No Bull - Wednesday 11th May

This morning we awoke to find a herd of Bullocks and this enormous Bull in the field opposite our mooring. However I did give some false info yesterday as I thought we had reached the summit pound but in fact we have a further 7 locks to do which will raise us up another 70 feet.

The journey to Hapton is a very winding route first taking us NE then SE and then NE and finally E. There are spectacular views over the Calder Valley and  as in the bottom left photo you can see the bridge in the middle where we will end up having negotiated a sharp left hand bend following the contour around the valley. 

The M65 follows closely the canal route and we have to cross it twice on an aqueduct in 3 miles of canal but only about one mile of motorway which goes straight across the valley. Here is Autumn Years crossing the first aqueduct and a little further on near Clough Bank Bridge is a boat yard with this either new or renovated floating dry dock. The winding hole has been made of stone and the buildings look as though they have been left unfinished because of running out of money.

At Bridge 112, Church Kirk, is a mile post which proclaims the distance to Leeds as 63.5 miles and the distance from Liverpool 63.5 miles ie exactly half from Liverpool to Leeds.

The houses of Hapton again can be seen from way across the valley up high on the hill with decking supported on stilts above the canal.

We moored up at the visitor moorings in Hapton and caught the train back into Blackburn. The trains run every hour and Hapton is a request stop ie you have to put your arm out to stop the train. It only cost £3.90 return for the 20 minute journey into Blackburn with super views of the motorway and canal which we had just travelled along.

The city has a new Shopping and Market Centre with all the usual shops. It was spotlessly clean where ever we walked and has some interesting art work dotted about. Although they knocked down some of the old buildings for the centre there is still the City Hall and Magistrates Court as well as the old Mills.

The Cathedral is well worth a visit with its tall spire and magnificent interior.

We met a Guide Dog Owner just leaving after a lunch time service and chatted to her and her lovely dog, Uffer, so we managed to get our dog fix for the day.

After a late lunch we caught the train back asking the conductor to stop the train at our station. On returning to the boat the swan who had started attacking our boat when we arrived was still pecking the gunnels presumably because he thinks his reflection is another swan and it is near his mate and nest. He continued all evening despite our attempts to shoo him off.