A wonderful start to Ruth and Roy’s canal experience. The weather is perfect: sunny, warm, yet a breeze to keep from being stuffy or too hot. We moved from Burnley to the summit of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, then through the Foulridge tunnel. The tunnel is wide, straight, but leaky! There is lots of flowstone forming from the water seepage- just like most caves.
Ruth and Roy did their first locks, and we enjoyed sharing the stories and experiences of my friends Nick and Chris, joining us in Pendragon in the wide locks.
Ruth and Chris helping us work the locks.
We had gone to the Queen Street Mill yesterday, and enjoyed the experiences of this fantastic place, so important to the development of industry in this area of Britain. There were more than 200 mills in Burnley area, and this 1000 loom mill was considered ‘moderate’ size. Certainly, the ones I passed in Leigh were much larger. With more than 200,000 looms, the production of cotton cloth was one of ‘the’ industries that made Britain an industrial power from 1800-1914. Then things changed in so many ways. There is still industry- we passed the Rolls Royce aerospace factory- here they make jet engines. The face and nature of industrial work has changed so much, though.
Burnley skyline today with remnants of the mill heritage
terrace housing in Burnley, where many of the mill workers lived
terry towel loom in the Queen St. mill, Burnley
As we began in Yorkshire, in glorious circumstances, we came to the Greenberfield locks, beginning the long descent to Leeds.
rural Yorkshire, the summit level of the Leeds and Liverpool canal
Greenberfield bottom lock, where Chris and Ruth enjoy the wait for the leaky lock to fill, while Roy checks the leaks
The last lock was so leaky, that it took a lot of time (and water) to get through. We called the Canal and River Trust people, and those following were really in need of help as the water level was so low that they ran aground. I had experienced a lot of that on the other side of the summit climbing up from Wigan (see previous postings!). However, we made it through, then to the locally famous double arch bridge (they built the bridge, then at some time changed the level of the road so just built a second arch bridge over-top, leaving the double arches).
a very peaceful mooring…
We moored in a delightful ‘leafy tunnel’ where there was peace and quiet: the sound of rustling leaves and birds singing lulled us to sleep. A perfect full day on the canal for all.
Double arch bridge, Leeds and Liverpool Canal
