Walking around Earby 1

It was a Wednesday morning and all was well as I left the hostel with a change of clothes and a pack up in my bag. The weather was dry but overcast, with a threat of rain but it wasn't long before I had to stop and change into shorts because it was too warm for trousers.

I walked into the village with the intention of visiting the Lead Mining Museum, but it was closed, it only opens on a Sunday. Shame, it might have been interesting, never mind, here are a couple of pics.

This is All Saints Church on the main A56 road in Earby.

I carried on down the road and picked up a bag of fruit sweets from the paper shop before I took a minor road off to the right towards Salterforth. This is the Anchor Inn next to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal at Salterforth, I set off down the canal tow path heading for Foulridge.

A swan family looking for a morsel to eat.

Here I am coming to the Wharf at Foulridge, it was built in 1815. These boats are for holiday hire, I've never really fancied canal cruising, seems a bit boring to me. It's not like you can divert off somewhere to look around.

At this poing the canal disappears under the village. The Foulridge Tunnel is a mile long and it took five years to build. There is no tow path through it so the boats had to be 'legged', through and the horses met them at the other end. Then a tug was introduced, and it was withdrawn in 1937 when diesel boats came into use. When a boat wanted to enter the tunnel the keeper had to be contacted by telephone for permission, and in 1963 traffic lights were added.

I have found this video of a boat going through the tunnel, on yootoob, not my film I hasten to add. It shows going through in both directions, you don't need to watch the whole thing if you don't want to.



Time to leave Foulridge and follow the footpath alongside the Lower Reservoir.

At the end of the reservoir I briefly walked along the A56 and touched the edge of Colne, then took a minor road to the A6086 towards Laneshawbridge. Along this road are a group of Almshouses, they belong to a charitable housing trust. Almshouses have been in existence since the 10th century. They are for elderly people who can no longer work to earn enough to pay rent. To qualify you need to have lived in the community, and sometimes worked in a particular profession. These look really nice.

Next I went down a very overgrown footpath towards Colne Water, and found myself at this little Nature Reserve.

There is a viewing area where you can get close to the ducks.

I found them right across the path where I wanted to walk. Sorry, I'm coming through. They all got up and went into the water, I hate disturbing them.

A little wooden bridge to cross.

And here is me, crossing a second wooden bridge.



I stopped for a bite to eat at Laneshawbridge and watched the traffic go by, gratefull that I no longer have to work and I can enjoy my freedom. After following a few more paths, I came to Colne Golf Course. Beware of flying golf balls, oh well, makes a change from flying bulls, ha ha.

The sign up the road said 'Ford'. Hell fire, it's not a ford it's a raging torrent, the road is awash. No I didn't wade through it, I went through the field alongside it.

I like to take a few minutes to assess if cows are likely to charge at me whenever I have to go through their field. This lot seemed more interested in chewing the cud, so I marched across giving them a wide berth, brolly in hand ready to wave it in their faces. They carried on chewing, probably thinking, look at that barmy bird, she thinks we're scared of that tiddly little umbrella. About two thirds of the way across they slowly sauntered towards me, and I made it to safety through the gate. I love cows.

It was a straight line walk back to the hostel after that, some of it along the Pendle Way, arriving just after 6pm. A total of 14.6 miles, and a cracking days walk. Only one rain shower which I managed to shelter from. A great day out.