Bank Holiday Weekend, Part 5 ...

Hello there! This is a continuation of the things that we got up to on Bank Holiday Monday. We had thought of grabbing some lunch at Knightshayes but the queue to the cafe was unbelievable. As the OH commented, "Do you want to queue here for 40 minutes before we even get to order and so waste a lot of time or shall we go somewhere else?" We all agreed "Let's go somewhere else!"

We headed for the Canal Tearoom and Garden in Tiverton which is just a stone's throw away from the canal.

We sat in the garden and had delicious jacket spuds with some salad. Delicious it was too. Having a fairly big lunch meant that once we got home we could just have a snack before setting off from Devon back to Hampshire.

After lunch we headed to the canal. My eye was immediately drawn to these cute ducklings.

We came to this swan, sat looking forlornly on its nest. Whilst at the Tearoom we had been told that a group of Sea Cadets had been responsible for the death of its partner! They had got too close and it had gone to attack the group who had then struck out. I couldn't believe that this had happened. I'd thought that a swan would only have attacked if it had felt under threat or that it's partner and nest were. There was a notice near the swan saying that an incident had occurred on the 27th April. There was concern that the female swan may abandon it's nest.

The story and the swan saddened me greatly. I took this photo at the beginning of our walk. We walked back past the swan over two hours later and it still had its head tucked under its wings.

I tried out the longer lens and got quite close and personal with a sparrow.

And then this blackbird began singing. It sang to its hearts content.

With the smaller lens I wouldn't have been able to get such good detail as each time you crop you loose some quality. It was worth carrying the extra weight around. It is a bloomin' nuisance to change lenses though!

Had someone tried to set fire to this tree?

We saw many ducks and moorhens.

We saw the shire horse who pulls the canal boat.

You can have a trip up and down the canal. A wonderful way to while away a few hours.

Someone had to use the bridge as a climbing frame. I had visions of KP falling into the canal.

We saw an elderly couple who told us that they had just seen two small ducklings with no parents in sight and that they were concerned that something might happen to them. A short while later we came across the two ducklings - I hope that they were reunited.

We walked past many bridges. I liked this ones reflection in the water.

An ugly duckling! Its beak seems to have grown quicker than the rest of it.

Although I like to photograph animals I'm quite ignorant of various bird species - with that in mind I purchased a book about animals recently to improve my knowledge. The above is a house sparrow. I didn't know that you could also have a tree sparrow!

A female house sparrow.

Just as we'd got back to where we'd started from - my eye was drawn to this dog on the other side of the canal.

This is where the long lens came in handy.

All the tourists had long gone and the barge was moored up.

By now we were back from where we had set off. We got back in the car and drove to our base here in Devon to pack and grab something quick to eat before setting off on our journey back to Hampshire.

In the car someone volunteered that they had forgotten to do their French homework which was to be handed in on Tuesday! The journey home usually takes us just over two hours, it took us four! The traffic was at a standstill in many locations. We saw several cars which had over-heated. We didn't arrive home until gone 10 p.m. and KP didn't get to bed until gone 11 p.m. as she had to finish her homework! Guess who didn't want to get out of bed on Tuesday morning!

Until next time,

June.