River Sandbars

Shingle bars lie pale in the middle of a braided river, bone white against blue-grey water. A shallow ford reaches them from the towpath, its stones just under the surface. Some are bare. Others carry willow scrub at their upstream heads, low and green and combed flat by old floods. Around the largest bars a line of wooden posts and slack rope marks off a closed stretch of stones. At the downstream end a steam dredger rides at anchor, squat and rust-orange, its bucket chain raised and dripping. It has not moved in weeks. Opposite, on the far bank, a gravel loading stage of heaped stone and planking waits for barges. Near the upstream head, the gunwale of a small sunken punt shows above the water, its hull filled to the brim with gravel. Low morning sun throws long shadows from every stone. Between them, water runs fast and clear.