Canal Walks: a British Summer

This weekend was typical of the British summer. On Saturday it was cloudy but by the time I had parked at the new car park by Albert Dock, Liverpool, the sun was shining and I was over dressed. I walked up to the pier head and the building site of the dock link. The car show room was mid-demolition and the whole area looked like it must have done during the Blitz. I managed to take one photo before being accosted by a peg toothed local who either saw himself as an expert on canals or as Batman's nemesis the Riddler. His main point seemed to be that the canal was not a canal because it went underground. Any mention of Foulridge Tunnel was met with a blank look. After what seemed like Ages of circular arguments I shook him off and took some more photos. I walked up to Princes Dock and back. On my return the local yokel was having the same conversation with two other hapless tourists. Bravely I managed to stand next to them while taking a picture of the South Basin area.
the work seems to be progressing well. The idea seems to be to do the culverts first and then link them up with the open channels.

On the Sunday (which was predicted to be better weather) it was again cloudy. Hoping for an improvement during the day we planned a short walk in West Lancashire. Had the weather been better we would have gone up to Skipton but its a long drive just to sit in a car and eat sandwiches looking at the rain.

Canal Walk: Parbold to Appley Bridge

The forecast was for light showers and the black clouds above promised something heavier. But being Britain in June there was blue sky and warm sunshine enough to make my waterproofs feel unnecessary. After a snack from Tescos we parked on the road by Burscough Bridge and joined the towpath. Under the bridge there were a couple of boats moored by the old depot buildings. They were filling up with water and had obviously been in Liverpool for the Coal and Cotton rally. The rally had finished and there were quite a few boats on their way back. It was nice to see the canal with some extra boats on it. After Moss Bridge there was a mini rally with more narrow boats. Along the towpath were the signs that the horse drawn narrowboat had been passed recently but we had to wait until Parbold to see it moored up by the windmill. Milepost 27 is still visible after some of the brambles were cut back earlier in the year, this time last year it was completely hidden. We chose to push our luck and carry on from Parbold to Appley Bridge, the black clouds still threatening.
Approaching Appley lock a narrowboat that had been following us since Burscough caught up with us. By now my companion was drinking puddles so we decided to go to the station and get the train back to Burscough rather than carry on to Gathurst. We avoided any rain until we were back in Burscough.