Finishing off yesterday’s trip.

We’re now pretty much where we intended to be yesterday, if the weather hadn’t been so grim. We saw one or two hardy souls in the afternoon, but they didn’t look to be enjoying themselves very much.

Today has at least been mainly dry, but it’s still windy. We were a bit concerned about the swing bridges and Mags holding off waiting for me to open them. But the first had landings on the offside so I could do them solo, the second was open and the third, although Mags helped, was fairly sheltered.

The trip today has been often through the built up areas of the mill towns and villages that flank the canal, with stretches of open country giving views out across the Lancashire moorlands.

Away, heading towards Clayton-Le-Moors


Foster Swing Bridge, with landings on the offside for solo boaters.

Every coal producing area has had it’s share of mining tragedies, and East Lancs is no exception.
In November 1883, at nearby Altham, an explosion ripped through the underground workings of Moorfield Colliery. Fifty-five men and 13 boys died in the disaster, some so badly burned that they were difficult for the families to identify. The youngest was just 10 and another 11 year-old was only on his third working day.
The hero of the event, the under-manager James Macintosh, was among the first back down the pit and spent the next 24 hours searching for the dead and injured. One of those killed was his father, Thomas. James was offered the management of the colliery after it re-opened, but he declined and never went below ground again. He never got over the horror of the day, and on the 10th anniversary of the disaster took his own life. A sad post-script to a tragedy that affected almost every family in the Hyndburn valley.
The colliery was not far from the canal, and there’s a memorial to those lost just to the south of  Bridge 114c.

Passing through Clayton the canal heads south, west and north around the head of Hyndburn Brook, past Church, Oswaldtwistle and Rishton.

There are several short arms connecting industry to the canal, this one leads around the back of an engineering company.
 

Church also marks the halfway point between Leeds and Liverpool. It’s celebrated by a pierced-iron marker. 

Derelict mill on a sharp bend near Simpson’s Bridge


Where the parish boundary of Church meets that of Oswaldtwistle there’s a long mural painted on a wall on the towpath.

The centre panel is a map of the canal.

Another blocked off and dried up arm at the edge of Oswaldtwistle was probably built to service a collection of lime-kilns.


We stopped for lunch on the moorings at Rishton Bridge and I made a quick trip up to the Co-op before we pushed on again, pulling up on the outskirts of Blackburn.

The section between Rishton and Blackburn feels very remote…



Where we stopped is not the most salubrious mooring we’ve used but it’s handy for the retail park alongside.

I’ve been having trouble with my mouse, finally coming to the conclusion that his tail is broken. So I popped into PC World and bought a new one, this time tail-less.

Wireless mouse.

They come in all shapes and sizes now, don’t they!

Into Blackburn tomorrow, and down the locks.

Locks 0, miles 7½

A truncated trip…

We knew the forecast was for thundery showers today, but it was the sheer intensity that was amazing. The cratch canopy on the windward side was tight as a drum under the pressure of the wind.
We decided to have a go and see how far we could get, as it turned out, not far at all!

It was fine and sunny first thing, but had started to cloud up by the time we left the moorings at Hapton.

Just under a mile from Hapton the canal had to be re-aligned slightly during the construction of the M65 in order to leave room for the Junction 8 interchange. The new channel runs alongside the carriageway and is wide and deep, cut into the embankment upon which the motorway sits.

The course of the original line is discernable at the western end.

Moorings at Altham Clough haven’t changed since we were last here; the stone building still needs a roof…
But an addition is a floating dry dock, at the moment containing a lifeboat, presumably for conversion.

By this time the weather was looking decidedly dodgy, the wind had started to pick up and dense black clouds were building on the horizon. We passed Smith’s Swing Bridge and the derelict house alongside as the first drops of rain fell, and I decided to call it a day.

Not before time, either. We’d just got tied up before we were hit by a tremendous squall, rain, then sleet and hail hammered at the windows, the wind forcing water in past the hopper window seals.


So glad we didn’t decide to tough it out!


This was the first of the heavy, wintry showers. The second two were accompanied by thunder, too.

I didn’t waste the free afternoon. We’ve had a grumbling alternator for a couple of months, with a bearing on the way out. So I got that changed for a spare rather than wait for it to seize up. With access around the engine I cleaned out the bilge as well, then checked the batteries.

Maintenance tasks done I sat down with a book for an hour before making a start on dinner. It was only when I sat down to write this and glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen that I realised we’d been working an hour late all day. I’d forgotten to put the clocks on last night!

We’ve a bit of distance to make up tomorrow, but it promises to be a bit calmer.

