In August 2002 I had the good luck to be sent on a job in Sweden. The town I stayed in is called Trollhattan, and it is beside the river Gota. There are two major car plants there, and it has been a centre for industry for a long time. A certain Polhem built a lock beside the waterfall. I walked down to the waterfall, which has now been turned into a hydro electricity plant, so there is no water to be seen, apart from a trickle into the remains of Polhemīs lock. The second generation of canal was built by Thomas Telford; there have been two more sets since.
Hereīs a panorama of the river, taken early one morning.
And hereīs how inviting the water looked:
That morning, the temperature at the factory gate was 26 Centigrade at 8.30am. But I bit my lip and resisted the temptation to paddle, even though I had seen the local children swimming in the canal.
Coming back from Dennisīs house in Scotland, we took a detour over the Kirkdale pass. Hereīs the view down to Ullswater.
