Budgie

This morning a budgie came to call. My best beloved called me to the front of the boat, where a passing walker had drawn her attention to the bird perched on Erin Mae's roof. But when I emerged, it flew off to the bridge. So I used the zoom at maximum to collect the evidence.

We're now on a section of the Leeds and Liverpool with no locks for many a mile – it follows the contours. This means you meander around, with some amazing views across the countryside, the expanse of which is, of course, very difficult to capture on a 3x2 photo.

Some of the hills are hills, while others, I think, are spoil from old industrial workings.

The signs of that industry are everywhere, alongside the 18th century transport route…

while the canal in this area constantly interacts with its contemporary counterpart.

 But who knows by what route this oddity ended up here?

In the end we tied up in Hapton, with this view from the towpath.

A beautiful, breezy evening – time to get the washing out!

It's been the best day of the week, and something of a relief after the energetics of the lock flights. It's going to be quite a while before those resume. But when they do, we're heading for the top of the world.