The End (Of The Lancaster Canal)

 

We pulled pins from our mooring in Hest bank at 07.15 with the plan today of going all the way to the end of the Lancaster canal which is at Tewitfield. We plan to do it there and back in one day as there are still a few more places we want to visit before time runs out while we are up here. As you can see the view from the office is pretty good today.

Arriving at Carnforth we were greeted by the sign above. Of course I haven’t a clue what it’s about.

We stopped at the services and while I filled with water and got shot of the waste Carolyn nipped down to Tesco which is close to the canal. One thing we have noticed since we have been up North is how good all the service blocks are . It’s funny that there are more boats down South and most of the services are very poor and in some cases not fit for purpose.

As we head towards the end the canal gets so shallow that we had trouble getting around some of the corners , not that I mind as I enjoy the challenge. We were later told that parts of this section were dredged last year as it had silted up because not many boats come up here.

Just a hundred yards from the end and we were surprised to see this marina and hotel . Carolyn did suggest booking in for a night of luxury , I pretended not to hear her.

This is the end with Inca moored on the left . Yet again some more excellent services especially as not that many boats make it this far up.

As we were here at the end we decided to have a walk around and see what was left of the old canal which used to carry onto Kendal. It was a bit of an experience walking along this path which was so close to the M6 Motorway.

As you can see the sign says Welcome to the Northern reaches which was closed down in 1955 by an Act of Parliament which authorised the closure of the canal, along with several others, covering 771 miles in total .

The restoration will involve restoring the six places where the canal is culverted (including the three places where the M6 motorway construction blocked the route), restoring Hincaster Tunnel restoring the 5 dry miles, and a new crossing of the A590 road near Kendal, as well as many more minor works including work on 52 listed structures. The extensive engineering required will be expensive (a 2002 estimate being £60 million), and so restoration is planned to proceed in phases.

The first phase is planned to be restoration of 3.7 miles southwards from Canal Head in Kendal to Natland Road. Funding of £750,000 was provided in 2005 for the planning and design of this first phase: construction works are not expected to commence before late 2007 with completion in 2009 at the earliest. Despite the projected 2009 completion date, the work to restore the canal had still not been started by late 2016.

There is still some of the old paddle gear left on some of the locks.

This is the plan for opening up this final section of The Lancaster Canal . I just can’t see it ever happening in my lifetime and I’m not sure if it will ever happen . It was still good to have a look and imagine what it was like before it was closed down and at least we made it to the end of the navigation

Where ever you go on the canal system you will always find a boat that is moored like a Twat . Why would you moor on the offside and right on a bridge . 

After a most enjoyable day with 8 lock free hours of cruising and a look around the abandoned top end of the canal we picked up a mooring before Hest bank with this view out of our window . Life doesen’t get much better than this on the inland waterways of Britain.

                                                                                                                     Happy Days

SODDUM HALL

 

 

                                                                                                                  I agree ! (sometimes)

                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                   Happy Days

Morecombe Bay

 

After a great time at Garstang we decided on an early start and try to make it to the city of Lancaster and pick up a mooring there for the night. Pulling ropes through rings at 07.10 after a bit of a cruise we came across this guy. Obviously from down under ,but I haven’t a clue what he is doing here on the Lancaster canal.

It’s silly season on the Lancaster canal just as it is on all canals over the country . This poor guy came around the corner then saw us and just panicked . His poor wife struggled with the pole and couldn’t push the boat off the bank . Eventually they did it and looked vey red faced as we passed . We said not to worry as it happens to the best of us .

With all the safe moorings at the Water Witch pub full in Lancaster we carried on towards our next destination which was Hest Bank , hopefully there will be room to stop when we head back down this way in Lancaster. Just North of Lancaster we came to The Lune Aqueduct.

The Lune Aqueduct is one of the 'Seven Wonders of the Waterways', a masterpiece of civil engineering.  664 feet long, it carries Lancaster Canal  53 feet above the River Lune. It was designed by John Rennie and constructed by Alexander Stevens in 1797. The aqueduct consists of five 70 foot semi-circular arches.

