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Hest Bank

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Hest Bank is a village just north of Morecambe. It is notable as the only point on the West Coast Mainline that is actually on the west coast. it is also one of the few places on the West Coast Mainline that still has a level crossing. If you drive over the level crossing, the road turns right into a free car park next to the beach, and that is where I started. The beach is pebbles, not sand, which is perhaps why it did not develop as a resort. This is the view looking southwest, and if you look really closely you can see Morecambe on the skyline. I think the white building in the centre of the photo is the Midland Hotel. This is looking north-northwest, across Morecambe Bay at the hills of the Lake District. I think the town in the middle of the photo is Grange-Over-Sands. Walking across the sands of the bay was once a shortcut to Lancaster, and the safest path brought the traveller to Hest Bank. I walked south along the beach - not easy. This is the view looking back, with the cark p...
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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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