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Garstang

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Garstang is a small town half way between Preston and Lancaster. The West Coast Mainline passes it to the east and the A6 to the west, and our walk started near to where where the A6 crosses the Lancaster Canal. Canal So here is the bridge that takes the A6 over the canal. The canal is crossed by an aqueduct nearby. This is the pipe bringing drinking water to the Fylde from the Pennines, and as it indicates was built in 1923. Prior to that Blackpool got its water from aquifers beneath the town. Behind it is the A6 bridge again. The bridge that takes Moss Lane over the canal. A nasty one in the car; only one vehicle at a time, you can see nothing of the road ahead. Kepple Lane Bridge. There is a canal basin which had wharves on either side at one time. A warehouse, possibly a tithe barn, is now a pub called Th'Owd Tithe Barn, and looked popular on this sunny afternoon. The canal then narrows to cross the River Wyre. The view from the aqueduct looking west, down the river, as it head...
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East Blackburn

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This is kind of a sequel to the Blackburn post I did in October 2024, in that it is a walk along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, from the same point, but in the opposite direction. In fact, I did it on two consecutive Mondays as two circular loops, but it is not the most scenic of areas, and for the purposes of this bog it will be a walk along the canal with occasional diversions to points nearby. So we start at the same canal warehouses, but looking at it from the east side. The canal curves to the right, and on the other side. this was Windmill Works. The Windmill was built in 1822, and taken down around 1888; as far as I can tell Blackburn's only windmill. I guess some of these buildings were built around 1822, though the brick one is presumably more modern. Are the openings at the bottom level were to load or unload boats? St Albans Roman Catholic Church, at imposing sight on top of a small hill 400 m north of the canal. Bridge 103B. I do not know when canal bridges were number...
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Barrowford and its locks

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I was a bit unsure what to call this; the walk was partly along the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and partly in Colne and partly in Barrowford... and starts in Nelson. So we started in Cravendale Avenue, as we could park the car there. A narrow footpath, almost opposite Bevan Place, goes down to the canal. This is the view towards Liverpool, and the reflections are wonderful. I am cheating a bit here; I took this on the way back, as dusk was approaching. We headed the other way, towards Leeds, which took us over the Swinden Aqueduct, where the canal crosses Colne Water. There are a set of seven locks, the Barrowford Locks, which give this post its name. This is the first. Note the geese; they were still there when we came back. The second lock. At the back you can see the M65. The vans on the right were fixing a gas leak... This is the view of the old bridge from under the motorway; beyond is the third lock.  And above the lock, is another bridge; this is the B6247. The view looking b...
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