right and a long blue narrowboat moored on the left. Watching over the scene from the right bank is the former pump house, a three-storey brick building with windows bricked in and a tall chimney attached to one corner.
December 6, 2025 at 5:54 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Wrangling over tolls between the Oxford and Coventry Canals meant the two originally ran parallel just a few feet apart for nearly a mile before meeting, until this new junction at Hawkesbury eliminated duplication 1803.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of Hawkesbury Junction in the fading light of a rainy winter day. The Coventry Canal can be glimpsed through the cast-iron footbridge to the left, whilst the Oxford Canal runs from the far end of the basin, past the former lock-keeper's cottage, through a stop lock and under another cast-iron footbridge in the distance. To the right, the warm lights of the Greyhound Inn have been welcoming boaters for nearly two centuries.
December 5, 2025 at 7:15 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Amazing the number of underwater obstructions one finds right next to the towpath😡
1/2 mile added to the trip log in the bow-hauling column, and just another 1/2 mile more to reach a much-needed elsan.
Wonder if Santa can drop a new engine down the chimney this year😟
#boatlife #ukcanals #narrowboat
December 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
"Days are too short," the skipper said as his narrowboat crept past, bow light illuminating the way like a very, very slow comet.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a narrowboat approaching a bridge, the boat's bright bow light illuminating the bridge's art deco styling. In the foreground another narrowboat is moored stern to the camera, while behind warm light spills from a canal-side residence.
December 3, 2025 at 5:25 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
One day it's blowing a gale and the sky looks like the Atlantic is doing a low-level flyby on its way to the continent, the next it's blue sky and millponds. Nippier today, too, but I scored me some coal, so all good 🔥😊
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of narrowboats moored on the offside of a rural canal under a clear blue winter sky.
December 2, 2025 at 4:17 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Bit blowy out & last of the coal just gone into the wood-burner, but all good because today was a laundry and hot shower day 🥳🕺
Old pic of Lower Parting on the River Severn at Gloucester, which ceased to be navigable 1941
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a colourful winter sunset taken from an apex of land formed by the two channels of the River Severn at Gloucester rejoining, the east channel from the left and the west channel from the right.
December 1, 2025 at 6:58 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
NB Sculptor turns 90 this year. Built 1935 for the Grand Union Canal Carrying Co., it is now part of The Canal Museum on the Grand Union at Stoke Bruerne, one of three excellent museums operated by the Canal & River Trust
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a historic working narrowboat moored by the side of a picnic area next to the canal.
November 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Half way through boat licence year. If I don't move at all now, my CRT licence review next April will still show c.300 miles travelled. Should get a new licence on range, but they'll be wanting words about the 14-day rule
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Historic narrowboat travelling down a canal lined with trees in transition from winter to spring.
November 27, 2025 at 5:09 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Tad chilly on the North Oxford this morning, but the sun looks like it will burn off the fog and turn the canal back to liquid as the day progresses.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of narrowboats moored along a frosty towpath on a cold winter morning with the low sun already burning off the fog.
November 26, 2025 at 9:26 AM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
🧵1/x
Leaves that attached themselves to the prop & slowed progress as Autumn got into full swing have given way in the current wintry cold snap to ice, though just a thin broken sheet that did not slow me down today 🥶
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a canal in autumn lined on each side by moored boats and colourful trees which are making a leaf soup of the canal water.
November 21, 2025 at 8:48 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
🧵1/2
The Commission on Boat Licensing has published its report on the Future of Licensing. See canalrivertrust.org.uk/media/docume.... Interesting reading.

