Canal Walk: Church to Blackburn

After arriving in Blackburn far far too early for my train but not early enough for the train before it I had a wander about town and did some shopping. I had parked at the station car park which was free. Eventually it was time to get my train, it cost £2.20 for a single ticket to Church and took just 8 short minutes to get there. From the train you get a good view of the canal as you cross it three times and of Rishton Reservoir as the train passes by.
At Church turn right at the road and head to the canal at Simpsons Brdge 111D. At the bridge the canal makes a sharp turn at a large warehouse. Access to the canal is not at the bridge itself, something I didnt find out without a mile detour. Cross the bridge and walk down the road a couple of hundred yards and there is acess on your right. Once I got to the towpath at bridge 111D I walked on a quarter of a mile to thehalf mile post near bridge 112 Church Kirk Changeline bridge before turning around and heading to Blackburn.
The first stretch of canal through Church had a lot of quarter half and full mileposts in various states. There are also a set of brick kilns with their own arm of the canal to serve them.
The towpath was busy with dog walkers cyclists and other people out for a walk on a glorious sunny February Sunday. The canal in Church follows the contour which means you can walk for a while and look across to where you started. For a change the canal goes over a motorway rather than underneath it. The busy M65 was in complete contrast to the Leeds Liverpool canal which had no traffic on it at all all day.
Rishton is the next town after Church. I was dissapointed not to find milepost 61 and from then on I only found a couple more posts. There was no sign of any milestones.
At Whitebirk the signs of Blackburns approaching urbanisation are found, on one side there are fields and old stone barns and on the other side are modern retail parks.
On entering Blackburn there are a number of large mills some empty some used for offices (one by Granada TV). Near to Eanam Wharf there is an interesting wall with blocked up entrances. they have large pieces of red sandstone.
At Eanam Wharf I had the god fortune to look upwards and found the 57 mile post at the top of one of the pilars holding up the covered wharf! The old OS map didnt lie!
It is a short walk from Eanam Wharf to the station.