Looking back up The River Lune and it’s amazing that you never hear much about this Aqueduct as it is a real delight and a great experience to cross . Maybe because The Lancaster is still seen by many as a difficult place to get to it gets little attention. But as we have shown it’s not that difficult at all to get to and everyone should give it a go.

After a good 7 hour cruise we reached Hest Bank and picked up this mooring just before the village.

It was then just a short walk down to Morecombe Bay where we had to cross the Railway . It’s funny that every time we come to a level crossing there is always a train coming.

Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of 310 km² . We were very surprised at just how big the Bay is .The bay is notorious for its quicksand and fast moving tides. It is said that the tide can come in "as fast as a horse can run". On the night of 5 February 2004, 23 Chinese immigrant cockle pickers drowned after being cut off by the tide here at Hest Bank . Needless to say we kept well away from the sands.

The views towards the Lake district are just brilliant.

After seeing The Bay with the tide out we went down later in the day and watched it come in for the last hour or so. With the town of Morecombe in the distance The Bay looks completely different. What an eye opener this day has been ,it’s made us so glad that we made the effort to get up here to The Lancaster Canal

                                                                                                           Happy Days

Carnival time

We pulled pins from our mooring below Bilsborrow at 07.45 . We are meant to be taking it easy and chilling out with some rest days and late starts  . but someone told us about a festival at Garstang that was well worth visiting . After using the services to fill with water and empty waste we had an uneventful but enjoyable cruise to Garstang and managed to pick up a mooring just before this Aqueduct.

This is The Wyre Aqueduct which believe it or not carries the canal over the River Wyre and is a single span aqueduct that was completed in 1797 and was designed by the great man himself John Rennie . It carries the canal 110 feet over and 34 feet over The river Wyre.

We then made the short walk up into the town after arriving only for the heavens to open just as the festival was starting at 11.30 . They call it a festival but it was more like a carnival where after crowning the Garstang Queen a carnival with Bands ,floats and walking groups of kids marched twice around the town.

These guys were great and the man leading them with the umbrella was so funny.

We also were entertained by several local brass bands .

We even had a pipe band who sounded brilliant.

In the end the rain didn’t seem to put anyone off and everybody we spoke to said they had thoroughly enjoyed the experience just like we had.

Luckily in the afternoon the rain stopped and we went over to the park to watch the finals of the junior soccer tournament. There were a few very talented youngsters playing . We had a great day and found the people of Garstang so friendly and welcoming to us ,there’s certainly a lot of community spirit here . This is a place that we will stop at again when we come back down this way in a week or so’s time.

                                                                                                        Happy Days

Buzzing

We woke after a good nights sleep to beautiful Sunshine and the buzz from the nearby factory that we were moored just a couple of hundred yards away from .

Pulling pins at 09.30 which was late for us, we took this picture of the buzzing factory as we headed North on The Lancaster canal .

We then spotted this sign after a short distance up the canal and started to wonder what sort of a factory it was that we spent the night outside of .
It turns out that it’s Springfields which is a nuclear fuel production installation  The site is currently operated by Springfields Fuels Limited which has a 150-year lease from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. Since its conversion from a munitions factory in 1946, it has previously been operated and managed by a number of different organisations including the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and British Nuclear Fuels. Fuel products are produced for the UK’s nuclear power stations and for international customers.The site has been making nuclear fuels since the mid-1940s. The site is notable for being the first nuclear plant in the world to produce fuel for a commercial power station at Calder Hall.  Anyway we survived the night although we both seemed to have a glow about us, and we have lived to cruise another day !!!!.

As we cruised along we noticed all these markers which reminded us a bit of The Macclesfield canal where they have mile posts similar to this.

We eventually picked up this mooring just before Bilsborrow and decided to get the BBQ out for the first time this year .Luckily we still had some excellent sausages left from the butchers in Tarleton and they went down a treat with a bit of steak and a glass or three of the red stuff.

                                                                                                              Happy Days