Wednesday 5 August 2015

AW's Birthplace, a Floating Shed and a Self Righting Lifeboat.

Wednesday 5th August, 2015 in Hapton.
This really is a lovely mooring! The early morning was sunny and bright.
Mick from nb "Rubicon" came and tapped on our window at 7:45am saying that he and Pat were ready to go whenever we were. Last night, we agreed that we would go up through the next set of locks together.
By 8:30, we were both ready and we set off together for the six miles to the next set of locks.
Unfortunately, another pair of boats had started off even earlier and gone past us, so the chances were that the locks would be against us. No matter, we worked our way up the flight together very companionably and, in the event, we met two lots of boats coming down, so two of the locks were in our favour after all. The locks are only 60 ft long and the water flow quite fierce as they fill.

We pass (or are passed by) many cyclists on the towpath but this one had definitely been overdoing the diet!
The approach to Blackburn was very pleasant. The canal curves round high above the centre of the city.
Sadly, the canal suffers badly from detritus here; we saw just about everything today from masses of duckweed, a fridge, two pedal cars, a sofa, a mattress, the mandatory shopping trolley (four, in fact) and plastic bottles and bags by the ton. R ended up down the weed hatch three times to clear the propellor - twice with plastic sacks and once with a rather fetching dress with a rose pattern!
At Eanam Wharf in Blackburn, we moored up and waved goodbye to Pat and Mick, who are going to go on to Burnley (where they have their permanent mooring). We liked them a lot and very much enjoyed their company.
Blackburn has two very famous offspring: Kathleen Ferrier, the renowned contralto and Alfred Wainwright, the fell walker and author of the hugely popular Lake District walking guides. A.W. was born in Blackburn and we went in search of the house where he was born and grew up in the early 20th century.
It is a two-up, two-down red brick terrace that has clearly been well looked after and now sports a commemorative blue plaque.
It stands in a very long road that is lined with terraced houses and corner shops but he would scarcely recognise the area now as it is largely populated by our Asian cousins and the shops have a definite Asian flavour (and aroma).
The countryside between Blackburn and Burnley is lovely indeed. The canal is 418ft up here and we had panoramic views to the north. It was very clear and we could see for miles across the Calder valley to Pendle Hill, which is over 1,800 ft. high.
We have seen many different craft on the canal but this one took the biscuit! It looked like a garden shed made out of many chests of drawers. It seemed to be built on a raft and did not have an engine!

We also saw a "Self Righting Lifeboat" which said that it had a capacity of 50 people. We couldn't get a picture of it as we passed it, but later this evening it came past us and M just manged to get the camera out before it disappeared into the dusk.
Is there really a place called "Oswaldtwistle"? Apparently so, although the sign has seen better days.
In the middle of the afternoon, we passed a milestone that marks the halfway point on the canal between Leeds and Liverpool.
And finally a very new foal with its Mother.
All in all, a very good day, albeit a long one. With only a short break to walk to Wainwright's house, we cruised for 8 hours. Oh! - and don't forget the three swing bridges says M. And we saw a kingfisher!
Today: 17 miles, 6 locks and 7.9 hours (and 3 swing bridges!).
Trip: 181 miles, 93 locks and 113.2 hours.

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