Cottam Hall

Today's Canal - Lancaster

After yesterday's very late finish we had quite a lie-in this morning. Indeed we did not unmoor until nearly midday. Here is the promised picture of how we moored last night!

However, this did give us both, separately, a chance to look around the immediate area, once a very significant mill district.

Looking at old maps, it seems very likely that the houses on the off side of the canal were for the workers in the mills on the opposite side of the road.

We also discovered that just beyond where we moored by the basin entrance was the start of an embankment and aqueduct as the canal made its way along the final, now lost, mile. At the end of the present water the footpath on what was once the towpath, drops steeply down to the next main road.

There is also a footpath across the end of the canal down to the street of terraced houses. The first few in the row but the street is on a gentle hill and very quickly the rest of the properties have their entrances at canal level. 

Most of the houses, modest though they were meant to be, had decorated surrounds to their front doors.  Unlike many such terraces, it seems that with these any back doors only open into their gardens. One nearby street had even more ornate entrances.

Some of the mills have been demolished and replaced with new housing although several remain as industrial units including the main factory for Plumbs, an upholstery company. When we moved house last year we opted to have our lounge suite recovered - structurally it was very sound but we were looking for a change in colour scheme. So, our furniture has been all the way up here, been reborn, and  brought back down again!

Christine met with the daughter of the man who originally set up Ashton Basin as a mooring and hire base. The family have long since lost connection with the marina. There are still a few boats here, mainly residential and no hire boats at all.

Almost noon and we untied, ready to turn around to make our way back towards the Ribble Link Junction. It seems that some of the occupiers of the houses opposite the basin entrance have been losing a battle with CaRT to move the winding point a little further towards the end - quite unclear what benefit this would bring. In any event, three of them (all men, of course) came out to hurl abuse at us despite being told that the guides and maps all locate the winding exactly where we were already manoeuvring. (CaRT's website is wholly unambiguous about this). The same experience was had by at least four of the boats that came up the locks last night!

We continued back along the way we came and, with rather more time available to us, we took it a bit gentler, revs right down, and we came though the water without a hitch, despite the blanket of duckweed. We stopped at the Cadley Sani Station - a plastic boat was still camped out and were keen to tell us that they had only been there an hour as the sign indicates! They could have moved 20 m and moored perfectly legit for up to 14 days . . .

We pulled into the Ribble Link basin so that Mike could take photos of the locks - it was not possible yesterday. Mainly these are for his photo library but here is one of a sculpture that stands guard over the high rise staircase. It was officially unveiled in 2014 and replaced an earlier sculpture made of wood that had rotted away. When we came in 2013 neither was here.

We also stayed for lunch but boats for tomorrow's downward were already beginning to arrive (we are actually hidden by the first two)

We continued a little further but after two bridges we arrived at a mooring that one of the arriving boats had just left and who insisted we should consider using it. Indeed, it passes for excellent on the canal so we took it. One of yesterday's boats was already here but they carried on rather later in the afternoon.

2.12 Miles - 0 Locks