Inland Waterways:
October 2025
Photograph of the Canal and River Trust information board.
On 28th October 2025, a group of photographers met for a photo walk. The walk followed the Somersetshire Coal Canal towpath to Dundas Basin and the Dundas Aqueduct before joining the Kennet & Avon Canal. Where the towpath reached Ferry Lane the planned walk crossed the railway line, passed Claverton Pumping Station, and continued into a field leading to Warleigh Weir. We later re-traced our route to the Angel Fish Cafe.
Total distance is about 3 miles.
The walk was part of the Talk Walk Talk project, which is a joint initiative between the Landscape and Digital Imaging Special Interest Groups of the Royal Photographic Society. The project aims to bring together photographers to work on a specific theme. The events are in three parts and involve a talk by an expert in the field, a walk in the Group Leader’s area, followed by a talk to discuss the photos taken on the walk by the participants.
Participants voted for the two images they would like to go forward to represent the walk in the national zine. Bryan McCormick’s image ‘Warleigh Weir’ was chosen as the winner. In joint second place were two of Jenny Short’s images ‘Quiet Corner’ and ‘Moored Along the Bank’. Jenny chose ‘Moored Along the Bank’ as the one she would like to go forward to the national zine.
“Sunlit
“Originally conceived as an indispensable way of moving goods around, canals formed the backbone of industry in the UK. Today they remain an integral part of our landscape.
I grew up around part of the Peak Forest Canal and always enjoyed exploring along the canal bank and watching the boats navigating the locks.
This TWT was a fascinating opportunity to visit more canals; with lots of opportunities to capture a variety of images along the canal and the Warleigh Weir on the river Avon (which supplies water to the canal).
Spending the day with a group of photographers, having the stimulation of new locations and then afterwards having the chance to see how other photographers visualised the same places, was great fun.”
“Warleigh Weir” by Bryan Mc Cormick
The image chosen by participants to represent the walk in the national RPS Zine
“Weathered by Time” ‘WeatheredbyTime’
“Drifting Along”
“Boaters’ Facilities”
“Autumn on the Water”
Also by Ann Bryson LRPS
by Jenny Short
“Quiet Corner”
“I moved away from the slippery descent to the weir and instead got down a slope further along where this tranquil scenario awaited across the water.”
“Moored Along the Bank”
“My eye was caught by the red, but I love the perspective with the wide-angle lens and the colours and solitude the scene represented.”
“Dundas Basin”
“After walking round the basin, I realised what a great place it was to live work and play. The man by the longboat was working on it and the one by the bridge was fishing.”
“Having dabbled with shutter speeds for a while on the weir, I decided to go for the moody mono look I favour!”
“Warleigh
Also by Lachlan Fraser LRPS
“Our walk began at Brassknocker Basin, where the remaining part of the Somersetshire Coal Canal, which still has water in it, meets the Kennet and Avon Canal at Dundas. The coal canal was opened in 1801 and closed in 1898. During this time coal was brought down the canal from the Somerset coalfields. The boats then joined the Kennet and Avon canal and journeyed onwards to Bath and beyond.
We walked through the Dundas Basin and watched, as canal boats moored up or waited their turn to travel across the Aqueduct, towards Bath or, in the opposite direction, towards Bradford on Avon. At Dundas we saw an old crane at the side of the lock. The sign said it was called an Acramans Crane which, in the late 1800s, was used to lift cargo and stone blocks on and off the boats. These stones were used to calculate the tolls a boat should pay.
Following the footpath and crossing over the canal on the white bridge, we continued in the direction of Bath and our destination, Warleigh Weir. It was a lovely, peaceful, Autumnal day, with views across the valley to Warleigh Wood and glimpses below us, in the valley, of the mainline railway and the River Avon. We walked the canal path enjoying the last vestiges of Autumn. When the breeze blew it lifted the colourful leaves high in the air then twirled them slowly downwards into the canal.”
“Artist’s Home ”
Also by Victoria Taylor ARPS
“I was fascinated by an extremely small bright blue boat, where, we were told, an artist lived. On the other side of the canal one of our group spotted a quirky looking shed, which turned out to be a ‘library’ used by the canal community.”
“Leaving the canal path, we turned right down a short lane towards Warleigh Weir and the river Avon. We met two young men who had been swimming. They came here often to swim and assured me that even though it was cold it was very invigorating. We agreed that we’d rather be taking photographs of the Weir than swimming in it.
It was a beautiful spot ……
“Still Waters and
Smoke”
Also by Victoria Taylor ARPS
“ ….. after enjoying views of the river, that snaked away into the distance, we retraced our steps toward Dundas and cake and coffee at the Angel Fish Cafe.
What an enjoyable morning! Many thanks to Denise and Jenny for organising and leading the walk.”
by Denise Bailey LRPS
These following photos were taken earlier in June on the planning walk.
“Canal Boats Embraced in Green”
“Tranquil Journey”
Follow-up zoom talk
