Waterways & your city in picture.

[cardiff]

Id say Portsmouth has the most exciting harbour, but it isnt just around gunwarf its all along southsea common. i will never forget watching a concert on a summers evening looking at the bandstand with the sea behind and two large ferries all lit up sailing calmly past. Also waving off warships for the gulf war felt very relevant and important.

[Portobello Red]

Cafe at Liverpool's Tate Gallery - Albert Dock

martinacalladine on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/41362200@N00/3135681579/

image hosted on flickr

[hollow man]

Portsmouth Harbour = Superb.

[Suburban Knight]

Originally Posted by Pompey77

I think you all need to see a real waterway, one which serves a purpose and has done for centuries, which is always filled with activity and life as opposed to what most here appear to be - dead space which are nice to look at and walk along but serve little other purpose.

Even some of the seemingly busier waterways like the canals around gas street basin in Birmingham have very little actual boat activity on them in my experience. Even the Thames has surprisingly little traffic on it other than tourist boats and the Thames clippers. Essentially in most places waterways are wasted resources which could be much better utilised.

Depends what bit of the Thames you mean - East of London and it's probably the busiest waterway in the country, what with all the shipping to and from the Port of London (2nd busiest in the country by tonnage), Chatham, Sheerness, Thamesport and the oil refineries. You can stand on the beach in Essex and see several huge tankers and container ships at any one time. It just happens to look quiet because it's several miles wide!

[Pompey77]

I dont think Chatham and Sheerness can be considered on the Thames? They are certainly not part of London.

I was really thinking about Central london; i suppose the area from the Thames barrier to chelsea bridge upon which there is the tourist boats and little else. Tilbury which is, i think, Londons primary port is outside the M25.

It is this shift downstream which has left the Thames a dead waterway. Its capacity for moving people and cargo into and out of London is squandered. It could easily become an important part of the city again but at the moment it is more of an obsticle to, rather than a method of, transportation.

[Sandblast]

Originally Posted by Pompey77

Even some of the seemingly busier waterways like the canals around gas street basin in Birmingham have very little actual boat activity on them in my experience.......

image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr
image hosted on flickr


Perhaps British Waterways were on strike when you came? I know they aren't quite destroyers, aircraft carriers, cross channel ferries or HMS Victory, but the canals & the narrow boats and barges did serve a purpose & are a big tourist attraction today ..... especially for American & South African tourists who find them quite quaint!

[Pompey77]

Well I’ve never seen anything close to the number of boats pictured above on the canals in Birmingham. I have been a number of times and only ever seen them moored up in gas street basin and a few elsewhere rarely with anyone on and even more rarely moving. Your last picture has to be of some special event, there are loads there. That is exactly how it should be but i have, until now, never seen it like that.

[Pompey77]

I think what gets me most is these canals could still be used for the purpose they were designed for, this being the movement of heavy cargo. Why is it aggregate and other construction materials are not moved about the country in this way it is so much more efficient and environmentally friendly than transporting them by road.

Sadly they are not used in this way and there seems to be virtually no impetus to change this. People seem to have accepted that they are no more than museum pieces their only value being in their aesthetics.

[Sandblast]

Originally Posted by Pompey77

Well I’ve never seen anything close to the number of boats pictured above on the canals in Birmingham. I have been a number of times and only ever seen them moored up in gas street basin and a few elsewhere rarely with anyone on and even more rarely moving. Your last picture has to be of some special event, there are loads there. That is exactly how it should be but i have, until now, never seen it like that.

It is busier in the summer months, with excursions & some of the boats even have restaurants on them. You can do trips that take in the more touristy areas which takes about 2 hours, or you can do trips that take in industrial areas (which isn't for the faint-hearted I have to admit!!!) There are even water taxis in the summer, & even an Italian gondola.

Yes, you are right about the last picture - that is the annual British Waterways Festival, when the canals of central Birmingham become the equivalent of the M6 motorway - i.e. grid locked!!! They even fill the National Indoor Arena with water & float boats in there too!!

