Photo (18)

Throughout the last few years of boat ownership. I have been taking a number of photographs around the canals and rivers system. Obviously the subject would vary depending on where we were and what we were doing.  The photographic images are taken using a Canon 550d DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) which is my camera of choice. I use Coral Paintshop Pro X8 photo editing software for adding the logo and creating a smaller thumbnail image.

There is no particular theme, other than most of my photography is waterways inspired. It's whatever that caught my attention at the time. So I thought I might include a few of my photographs into the blog. 

In Orléans, the Grande Loire to the north, is no longer navigable. However, the Petite Loire to the south remains navigable to this point. The Loire was formerly an important navigation and trading route. With the general increase in size of ocean-going ships, large vessels can now navigate the estuary to Nantes.

River Loire

Boats on the river were traditionally flat-bottomed boats, with large but foldable masts so the sails could gather wind from above the river banks, but the masts could be lowered in order to allow the boats to pass under bridges. These vessels are known as gabarre or futreau.  

Its only petite - but its home!

Every two years, the Festival de Loire recalls the role played by the river in the commune's history. On the river's north bank, near the town centre, is the Canal d'Orléans, which is connected to the Canal du Loing and the Canal de Briare at Montargis. The canal is no longer used along its whole length. Its route within Orléans runs parallel to the river, separated from it by a wall or muret, with a promenade along the top. Its last pound was transformed into an outdoor swimming pool in the 1960s, then subsequently filled in. It was restored to a canal pound in 2007, there are plans to revive use of the canal for recreation and install a pleasure-boat marina  on the Canal d'Orléans.

I take photographs for my own personal pleasure. Whilst I reserve copyright ownership of the photographic image. You are free to use the image for your own purposes as long as the logo is not removed and you give credit to where the photograph came from. The image provided on the blog is a thumbnail of the original photographic image.