It’s a constant source of amazement to me that the surroundings and public spaces of the mill towns of East Lancashire are so beautiful. Yesterday four of us walked from the Pendle Heritage Centre at Barrowford, up to the Lower Foulridge reservoir and then back down through Alkincoats Park and Colne to finish with an ice cream back at the Heritage Centre.
With just a few hours to walk, the Ribble Valley and the Blackburn, Burnley, Colne area are ideal. Just an hour or so away from the Lancashire coast and you are in the hills. The lakes may be reservoirs, but they still look lovely and have some surprising bird life.
The walk takes you along Pendle Water and then towards the Barrowford Reservoir and the Leeds-Liverpool Canal. The canal is followed to the entrance to the Foulridge Tunnel. The tunnel is 1500metres long and construction started in 1792 and lasted 5 years. The tunnel is only wide enough to take one boat at a time and there was no room for horses. This meant that the boatmen lay on the top of the boat and “legged” it through the tunnel. The tunnel is now controlled by traffic lights so that one boat at a time can travel through. Transit takes about 25 minutes.
We then had a quick look at Slipper Hill Reservoir which appears to be home to several cormorants.
From Slipper Hill, we made our way to the Lower Foulridge Reservoir. The water is quite low at present in this reservoir, which is the home of a sailing club.
From here we walked up to Colne Edge and the top of Alkincoates Park. The park is part of the Alkincoates Estate which was bought by Colne Council in 1921 for £24,000.
The park is bounded on its western side by the bed of the Colne to Skipton railway. A campaign is under way to get the line reopened.
The route then dives down into Colne and crosses the A6068 twice near the end of the M65, before rejoining the towpath alongside the canal.
It is then just a short walk through playing fields, under the M65 and around the cricket pitches, back to the Heritage Centre.
Thanks to John for leading the walk, which was only just not flat, and to David and Neil for their company, and to all of them for allowing me to tag along despite leaving Southport three years ago.
So that was another lovely walk in East Lancashire or West Pennines. There are a few more on the site. See below