 |
 |
Broad canal,
42 miles, 0 locks on mainline, 6 locks on Glasson Dock branch, 1 week
return. |
|
|
|
|
|
 The
Lancaster Canal was built early on in the canal revolution but
with no connection between the northern section from Preston up
to beyond Lancaster and the southern section from Wigan to near
Chorley.
The problem was the Ribble valley. The canal
was never profitable enough for the considerable engineering
works, either locks or aqueduct, which would have been needed to
cross the deep valley. The southern section became part of the
busy Leeds & Liverpool Canal but the isolated northern section
became a backwater. The canal was engineered by John Rennie, and
the bridges and aqueducts are built on his usual massive
classical scale.
The northern terminus at Kendal can no longer
be reached, the canal was culveted when the M6 motorway was
built across it in the 1960's. However plans are afoot for
full restoration
of the 'Northern Reaches of the canal to Kendal.
The canal lost its isolation from the rest of
the system when a link
to the River Ribble was opened in 2002, though this involves
tidal river cruising to link with the Leeds & Liverpool Canal
Tarleton branch.
The canal runs for 42 lock free miles through
pleasant pasturelands, overlooked for most of the way by the
foothills of the Pennines, from which hang gliders often soar.
Just north of Lancaster the sea shore is only a few hundred
yards to the west and you can see the sands of Morecambe Bay and
across to the magnificent mountains of the Lake District, well
worth a visit.
There is a short branch to Glasson Docks,
which has six locks. A round trip from Preston to Lancaster is
easily possible in a week. Lancaster is an interesting old
County Town, with a castle and other old buildings. Preston and
Lancaster have good railway and road links to Scotland and the
South of England. |
|
