Saturday 13 June 2009

PhotoHunt: lock

Around about this time last year I visited Redon, in Brittany.  In the Middle Ages Redon was an important port, when ships could navigate up the river Vilaine at high tide.  Then in 1836, the Nantes to Brest canal which crosses the river Vilaine at Redon was completed (to avoid the British fleets off the coast), resulting in a set of locks in the town which is criss-crossed with waterways.


This is the point where the canal crosses the Vilaine.


Another lock, just ahead of the river.


Nowadays the water traffic in Redon is mainly made up of pleasure crafts.  This is one leaving the Port de Plaisance, the marina, through one of the locks.


Just beside the lock gates was this interesting vessel, with the plaque US Navy ST 732 6 June 1944.  The date of the Normandy landings 65 years ago.  On further investigation I have discovered it was the tug Attis, first launched on 10 January 1944, transferred to French ownership on 19 June 1950.  There are more pictures and documentation from the National Association of Fleet Tug Sailors.

I had to restrain myself this week.  I have all sorts of other locks I could show you from Amsterdam and elsewhere, not to mention locks in doors, locks of hair.  If you want to see how other people have treated the subject, visit  TNchick's site., where you can join in and find other players.
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15 comments:

  1. This is great!!!! We don't have anything like that in our neck of the woods. Great share.



    Here is mine...it's also a bit 'native american'!!

    Click Here

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  2. That is an impressive waterway. There is something I love about canals. Have a great weekend

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  3. Beautiful shots. Wonderful set of 'locks.'

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  4. Interesting post! I'd never thought of a waterway lock... super shots!

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  5. Seems to me you could make this blog a lock blog with plenty of fuel to keep it interesting for a very long time.

    As always, a pleasure to stop by and see you.

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  6. Can you think a vacation more anti-stress than on the old European Waterways, with all the Locks. For instance Canal de Borugogne with about 190 Locks and a Tunnel at the Highest level (yepp, I've traversed it).

    Very informative PH post. Thanks for sharing.

    btw. It's good to be back on PH again and also visting your great blog

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  7. Wow, A., re your having plenty of interesting "lock" pictures. The feeling I get is that for many people, it took great effort to even find one good photo for this week's Photo Hunt!

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  8. That's great! I was hoping to see that kind of lock today, and you've made it into an excellent post.

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  9. Locks around the world... are all marvels of engineering.. great post! Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Thank you all. Water does fascinate me, rivers, canals, the sea, so this type of lock was what I thought of first.

    @Anni, no canals? A shame!

    @jams, yes, I love canals too, very different from rivers.

    @Tara, thanks!

    @Debbie, so good to see you! I don't know that I have quite so many to keep the whole blog going .... but I could try. :)

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  11. @Tor, good to see you back again. I haven't been on the Canal de Bourgogne - sounds great!

    @YTSL, I didn't say they were all interesting, just plenty of them. :)

    @Dragonstar, many thanks!

    @srp, yes marvels of engineering. I love watching them in action.

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  12. An impressive waterway! the second picture is my favorite, it's such a peaceful sight!

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  13. What a great contribution to the theme and with great pics too!

    You know we are close to a lock at our vacation home in Sweden (Göta Kanal) and I know you have seen my posts about it :-)

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  14. It looks like a very busy waterway and I am really enjoying the photos.

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  15. I like rivers too. And locks, of course. These are extra nice pictures, A.

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