Locks 0, miles 2½

To go or not to go…

We’d planned to have two or three hours this morning, taking us through Accrington and Church to moor 4 or 5 miles this side of Blackburn. Although windy, the rain wasn’t due till early afternoon. So we thought we might get through the three swing bridges, which would need Mags on the tiller, before the worst of it.
But it started soon after Meg and I got back from a walk, and the wind was very gusty. We decided to give it a miss. Whether it was the right decision or not we don’t know; the rain did ease again but the wind would have made Mags job, holding off while I struggled with the bridges, that much harder.

We’ll see what it’s doing tomorrow, although we’re not confident. A bit of weather lore I always though quite accurate “March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb” is thrown out of the window this year!

I had a walk up along Hapton’s high street this morning to get a paper. It’s a typical Lancashire mill village, rows of stone built terraces face each other across the main street…


…backed by the sanitary lanes at the rear.


Prior to the arrival of the canal around 1800 the local economy was mostly rural, although coal was extracted in the area and a spinning mill was operating at the edge of the settlement. But the arrival of the waterway brought rapid expansion, and there were at least four cotton mills operating at one time.
The final canal connection from Clayton-le-Moors to Liverpool was not completed till 1816 (bicentenary this year) which saw a massive increase of traffic as Lancashire coal went west and all sorts of goods, from raw cotton to exotic fruits, tallow to lumber, came east from the docks.

The railway station, on a branch line of the East Lancashire Railway, opened in 1860, and the M65 in the early 1980s, all following roughly the same line.

Interestingly, the original route of the canal wasn’t through here; it was supposed to be a couple of miles further north, running from Barrowford to Padiham and Read, crossing the Calder on a high aqueduct, before heading towards Preston and the River Ribble. A branch would connect to Parbold, and thence to Wigan and Liverpool. But the cost of American War of Independence put a crimp on investment, and the construction was mothballed for 10 years. All good for the rapidly expanding mill towns, though. Burnley, Blackburn and Accrington, bypassed by the planned route, were now to be linked by the canal when construction restarted. And Hapton, of course.

There’s a mural painted on a brick wall on Simpson Street. It depicts a railway engine, early Alldays motorcycle and a steam traction engine.
The connection with the railway I’ve mentioned, but I can find no local reference to the bike or traction engine. Preston was home to several agricultural machine manufacturers, and Alldays and Onions seem to have been based in Birmingham. But nothing from either in Hapton, as far as I can find out.

It’s chucking it down now and the wind is bouncing us around. Good old Bank Holiday weather…

Thanks Carol. Mid-April's much too early for us to be there!

Getting on…

I thought of calling this post “What a difference a day makes”, then “Making hay while the sun shines”, or “The Long Good Friday” (cracking film that. When that guy was fed into the mincing machine...). But I settled on something short.

Today was all of those things; an entirely different day to miserable wet and windy yesterday. We did take advantage of the fine day and it was a long day’s cruising on a Good Friday.

Brilliant sunshine this morning at the top of Barrowford Locks

The first job was to descend the flight of seven, and we were in the first at 10:00.

Second one down with Barrowford Reservoir in the background.
The reservoir stores surplus water from the summit level, and it's a fine walk round on a day like today.

New gates part way down are still stiff. They’ll be better when they’ve bedded in a bit

Halfway down the canal runs under a collection of bridges, the largest carrying the M65.
We’ll see more of this motorway later…

I didn’t realise Barrowford was known for it’s exceptional snowfall…
…aah, no, they use wheels!

The dogs look bored.


That’s the lot, out of the bottom lock and swapping with our first boaty encounter of the day.
We saw another six later! Wow!

Top to bottom only took us 90 minutes, but we had the advantage of full lock chambers, often with a gate or two part open. With a considerable amount of water running down, the top gates tended to be overtopped, keeping the chambers filled. Be a nuisance for those going up, though.

The canal below the locks now weaves it’s way around the fringes of Nelson and Brierfield, before there’s a brief interlude of greenery near Reedley Marina. We were thinking of stopping here, but it seemed a shame to waste such a beautiful day so we pressed on into Burnley.


There’s a handy canalside recycling centre near Bridge 141C.
They even have a waste oil tank right alongside the mooring pontoon, Well done, Pendle Borough Council!

Also on the offside, a little further on, are moorings right outside a Morrison’s supermarket. I used these to get a bit of shopping in.

More visitor moorings are provided just after Bridge 140, but I don’t think they’re very popular. 

