Join writer and bookseller Steve Andrews as he walks along a beautiful canal towpath in Bath, England on 1st June 2024 before he starts work in the bookshop that employs him....
What an incredible place to live! Great video, and thanks for reminding me of The Drowned Giant! I read that many many years ago and had forgotten who wrote it! I've never forgotten the details of the giants body rotting on the beach.
How wonderful. Thanks very much for this, Steve. It beats my journey to work by a mile. Several, in fact. I really must revisit Bath. Next year, maybe.
Quite nice and relaxing, also brings back memories of your Keith Roberts video for some reason. I guess that upon seeing the landscape I think 'Keith Roberts'.
I wish I lived there - I would be a different human being - all my nerves would restore themselves. I visited Stonehenge and the old burial grounds near Amesbury. I imagined Hawkwind live in '76.
thanks, steve. enjoyed taking a walk with you. looking forward to more btw: i just ordered your sf book from amazon. looking forward to that as well! cheers
I have been walking the canal in stages, and look forward to reaching the Bath area. Not sure however that I understand the criticism at the number of houseboats (if such they were, rather than just temporary moorings). It needs to be remembered that 50 years ago the canal was often derelict and unnavigable. For it to thrive now it needs a healthy community of both leisure traffic and permanent dwellers; the canal will decline again if this is not so, and will no longer then be an amenity to walkers either. I appreciate that sometimes stretches can appear to be a bit like a floating favela, but that didn't appear to be an issue in what was shown in the video.
Well, the walk was heavily edited to exclude a near constant stream of cyclists and runners (and this was before 8am), as I indicated, so it didn't reflect the number of boats fully either. I understand what you mean and totally get your point, but I'm simply making a comparison to the recent past- I first walked this stretch of the canal in 1985 - so that's almost forty years ago- and it was fully navigable then and much more pleasant, allowing for quiet and relatively solitary walking. I'd say my experience is a reflection of many factors- population growth, a desire to live 'off grid' while at the same time taking advantage of an infrastructure some of those dwellers may or may not be contributing to and the explosion in turning rural and semi-rural spaces into an 'outdoor playground' for the sport-obsessed. Yes, I'm looking at it from one perspective- mine- but walking, the oldest means of travelling has been further downgraded in this location by recent social changes. I'm bemoaning that, I guess. Thanks for viewing and commenting, hope you enjoy walking this bit of the canal, but be ready to dodge inconsiderate cyclists constantly.