[cardiff]

River Ely by the sports village



Inner Harbour seen from Senedd

[cardiff]

Roath park lake





Inner harbour

[yoshef]

Originally Posted by Pompey77

I think you all need to see a real waterway, one which serves a purpose and has done for centuries, which is always filled with activity and life as opposed to what most here appear to be - dead space which are nice to look at and walk along but serve little other purpose.

Is the Mersey not a real waterway just because its not a small harbour full of small to medium sized ships? I must've missed something!

kennyrouge:-


merseyorange


taliabell
image hosted on flickr


LesAuld
image hosted on flickr


LesAuld
image hosted on flickr


EskimoEric
image hosted on flickr


PeteCarr
image hosted on flickr


MaddieDigital
image hosted on flickr


Declan Mcaleese
image hosted on flickr


Fatharris
image hosted on flickr



EricTheFish2008
image hosted on flickr


JeffDalt
image hosted on flickr


Sam the sham and the photos
image hosted on flickr

[ill tonkso]

Nobody said that, but the Mersey is probably not as busy as Portsmouth Harbour. Remember Portsmouth Harbour empties out onto the worlds busiest waters. Portsmouth sees a lot more large ferries and things than Liverpool (we have France ferries (roughly 2 or 3 a day), spain ferries (once every 3 days I think), isle of wight ferries (every 45min), isle of wight passenger ferries (every 30 min), isle of wight hovercraft (every 10min), gosport ferry (every 5min)

Then there is Naval Movement, the Portsmouth commercial port, the pleasurecraft...

Nobody said Liverpool was not busy, Liverpool sees bigger ships than Portsmouth does (no way can Portsmouth take Post Panamax) but Portsmouth sees more.

[hollow man]

Wow, great shots of the mersey.

[Tony Sebo]

Fair points. One of the saddest aspects of Liverpool's slump for the last 40 years was the ships disappearing from the river. From tramp steamers to the greatest trans atlantic liners, cargo ships going to the americas and hundreds of tugs that used to service them lined up at the old landing stage.

Now that the river is alive again it fair makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up!



Portsmouth has a great potential.. a sort of mini Sydney. They need to put a grid plan onto the waterfron areas.

[yoshef]

Originally Posted by ill tonkso

Nobody said that, but the Mersey is probably not as busy as Portsmouth Harbour. Remember Portsmouth Harbour empties out onto the worlds busiest waters. Portsmouth sees a lot more large ferries and things than Liverpool (we have France ferries (roughly 2 or 3 a day), spain ferries (once every 3 days I think), isle of wight ferries (every 45min), isle of wight passenger ferries (every 30 min), isle of wight hovercraft (every 10min), gosport ferry (every 5min)

Then there is Naval Movement, the Portsmouth commercial port, the pleasurecraft...

Nobody said Liverpool was not busy, Liverpool sees bigger ships than Portsmouth does (no way can Portsmouth take Post Panamax) but Portsmouth sees more.

Fair dos, but the term "Dead water" and "real waterway" was used by an earlier post, quoted in my post. It might have been in the 80s but the port is thriving again. AFAIK we still have the most diverse port and largest maritime economy in the UK outside london? We also have art work and several wind farms to make it even more interesting.

image hosted on flickr

Rob Ayres

[ill tonkso]

We don't have wind farms but we do have these beauties!

[cardiff]

Why do you need to have a grid plan in order to have a great city!? The most interesting cities in the world are generally not grid like cities.

[morestoreysplease]

Great shots of Cardiff and Liverpool - you don't realise how lucky you are! About Pompey's ships etc - imagine the scene on D-Day?? Hundreds of boats heading off to Normandy would have made for a great sight.

[yoshef]

Originally Posted by ill tonkso

We don't have wind farms but we do have these beauties!

I love those old forts, the nearest we've got is the Napoleonic Fort Perch Rock , but its nowhere near as interesting as off shore forts