Explore the Leeds-Liverpool Canal the new Super Slow Way

[Alan de Enfield]

Explore the Leeds-Liverpool Canal the new Super Slow Way | Boating holidays | The Guardian

 

Walk, cycle or take the barge through Lancashire’s industrial heritage, a cultural landscape dating back 200 years

 

Pick the odd one out: Route 66; Biarritz to Santiago de Compostela; Burnley to Blackburn. Yes, it’s a trick question, because all of these routes have played seminal roles in history, especially the last one. Overlooked since the last millworker hung up her clogs, the cultural riches of a 23-mile stretch of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal are now being revived by a project called the Super Slow Way – named after a poem set to a libretto by Ian McMillan.

The project was launched in 2016, the bicentennial of the canal, and while stymied by the pandemic, this year it revs up to full speed – about four miles an hour – with the launch of a government-funded Lancashire Linear Park and a host of community-focused events and spaces along the towpath.

 

And not before time. Even within Lancashire the area is overlooked. While the north, east and west flanks of Pendle Hill boast green and pleasant landscapes popular with hill walkers, the south is densely populated, post-industrial, multicultural and economically deprived. The canal, though, provides an inviting calm space, as it meanders like a river on its journey from Barrowford in the Pendle district, through Burnley, Accrington and Rishton, into the suburban sprawl of Blackburn. Built to service mills and mines, it’s been looking for a new role for more than half a century – the Super Slow Way might just do the job.

You can walk it, cycle it, run it or barge it. Or a mixture of those. Here’s what to look out for en route, however fast or slow you go.

Barrowford

Reopened at Easter after the winter break, Pendle Heritage Centre has displays dedicated to George Fox and the Quakers, the Pendle Witches, social history and the vernacular architecture of Pendle forest; there’s a walled garden, bluebell wood and tea room. Higherford Mill, a spinning mill, built in 1824, houses artists’ studios. The north-light weaving shed, built in 1849, is the oldest such structure in the world. The town also has a 16th-century packhorse bridge, used by packhorse trains carrying coal from nearby Gisburn.

Nelson

The Good Life Project is a series of pop-up growing and food workshops, while artist Hannah Fincham is leading a project called Eat the Canal which explores how the natural environment can be utilised and food production can become local and sustainable. Hannah is creating a foraging map with markers along the canal so people can (safely) identify edible and medicinal plants. On Vernon Street, Unity Hall – recently rebranded as Unity Well Being Centre – is a former independent Labour party socialist institute; inside is a display about suffragist and pacifist Selina Cooper, part of Mid Pennine Arts’ Pendle Radicals programme. Contact Gary Webb to arrange a visit.

 

Loads more .............................

 

[magpie patrick]

I read this and was quite disappointed - the title suggested they'd found an even slower way than going by boat. 🤔

[TheBiscuits]

54 minutes ago, magpie patrick said:

I read this and was quite disappointed - the title suggested they'd found an even slower way than going by boat. 🤔

 

Have you been from Barrowford to Blackburn? A fast bit of canal it ain't!

 

Look at @LadyG, she started doing it last Autumn and she's still not got as far as Rishton ...

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2022 by TheBiscuits
spellink

[Alan de Enfield]

20 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Have you been from Barrowford to Blackburn? A fast bit of canal it ain't!

 

Look at @LadyG, she started doing it last Autumn and she's still not got as far as Rishton ...

 

 

 

 

She's got plenty of time yet - it took her 2 years and 27 trades persons from when she bought the boat to finding her way out of the marina.

[Mad Harold]

When the passengers are asked to help with the swing bridges, they may be a little less happy!

[LadyG]

6 hours ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Have you been from Barrowford to Blackburn? A fast bit of canal it ain't!

 

Look at @LadyG, she started doing it last Autumn and she's still not got as far as Rishton ...

 

 

 

I must admit I thought from the title it was tongue in cheek, but it seems I am on a very exciting historic and educational waterway. 

I've read two books provided by 'scribendi', though the other attractions were closed when I cruised past, slowly, exceedingly slowly.

I plan to complete my mini navigation very soon, leg is healing nicely.  New rudder looks very smart and the new paint job gives the boat a fresh look, I've even splashed out on some  professional signwriting  I've been continuously busy, CB not CC

Edited May 2, 2022 by LadyG