A Happy Ending

We've reached our final bridge of the day, #25---Halsall Warehouse Bridge.

Allan looks happy,and so he should. Only 109 miles to Leeds!!

A short stroll along a country lane brought us to Halsall church, where,lo and behold, a #300 bus took us right back to Lydiate where we had parked the car.

It had been a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Pedometre said 14,428 steps, which equals 5.69 miles.



A Cut above the Rest

This pleasant stretch of canal is called Halsall Cutting. I was hoping to find something very special here and was not disappointed.

It was such a delight to discover this tiny little plaque, as I had read that the first sod of the canal was cut around here.

We nearly missed it though! It was high up on a wall and I had to stand on tiptoes to photograph it! Obviously not as important as I thought it was.



As Time Goes By

Well, Christmas has come and gone and it's time I picked up where I left off several months ago!!  Some reading I have done tells me how times have changed along the canal.

Today's walk....amazingly still number 3....seems to have been all about fields.

They stretch as far as the eye can see.

Fields of corn, cabbage, maize and potatoes.

The canal used to play a huge part in agriculture.

Manure was brought from Liverpool to the fields of Lancashire (very smelly boats!!). Limestone was quarried and transported to be used as fertilizer. Then finally the produce from the fields was shipped along the canal to it's destination. It was certainly a busy place.

Yes,  times have changed a lot!

Crossing the border.

As we passed beneath bridge 21A, we left Merseyside behind.

It seems that the boat people of Lancashire are very welcoming.

They left out a couple of chairs for us!

Fine Fayre

Time for lunch in the beer-garden of the Scarisbrick Arms, a large bankside pub.

This was supposed to be a time-lapse photo of us both. I didn't quite make it!

The food looks pretty good though!



Another week---another walk.

It's taking a while to catch up with these walks!  This is walk #3, on Aug. 9th. We began where we finished last time, at bridge 17.

The Mersey Motor Boat Club is right by this bridge. 

It's a bit cooler today. No need of suncream or hats. Coat weather for Allan.
After a warming cup of coffee, it was 'best foot forward'.

Really tall, lush ferns grow by the side of the canal here.

They remind me of Susan in New Zealand, the land of ferns.

This photo, plus the milestones we pass, remind me of a long but well-loved poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson, called 'The Brook'

Two oft-repeated lines....

'For men may come and men may go,

But I go on for ever.' 

A bit further along, the ferns have given way to these beautiful long grasses, which I love. There is such a variety of plant-life along the canal bank.

It's a joy!



Eating up the Miles

We are getting nearer to Leeds with every step!!

Our final bridge of the day---No 17---Dicconson's Bridge.

It had been a good walk, interesting with pleasant scenery.

Now our long journey home began!

First, a bus from Lydiate to Maghull, which meandered around the villages and seemed to go on forever. Then a train from Maghull to Ormskirk, change for Preston, and a final train to Euxton, to pick up the car.   Whew!!!

We walked just under 6 miles today,

but I forgot my pedometer so no record of steps.

A Swing Bridge in Action.

On this stretch of canal are quite a few swing bridges which have to be opened with special keys and handles. Here is one in action.

The swing bridge has been opened to allow the boat through.

Here the bridge is almost back in place again. Cyclists and several cars are waiting patiently for their road to be restored.



A Winning Name!

We have seen some amazing and amusing names on the many boats moored along the canal. This play on words was a winner for me. You may have to brush up on your Latin!!

We stopped for lunch near here beneath a sheltering tree in a field.

We had thought of finishing at Maghull as we were a bit weary but, fortified with food and drink, we went a couple of extra miles to Lydiate.

A bit of History

A  world war two blockhouse guards railway bridge 11A.

A few of these still remain along the canal, along with pill-boxes in some of the fields. They were built because the canal was a strategic part of transport links with the river Mersey.

It is said that they were built as lookout posts for U-boats coming up the canal!

Groovy, Man!

Many bridges have these grooves worn into the lower stones.They were made by the ropes attached to the horses which pulled the barges.

Some bridges still have the metal rollers which prevented this wear on the stones, but we haven't seen any yet.

Expedition Number 2 begins.

Captain's log.    Wed. 27th July.

It was a roundabout way to Old Roan, via Euxton, Preston and Ormskirk, but we want to use public transport where possible, as we are a couple of 'oldies' with bus passes and railcards!

The house below is on Ormskirk Station. It may once have been the station-master's home.

We're back at bridge 7D for today's start.  Destination------bridge17.

This side of the bridge is not very pretty but the scenery improves as we continue on our way.

The canal bank is home to a great variety of wild flowers.