#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
canalrivertrust.org.uk
November 19, 2025 at 3:09 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Bright little oasis of vital supplies and technical expertise on the North Oxford Canal.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a small, rural, canal-side wharf lit at night
November 10, 2025 at 9:54 AM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
c.1774-vintage original and now truncated line of the Oxford Canal disappears under an iron bridge built c.1834, when the canal here was straightened to better compete with the Grand Union for Midlands–London traffic.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a pair of canal bridges at sun down, with autumnal trees painted gold by the setting sun. An iron-railing bridge carries the towpath over the original line of the canal that bent sharply right and is now just a short arm. Beyond that, an arched, brick bridge carries a road over the straightened section of canal that eliminated the bend of the original canal, thus shortening the route.
November 8, 2025 at 10:11 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Autumn. Dusk. North Oxford Canal.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of two narrowboats moored on a sinuous stretch of canal lined with trees in their autumn regalia under a darkening sky.
November 2, 2025 at 11:28 AM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Hillmorton Boat Services tucked down an arm off the North Oxford Canal between the locks, on what looks from old maps to be the site of former Oxford Canal Company workshops.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a short arm off the North Oxford Canal, the entrance spanned by an arched brick bridge, with narrowboats moored on the arm and a crane and some service buildings peaking up from behind large bushes.
October 27, 2025 at 2:41 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Grand Union at Daventry, just before Braunston Tunnel. Very pretty, but all those leaves in the canal meant constant anxious blipping of reverse to clear them from the prop while going through the tunnel 🥵
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a canal lined with colourful trees in autumn.
October 23, 2025 at 12:58 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Extended and in part drought-enforced stay on the Grand Union finally comes to an end as me and m' little boat-home turn onto the North Oxford. Forecast indicates a fair chunk of that drought will be fixed tomorrow ☔☔☔
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a narrowboat travelling down a canal against a backdrop of a gently rising field in which sheep are grazing, lined on the far side by autumnal trees with the spire of All Saints Church rising into a moody sky.
October 22, 2025 at 9:38 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
NB Trout, built 1931 for Fellows, Morton & Clayton, breasted up on the Grand Union with its butty, Norah, built 1930 for London Midland and Scottish Railway. The pair are now home to Daisy's Bakin Butty floating cafe 🍰
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a pair of historic working narrowboats breasted together at the side of a wide canal lined on each side by trees in their colourful autumn regalia
October 20, 2025 at 6:12 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Cleared the Buckby locks, thanks to vlockies and a couple on a hire boat who clearly knew what they were doing, so it is in theory, with only a bit of careful timing around planned stoppages, open waters for the winter😊
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of narrowboats moored at the side of a wide canal on a soggy grey day made colourful by trees resplendent in their autumnal finery lining each side of the canal.
October 19, 2025 at 5:52 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Bridgeless bridge hole on the Grand Union (used to be bridge 30, so bridge numbering here is a tad discontiguous now). 'Tis the season of colourful trees and, therefore, constant clearing of leaves from my leaf magnet prop 😠
#boatlife
#ukcanals #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a canal lined on each side by trees in their autumnal finery. In the middle distance the canal narrows where a now missing swing bridge once spanned the canal. Through the gap can be seen a white, two-storey canal-side residence.
October 16, 2025 at 6:28 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
🧵1/4
Canalside cottages opposite the Boat Inn, top lock at Stoke Bruerne on the Grand Union. Inn appears to predate the canal, having been built in the 18th century, whilst the canal followed at the turn of the century
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of historic canal-side brick and stone buildings lit at night. On each side of the canal, above a functioning lock next to a decommissioned lock, there is a narrowboat moored.
October 13, 2025 at 7:13 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
Crept into my fourth year of liveaboard continuous cruising last week. Nights drawing in now, fourth winter approaches.

Pic: The very splendid Ashby Canal last April, before drought confined me to the Grand Union

#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of a blue narrowboat approaching along a canal against a backdrop of leafless trees lit by a setting sun on a cloudless spring day
September 25, 2025 at 6:12 PM
shadowedeyes.bsky.social
🧵1/3
In 1793, digging began on the c.90-mile Grand Junction Canal (now part of the Grand Union) at both northern and southern ends. Seven years later, the two stretches met at this bridge in Cosgrove.
#boatlife
#ukcanals #canal #narrowboat
#KeepCanalsAlive #FundBritainsWaterways
Photo of an unusually ornate and decorative canal bridge built from dressed limestone.
September 8, 2025 at 4:54 PM