We had a bit of excitement at Reedley Marina. One angler didn’t see us coming and had to run to retrieve his line before we ran it down. And another young lad had cast across the cut, finishing up with his lure on the roof of a boat opposite. I pulled over and untangled it for him.





The canal runs through Burnley, raised on a 60 foot high embankment which pretty much cuts the town in two. It’s known as “The Mile Straight”, but falls a little short of that. It is straight, though.

The Mile Straight from the north end…
 

…and from the south.


On the right, western side is the town centre, bus station and a retail park, on the other it’s mainly residential, rows of terraced houses typical of a northern mill town.


One old mill coming down…


..And more converted for offices.


Even the chimneys have a new function!










The Burnley Weaver’s Triangle is a preserved area near the city centre which contains examples of the 19th century industry that flourished here.  There’s a visitor centre next to Bridge 130B, and visitor moorings on Burnley Wharf.



Burnley Wharf and the Inn on the Wharf


The M65 is encountered four times in the next 2 miles, the first time passing under the canal…

…then over it a further three.

Gannow Tunnel has to be negotiated as well.




High and wide, there’s no restriction on passage as there is at Foulridge, but you can see right through the 559 yard bore. Narrowboats would be able to pass each other, but widebeams would have to wait for a gap in the traffic. Not that there is much…


Rose Grove services and moorings.

I was tempted to stop here, but pushed on another 1½ miles to moor at Hapton.

Fine views north to Pendle Hill from the moorings

I don’t think we’ll see much of the view tomorrow, though. Wet and windy again.

Hi Quaysider. Blimey, they must have been going slow to take a half hour! We must have been lucky with the timing then…

Hiya Sue. As many as that, eh? Well, we’ve made a dent, even if it is a small one!

Locks 7, miles 11

More signs of spring as we head up onto the summit level.

Not so welcome, these, though!
Approaching Greenberfield Locks we ran the gauntlet of the muck-spreaders! One was down in the valley, far enough away but I kept a wary eye on him anyway…


…then another snuck up on the other side!

In the past we’ve had the misfortune of being downwind when they’ve been spraying close to the canal, not an experience I’d want to repeat! No problem today, luckily. Just the smell to put up with.

Anyway, we were off around 10:00 this morning. A grey, cool day prompted me to revert to long trousers after a few days in shorts. I’m glad I did; it only got colder as the wind rose.

I’d tried to get another picture of a curlew before we left, there were at least two pairs down in the valley below us. But the best I got was a blurry shot as two took to wing. Ground nesting birds are vulnerable to predators…

…who don’t leave much behind.

We paused for a half-hour at East Marton to top up the water tank, then pushed on towards Barnoldswick.

Under the double-arch bridge at East Marton.


After our close encounter with the muck-spreaders we had an easy run up the three Greenberfield Locks. A boat had not long come down (the one that we shared Bank Newton Locks with yesterday, heading back to Silsden), and there was another waiting to come down so they helped us up first.

Up Greenberfield Locks


Up the top lock, the service wharf is ahead and the building beyond houses the control sluices feeding water in from one of several reservoirs located at the summit between Greenberfield and Barrowford.


We toddled through Barnoldswick without incident, but there was interesting activity going on at Lower Park Marina

Ooh, a crane!


There were several boats on the offside opposite the marina, and then the penny dropped. The boats were from Shire Cruisers at Sowerby Bridge on the Calder and Hebble / Rochdale Canal junction. With flood repairs not yet completed they were cut off, so the hire company decided to move them, by road, up here.  
Five had arrived, another three were due. Shows admirable attention to customer service. Although some of the hirers will have to rethink their cruising plans!

I didn’t realise there was a deer park at Barnoldswick…

At Salterforth we passed an unusual attempt to get on the water, basically a shed on two pontoons!

Two miles on we arrived at Foulridge Wharf and the northern portal of the 1627 yard long Foulridge Tunnel.

Foulridge Wharf


The lights at the tunnel were on red, so we eased into the side only to have them switch to green.

I guess there must be a motion sensor somewhere.

The tunnel is actually wide enough for broad-beam boats, so theoretically two narrowboats could pass. But it would be tight. I suppose having traffic control means that broad-beam traffic doesn’t need to be managed like it does on those tunnels further south on the Grand Union Canal.

As we neared the far end of the tunnel the steadily growing portal reminded me of something, but it took a while before I could put my finger on it…

It’s a Pac-Man ghost!












It’s less than a mile from the tunnel to the top of Barrowford Locks, but they’re for tomorrow. We pulled in on the visitor moorings after quite a long day by our standards.

Locks 3, miles 9½