Around Preston

I visited Blackburn on a sunny day in October - a couple of hours after Rovers were soundly thrashed 1-0 by Watford! A couple of these images are from an earlier visit in December 2022, when it was rather colder and there was snow on the ground. Thematically this was a repeat of Burnley last week, with a walk along the Leeds Liverpool Canal, then back through the city centre. As last week, I started at a well-preserved wharf. This is Eanam Wharf. But today I walked along the canal in the direction of Liverpool, rather than Leeds. Here is the view looking that way. Great reflections with little wind and bright weather. This is the bridge under Cicely Lane. More reflections! The canal is above the height of the city, and at one point you get a good view of Blackburn - over Asda. There are four locks on this section, this is the first. The third lock. This is the view from beyond the lock, looking back, with the fourth lock in the foreground. A photo here shows what it looked like when t

The River Ribble splits the west side of Great Britain in to two more-or-less equal parts. Anything coming north or going south on the west side of the country has to cross the Ribble. To be sure, the east side, as determined by the Pennines, is about twice as wide as the west side. What is odd is how few road crossings there are - just one motorway; just two A roads (though the A59 does cross it twice), and a few other lesser roads. Crossing 0 I am calling this crossing 0 as it does not exist and maybe never will. It is a new road crossing that, I have heard, was first proposed back in the seventies. It got a step closer with the opening of John Horrocks Way, the lower dashed blue line, and another step closer with the opening of the Western Distributor last year, the upper dashed blue line. However, that is still a long way from getting a new bridge, which I imagine would be an eight-figure cost, and I am dubious it can be justified. See also here . Crossing 1: National Grid The firs

We stopped briefly at Ribblehead on our way to Durham, so a short post! It is not the fastest route, but makes a nice change. This was the view from the car as we approached from the west (I was not driving). The dominant feature is, of course, the viaduct. There are places along the road on the other side where you can park. It was very busy - a sunny day plus two charity events. A short walk gives a great view of the viaduct. I was surprised how busy the railway was - three trains over the viaduct in the short time we were there. The viaduct was built between 1870 and 1875 as part of the Settle and Carlisle line, to give the Midland Railway its own route to Scotland, in competition with the LNWR route via Preston. This is the view the other way, and you can see all the vehicles lining the road. That is it. I said it was short.

I visited Burnley primarily to see the canal. The Leeds-Liverpool Canal crosses the valley on an embankment that is over a kilometer long, and bifurcates the city. Imaginatively name Burnley Embankment, it was built between 1796 and 1801, rather than a flight of locks on both sides of the valley. This was the fourth route planned. The original route did not go through Burnley. I started from Manchester Road. This is the view looking from the bridge in the direction of Liverpool. As you can see, the area has been well preserved. The building you can just see the edge off on the right side is a visitors centre, and beyond that a pub, the Inn of the Wharf. I walked the other way, in the direction of Leeds, under the A682, to this foot bridge. And on, passed an old mill. Looking back in the other direction. A mile post tells me how far to either end of the canal. Through this bridge, you can see where the canal bends left to cross the valley. Looking along the embankment, oddly straight f