Hapton Saturday 12 May 2018

Great meal last night in Calypso, the 2 of us and a bottle of wine £40.
I should have listened to the boater we met and not moored in Blackburn, what a night. It wasn't the drunks or druggies nor the fighting and yobs on motorbikes flying around. It was the bloody Canadian Geese that started before it was light and carried on until 8 o'clock. Apart from that its a great place to moor, there are locked gates on the wharf under the canopy that require a handcuff key so no one walks along that section over night and probably weekends, as the gates were still locked when we left this morning. There is nothing to say you mustn't moor in the locked section under the canopy.

This morning it was much warmer and sunny so we were away at 10 am. past some of the old mills, I am sure there must have been more at one time.

This is the first time on this canal that we have seen regularly spaced horse rescue ramps, if the towing horse fell in the canal it would be led along to one of these ramps were it would be able to get out as the canals around here have high stone bank edges.

As you leave Blackburn you pass the premises of Graham and Brown wall covering suppliers. In their yard they have an oldtelephone box which has been coated up and also under the adjacent bridge the off side wall has been covered with a mural.

When we got to Norden Bridge there are a pair of laser cut panel gates welcoming you on the Leeds and Liverpool canal.

The Canal crosses the M56 motorway on an aqueduct, It seem they were allowed to close the canal to build it. so they built the new channel and then removed the soil from under it.

We passed this notice, to read more than where it says importantyou need to stop, so I photographed it, Since then I have visited William Blythe's web site and they make some nasty things, I wonder with the BSS requirements for ventilation if I would be safe in the boat or would I be better to run.

There are some very well preserved coke ovens at Oswaldtwistle,these were part of Aspen Colliery and there are some good photos if you follow the link.

Church, a place I couldn't find in Google Maps, celebrates the canal by painting a map of the whole canal on a concrete wall, it looks as if it could do with a bit of TLC now. Such a pity these things get commissioned and not maintained. There is a better photograph taken in 2007 here.

We are now half way between Liverpool and Leeds, we left the far end at Eldonian Village last Sunday at 1015 and we passed the halfway marker at 12 o'clock today.

We passed through 3 swing bridges that Diana operated today, needles to say the mechanism on these ones is different to all the rest we have done and requires a windlass to raise the lock, however this one needed nothing of the sort.

As the afternoon wore on we passed this chap painting his cruiser inside a floating drydock with a sun shade up.

The canal twists along with the Motorway sometimes only yards apart but the sound doesn't seem to impinge on the canal like some places, maybe its the differing levels. Or target for tonight was the 48 hr visitor moorings at Hapton, about 4 hours cruise from ourstarting point and we were please to find the all vacant.

Diana went for a wander round the village, unfortunately the boat yard has closed down and some smart new houses stand by the canal, in the village Diana walked past this rather large wall mural.

Today's Journey 11¾ miles in 4 hours