Friday 26th April
We caught 3 trains to take us from Wigan to Nelson. The first train took us to Bolton, the second to Blackburn and the third to Nelson. Almost 2 hours to travel around 40 miles! It would have been a lot quicker in the car but not as much fun.
Not a lot to say about the place really. It's very much like Burnley, Accrington or Blackburn - I make no apologies in saying that all these places look the same to me, old stone derelict and run-down buildings everywhere.
Much like the stretch from Burnley to Accrington, the motorway followed the whole stretch of this walk. Thankfully the distance between the two was greater than before so it was much quieter. The first 2 miles of the walk was really quiet, we didn't see a single person and had the whole of the canal to ourselves! The scenery was the usual old stone mills and warehouses in decline.
There was a scenic part of the walk which was at Barden, about half way between Nelson and Burnley. We popped into Barden Mill (a shop with cafe) for a spot of lunch - the food was cooked there and then and was really good, worth calling in if you're in the area.
As we headed into Burnley the scenery was as what I expected it would be. Industrial rot and decay. There were plenty of eyesores and it came as no surprise to say that Tesco in Burnley was one of them!
We came off at Finsley Gate bridge in Burnley and headed across town to the station. Burnley town centre looked nice with some impressive buildings, shame we didn't have more time to explore.
More eyesores! Opposite the station once stood two imposing buildings, a pub and a hotel. Both were boarded up and made the area look a mess. Shame really, the town centre was great, the outskirts weren't so great.
Only 2 trains to catch to get home. The first train took us to Preston and called at every station possible, around 10 of them, it was like being on a bus. All change at Preston for a final train journey to Wigan.
