Blighted beauty along London’s canal system

There are hundreds of miles of canals in and around London, much of it protected parkland teeming with birds and other critters. I live near the Grand Union Canal Hanwell Locks in West London and had a beautiful two-hour Sunday walk there this morning. The pictures show how beautiful it is.

A narrow boat motors along the Grand Union Canal near Hanwell

What you can’t see is the shocking amount of trash – car tires, shopping carts, plastic bags and bottles, beer cans – that litter both the water and the  walking path. It must be expensive to keep up such an extensive waterway. And it is such a tragedy that this treasure is so blighted.