Thursday 21st November
We got off the train at Blackburn at 1pm and wondered where the canal was. We asked a few people without success, most weren't local, those that were didn't speak good English. We were pointed in the general direction by a local cabbie.
Thanks to a Scottish bloke further along, we found the canal. It was down a "wee" path wedged between a busy main road and an Asda supermarket.
An old mill town that has its fair share of derelict buildings and other signs of old industry. Some parts were not too dissimilar to Wigan. It was quite a pleasant walk and the locals were friendly.
I took almost 140 photos of this walk. There was lots to see along the way. It was only a couple of miles into our walk when we passed a boundary stone between Chorley and Blackburn with Darwen. I had no idea how big Chorley was!
When we left Blackburn things soon got rural. The first half a mile or so of the towpath in Chorley was ruined by a concrete fence. This concrete fence was ugly and had barbed wire at the top - it covered quite a distance and obscured what would have been an otherwise great view of open countryside.
This part of the canal was quite interesting. We passed 7 locks in a short distance and at the bottom lock was the junction with the old branch. A no-entry sign was on the bridge to remind us that the branch was no longer in use. There were some nice houses and open countryside around here too.
When we got nearer to Chorley, we also got nearer to the noisy and busy M61 motorway. At times, it ran close to the canal especially when we got to Botany Bay.
We walked around 12 miles today and it was too long for both of us! We were aching. Our future walks will be between 5 and 8 miles or so. Don't want to overdo it! ;o)
We came off at Froom Street in Chorley, which is the start of the next walk Chorley to Adlington. Froom Street was long (and uphill) which pained us even more!
We finally got to the new Chorley bus station at 6pm and had to wait 40 minutes for a bus to Wigan as it was a bank holiday. It cost £4.20 for me and Thomas (grumbling again) but we did travel the scenic route via Coppull. This isn't meant to sound snobby or 'owt, but there were some idiots on the bus effing and jeffing. Not just the teenagers but a couple in front of us who were in their fifties. I was happy when they all got off the bus a few stops away in Chorley.
