Canals and rivers

Last week, I went to look at the collection of prints, watercolours and drawings once kept by the Earl of Dalhousie, whom King George III appointed Governor-in-Chief of Canada (or, as it was known then, British North America) in 1819. George Dalhousie seems to have been an adventurous sort of chap; first serving as Lieutenant- Governor of Nova Scotia he actually spent twelve years of his life in Canada and found it

bold & wild & beautiful beyond language to describe.

In order to keep track of what he experienced he kept a journal and took draftsmen or "military artists" (such as the meticulous Charles Ramus Forrest) with him on his several expeditions up and down the great rivers of Upper Canada. They camped on the sandy shore of the Ottawa River where it converges with the "Little" River (now called the Mattawa River) and ventured with the voyageurs down the French River to Lake Huron. Awestruck, Dalhousie's companions sketched the Niagara Falls by moonlight and the Chaudière Falls at Ottawa, "a full mile broad", or tried to record in colour the "Exact Resemblance of the Foliage of the Wood in Canada in October-November" (1823).

George Dalhousie was still Governor when Lieutenant-Colonel John By of the Royal Engineers was put in charge of building the famous Rideau Canal:

On September 28, 1826 the two men stood on at the foot of Entrance Valley, selecting it as the spot for the start of the Rideau Canal. In doing so, they founded what was to become Canada's national capital, Ottawa (originally named "Bytown").

Five years previously, in July 1819, work had begun on another canal, down part of which we walked a couple of weeks ago, as its towpath is now a footpath. In its day (1825-1901), the Bude Canal was the first in Britain to include water-powered tub-boat inclines, of which there were as many as six. The Inclined Plane up from the canal at Helebridge to the higher ground near Marhamchurch is presently being cleared for restoration after years of neglect: wheeled tub boats used to be hauled up this 836ft long slope, lifting their cargo 120ft.

The other remarkable waterway we encountered recently was the little river Valency that flows through Boscastle and between the steep, slate cliffs to the sea. In August 2004 this was the scene of a terrible flash flood:

The continuous raging wall of water, debris and mud, some nine foot high, carried all with it at speeds estimated to be between 30 and 40 miles per hour, vehicles were hurled over the road bridge and down the sides of the harbour towards the sea. The devastation was quick, ruthless and unbelievable as water, debris and vehicles flooded and battered the many old buildings that line the river banks out to the harbour.

hard to imagine when we were in Boscastle, but we did notice the tide insidiously creeping upstream when we looked down on the curved pier.