Tewitfield

Today;s Canal - Lancaster

It was quite a grey day when we set off, initially across the basin to the service block. Whilst Mike completed the usual emptying and filling, Christine popped to the nearby Tesco for a small number of items.

We heard yesterday from one of the volunteers on the railway, but who lives in Bolton-le-Sands, about the land opposite the moorings which currently looks derelict but with fairly recent No Mooring signs. Combining this information with looking at old maps it seems that the area once had several gravel quarries and also a small gas works. It seems that when a developer came to clear the site of the industrial remains, there was more contamination  of the land than expected and called into question the commercial viability of the project. At the time that the site was cleared, a number of pontoon moorings were also taken away (see Google).

Christine returned before the water tank was full but as soon as it was we set off to cruise the two hours to the present end of the navigable canal at Tewitfield. (Construction of M6 for some reason severed the call just beyond the eight locks above the current end)

We soon passed under the M6 which has a large intersection nearby, with a motorway grade spur. The original alignment of the canal was obliquely across the planned motorway so a diversion was built meaning that the two bridge crossings were almost at right angles. 

Next came a railway bridge - we passed over it yesterday on the way from Carlisle to Lancaster.

Capenwray Arm was built to give access to a now closed quarry. Today it provides useful visitor moorings.

This bull, together with a friend, were knee deep in the canal, merrily munching away at the lilies growing in the water. Pity that their tastes are so eclectic as we could with them, and a few more friends, to much faster and clear the canal where the vegetation can be quite dense.

We eventually arrived at the visitor moorings just before the end and took the best available spot but even so we did not come especially close to land.

After lunch, and Mike had done most of the prep for tonight's roast dinner, we went for a short walk -now in sunshine - to check out the times of buses to Kendal and Windermere, which we plan to visit in the next couple of days. We passed the entrance to the newish marina that opened sometime after 2010 (planning permission extended) By 2014 the development company were commenting in their annual accounts that the business was close to being non viable although they managed to service a large outstanding bank loan. In that year the marina was put up for sale, seemingly unsuccessful for some time. The company applied for voluntary striking off and was dissolved in 2018. It is now owned by Lake District Estate who run a number of holiday parks and tourist attractions including the Ravenglass & Eskdale Steam Railway.

This is now the end of the navigation. It is possible to moor right at the end but it is perhaps the noisiest section as it has no shielding from the motorway just a few metres away.

We walked up the towpath alongside the first two abandoned locks. This is where the upper section burrows into a culvert before connecting with the rest of the canal. Overhead is not the motorway but a busy A road.

The non-navigable section is still clearly important to the rest of the canal as there is, even in this drought, a steady flow of water through the old lock chambers.