Here are a few we saw today.

Yellow water-lilies.

Bulrushes.

Hedge parsley.

Common poppies and brambles.

Rosebay Willowherb (and me!)

Mission Accomplished

At last our first canal expedition is completed! We have arrived at Bridge 7D, Old Roan Bridge. (number unfortunately hidden behind tree branches.)

We have covered about 10miles in all,

Pedometer reading..........25,117 steps = 9.91 miles!

Tired and weary, but very pleased with ourselves, we made our way to

 Old Roan station and onto a train exactly like the one in the photo

back to Liverpool.

What a wonderful day we had!!!

No drinks here.

The Wharf, our first canalside pub. Sadly it was badly neglected and closed.

I'm sure in the commercial days of the canal it was well-used.

We had dinner on a bench opposite this pub. Local Bootle fish and chips, which were delicious!

Also re-applied sun cream.......it was a glorious, sunny day!



Wildlife.

One of the joys of this journey is watching the many creatures which call the canal their home. Many we can't capture on camera---tiddlers, fish leaping out of the water, small birds and butterflies, but here is a small selection from today's walk.

An armada of Canada geese is heading our way!

What do you call baby coots?  Cootlings?  Cootlets?

Lots of these around today.

We waited for ages to see if Mr. Heron would catch a fish.

He didn't!!

This graceful swan appeared while we stopped for a snack. It just added to the peaceful surroundings.

Bridges.

Bridges are very important to the canal system.

They are numbered so that you know where you are.

Allan is pictured here in front of Leigh Bridge, which looks very modern and new, but the metalwork is actually dated 1861 so it's quite old.

It actually has a letter, not a number. It is bridge D, and we have to get to

letter O before we even reach bridge number 1. On this walk we were heading for bridge 7D, which at this point seemed a long way off!

Brown's Bridge....No 4

Allan, complete with VIA rail train driver's cap bought in Canada, is contemplating how much further he can walk. We had covered about 8 miles and he was weary!

Found at last!

A wonderful view of the canal as we expected it to be.

Boats go under the bridge to the Stanley Dock Basin.

We stopped for a breather here after our tramp around the streets and simply enjoyed the scenery.   Bliss!

A short walk across the footbridge and now I am on the towpath, complete with my indispensable map and book.

Behind me is our first lock and the Railway Viaduct is in the background.

Yipee! We're on our way!

LOST!

This is where we lost the canal because of construction work. We then walked at least a mile out of our way.

We discovered some interesting local history on the way.

This is the old Dock Road----the walls and gates would have opened onto different dock areas. It seemed to go on for ever!

The tall building is probably a shaft going down to one of the tunnels under the River Mersey. 

Where do we begin?

Part of the recently opened extention called the Liverpool Link.

Here the canal is disappearing through a tunnel into Canning Dock,

which then flows into Albert Dock.

Here's Allan, standing on the top step of the previous picture.

Behind him is the Port of Liverpool Building, one of the Three Graces.

Also just in view is the new Museum of Liverpool.

We called this our official start, so I set my pedometer to zero and off we went.

We finally got someone to take our photo together!    

The view is across the river Mersey.

Sadly, we are not sure just where the canal is right now!!!



New Journey

A few weeks ago we began our next adventure------to walk the full length of the Leeds/Liverpool canal.  With our Canadian trip well over, we set off for the Albert Dock in Liverpool, the new start (or end, if you're going the other way!) of the canal.

Here we are at the impressively renovated Albert Dock, ready and raring to go.
Naturally, we had to have a cuppa first at the Tate Cafe (very expensive).
Thermos flasks in future!!

A couple of statues seen around the dock area depicting Liverpool's history.
Above is Allan's favourite, Billy Fury. Not only the Beatles came out of Liverpool!

Below, I am seated with a family who we think are about to emigrate to America. Sadly, no notice with this statue, so it's pure guesswork.

Time to go home

At last, our trip of a lifetime is almost at an end. It's been a fantastic adventure and a perfect celebration of our fifty years of marriage. One final day to record!

The last ferry crossing............for this particular trip.

Good-bye Gibsons.

Hello again Horseshoe Bay.

From here we went via bus and skytrain to the airport.

The Skytrain.

(picture by Doug McKinlay)

We took photos posing with some extremely handsome folk at the airport!

This sculpture is called The Spirit of Haida Gwaii, and is of a canoe carrying several mythical creatures. It is quite an awesome work of art.

Finally, there was the plane awaiting us. Our journey across this huge country was over.

 The memories will remain, not least in these photos and captions,all 56 of them, and there are another 200 or so still on my computer! 

I wonder what our next adventure will be?