Lancaster Canal - Blackleach to Salwick

Thursday 7th March 2013

Would you set off if:

1. It was raining?

2. You thought you may be nuked?

It was raining. I rang Pete at 9:00 am, (arranged departure was 10:00).  I was sure he would concur with a trip to Ambleside to buy new approach shoes.

Pete studies the forecast on tele and identifies precisely where those lava lamp expanding, contracting and moving blobs of approximate rain location occur, and unquestioningly accepts their accuracy. Although rain was generally forecast, as my trip to the garage freezer had dampeningly confirmed, Pete’s analysis told him it would de rainless in Preston - I was thwarted after concocting  my ingenious excuse for spending money.

At Carnforth rain had ceased. Sky was bright and remained so for the rest of our day.

Our initial attempt at finding our previous final bridge failed. Having found the correct one we chatted with a guy arriving to fish for pike in the canal. He showed us a picture of one he caught a few days ago - over 7 pounds, “...and it’s only three feet deep”, he said.

Having previously lived in Preston, or closer study of the map, should have made me more cautious. At the Salwick Hall bridge a large noticeboard told people to get into their boats if they heard a siren, batten everything down, turn on the radio, and listen for further instructions. We were in the vicinity of the benignly named Springfields, a nuclear fuel manufacturing plant.

On the bridge we found another notice for pedestrians advising them to flee the area as quickly as possible if the siren sounded, but no advice on which direction to take!

Further on our proposed route was diverted twice. A white road on the OS map turned out to be private, and a farmer had allowed his disgusting slurry pit to overflow necessitating  a footpath closure. Our 6 mile walk became 7.2 miles.

The red dots show the white road which was private and the closed footpath

You never know what may be round the next corner

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Springfields - sounds like a middle class residence