A bit of to-ing and fro-ing

We’ve not got so far over the last few days. We left the moorings above Barrowford Locks on Wednesday morning, heading across the summit level to Foulridge Tunnel. Surplus water up here is diverted by a sluice with manually-operated slackers to run down into Barrowford Reservoir, and from there to be used further down the canal.

There’s precious little surplus available though, this year.

A little further in the feeder one of several feeders from Foulridge Reservoir and local streams joins the canal, providing it’s essential supply of water.

Foulridge Tunnel is about a mile from the top of Barrowford Locks, and entry is controlled by traffic lights.
It’s actually wide enough for two narrowboats to pass, but there are also many wide-beams up here, and you wouldn’t want to meet one of those under the hill. At just under a mile long it takes 15 to 20 minutes to go through, but is high and wide. A good job too. We‘d got a couple of boat lengths in, and I was starting to think that it was a bit dark… You expect to be struggling to see after passing from bright sunshine until your eyes adapt, but this was different.

Flicking the tunnel lamp switch on and off made no difference, the light wasn’t working! Luckily I keep another lamp ready, mounted on a bracket and fitted with a cigar lighter plug to use in long tunnels where it’s handy to have a light at the back too.

So I stopped the boat, and fitted this one to the hatch slide while we drifted.
 

Much enlightened we were able to carry on, and with the tunnel lit I could avoid the worst of the showers of water coming through the ceiling. The water does form rather pretty flowstone drips on the walls and delicate stalactites on the ceiling.



It was pleasantly cool underground, but we had to emerge into bright sunlight again at Foulridge Wharf. I wasn’t the only one suffering from light problems, the traffic lights weren’t working at the north end…
I reported it to a CRT chap who called it in. I could envisage a few altercations, at two boat-length’s distance and 60 feet underground!

We pulled in at the wharf to have a bite of lunch and for me to investigate the tunnel lamp. A broken connection was easy to fix, so we’re lit up again.

We were tempted to stay here, but instead decided to push on to Barnoldswick. We were in need of provisions anyway. As it turns out, we should have done…

Not far from Salterforth is another feeder, this one from Whitemoor Reservoir. The beck must have been interrupted on it’s route down into the valley and into Earby Beck to provide water for the navigation.  There’s also a sign indicating the county boundary…
I’m not quite sure why it’s here. The county border is actually the other side of Barnoldswick, below Greenberfield Locks. Boundary changes? Turn of the century maps (around 1900) show the Lancashire/Yorkshire boundary here though, so  guess that's the explanation.

The beck, now canal feeder, was utilised to supply water for a waterwheel at County Brook Mill, originally Hey Mill, for grinding corn, but producing fabrics since 1907. The waterwheel still powered the earlier 18th century mill building until the 1960s.

We passed the Anchor Inn  at Salterforth, then the line of permanent moorings past Salterforth Bridge and the old wharf.


From here it’s only a short distance to Barnoldswick, passing Lower Park Marina on the left.

We moored up halfway between the marina and Long Ing Bridge, about 20 minutes walk from the shops in the town.

I’d been up for some fresh food and a couple of bits from the hardware store when we got a phone call from friends Val and John. They wanted to come and see us, and, rather than have them park near the bridge and trek along the towpath, we decided to turn around and head back to Foulridge in the morning.

So Thursday lunchtime saw us turning around at the winding hole at Foulridge Wharf. But, unlike Wednesday, the mooring pontoon was full so we finished up moored, stern away from the bank and on the bottom, on the grass a little further along. I kept a close eye on passing boats though, and by mid-afternoon we were able to reverse to a recently vacated spot on the pontoon where our visitors could park right alongside. Then I thought – if they can park alongside, so can a Tesco van, so I organised a delivery for last evening.

We had a good catch up, we’d not seen Val and John for a few weeks, after all, then they left to head home. Phil the Tesco man arrived nice and early, so we got the cupboards topped up too.

Rubbish and recycling disposed of, we set off this morning, arriving back in Barnoldswick just before lunchtime. A quick walk up to the shops for a paper and what I‘d forgotten to order (there’s always something) and I was back in plenty of time to watch Lewis Hamilton race to pole position for tomorrow’s Silverstone GP, then England cruise to a victory over Sweden in the quarter finals over in Russia. All in all a good day.

Off out into the country for a few days tomorrow.

Locks 0, miles 10.