Personal

The slow highway

Between Newtown and Welshpool the A483 twists back and forth around the Shropshire Union canal. It's a part of the drive to Aberystwyth that I always look forward to. It makes me think of the Grand Union near Chorleywood where I first lived, and of walks across the fields behind our next house in Chelmsford to the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation.

I remember summer evening walks to Eldridge Lock in Tonbridge with the youth group. And as a student our flat was linked to Sainsbury's one way along the Paddington Canal and the tube the other way. It's really only here in Suffolk that canals aren't a dominant part of my life.

A map of the country shows just why I seem to have always lived near waterways: the UK's canal network was incredibly extensive. Strange to see it in so empty now.

It's not all in decline though. Those who've driven up the M6 Toll may have noticed a curious 'bridge to nowhere' crossing the motorway just south of junction T6. This will eventually carry the reconstructed Lichfield Canal across the road. When it's complete, the pace of the boats should send a beautifully clear message to the cars below: slow down.