Many memories from this leg, not least having most of the English seasons in one day.The plan had been to take the reverse bus route of the end of leg 3 and start about 9:30 in Foulridge. Hilary though kindly offered first to drive Sophie and I to Skipton, but as the weather was still grim, drove on and dropped us off at the wharf in Foulridge at 8:30, with the plan to pick us up in Church later in the afternoon, and then we’d continue to our friends in Altrincham for the weekend. After suiting up in waterproofs, Sophie (not too keen at this stage) and I headed off out in the blizzard, hoping the forecast that the snow would abate actually happened sooner rather than later.
First today we had to walk up out of the wharf as the canal goes through a mile long tunnel at this point, famous for legging and pick up the footpaths that navigate us around the Foulridge Top reservoir to the other end of the tunnel.
Once the canal is picked up again it’s head down into the blowing snow and a march on to the M65 town’s of Nelson and Burnley. Always seems strange that Colne is not on the canal itself. This part of the walk brings the three transformative elements of recent transport evolution together as the canal, railway and motorway crisis cross over each other, the noise of the motorway a constant drone in the background.
Not unexpectedly, but still striking is the journey through the old hubs of cotton mills lining the canal and its surrounds, long since abandoned but now with some efforts underway to preserve, restore and reuse the structures.
This is very much the case in Nelson and Burnley, but Church is just depressingly run down and Rishton is just flattening the old mills and looks ragged.
Any roads I’m ahead of myself, as it’s still snowing in Nelson! It snowed for about the first 2 1/2 hours, Sophie regularly doing her best to advise me this was daft, as she bounds up and snuggles into my legs, before her attention is caught elsewhere and darts off ahead again.
As I enter Burnley there is a very modern and wonderful view of a Mosque in the distance above a Canal Bridge, through a very English dismal drizzle!
The route through Burnley heads around the southern edge with a long straight stretch, apparently the famous Burnley Embankment!, giving views into the town on one side and Turf Moor, home of Burnley FC on the other. As one looks to modern Turf Moor the juxtaposition of the old rows of terraces and their tiled roof lines is very noticeable.
As I turn away from this long straight we enter the weavers triangle area of Burnley. The scene is one of the finest surviving Victorian industrial landscapes in the country. The decline of industrial weaving has meant the area has been abandoned, but the sheer scale of what remains after the dereliction and disrepair is amazing. It is clear though that great attention is being made to restore and regenerate the area. One such location is the Burnley Wharf
I now leave Burnley behind, with a final view across Sandygate Bridge, heading towards the M65 again where I have to negotiate the rabbit warren of tunnels that are above the Gannow Tunnel. Not as long as Foulridge, and not as pleasant to traverse even without the snow storm.
My lunch stop is underneath the motorway to shelter from the rain and wind. It is also time to check in with Hilary. As I started early today, was not that far away from Church and my legs still felt strong, I decided that I’d strike further on to Blackburn adding 6 miles to the original plan. As this whole walk Leeds to Liverpool is being made up pretty much leg by leg, it will not be too hard to flex leg 5, and probably get all the way to Wigan rather that just Chorley.
Despite the foul weather the canal side is still full of bird life.
And so I reach Church, the half way point of the Canal.
I’d planned to stop here and its kind of good I decided to travel on to Blackburn. Venturing into the town, which adjoins Accrington, hoping to find a pub I find a boarded up church and the pub converted to houses so it’s back to the towpath, where there is continued dereliction.
Having thought there was plenty of gas in the legs, at about the 22 mile point I started to actually feel the effort, but fortunately the weather is a tad better and its a fine walk into Blackburn past the very impressive ex Imperial Mill much in need of some TLC and another mill clearly renovated and used by Granada TV
The final point on the canal prior to heading into Blackburn and the pick up by Hilary at the train station is the renovated Eanam Wharf.
Route Summary
