Day 11: Burscough to Aintree.

Friday 17 July.

Almost ideal walking weather today. Conditions ranged from overcast to full sunshine. However there was always a breeze, sometimes a bit too strong, to keep us from overheating. At about 16 miles, 15 of which was along the canal, today was our longest walking day.

We were going to stop in Maghull, but decided to continue on all the way to Aintree. That way we get an easy last day, of less than 10 miles, tomorrow.

We stayed at Heskin's Farm in Burscough and took our evening meal in the "Hop Vine." A great meal, but a very busy pub.  We would happily return to either establishment. We breakfasted early, 7:30 am and were on the road at 9am. In 10 minutes we were back on the canal and soon passed our first pub of the day.

The views either side of the canal were mainly agricultural but there were some oddities, like the wartime watch tower below.

We came across a massive marina near Scarisbrooke Hall that was not even shown on our Ordinance survey maps ( Viewranger). They had a cafe and shop, so we stopped for morning tea.

Near Halsall we passed the sculpture of the 'Halsall Navvy' by Thompson Dagwall. This was created to commemorate the work and lives of the thousands of navvys who dug out the canal by hand!!! The first cut on the Leeds to Liverpool canal was made on 5 November 1770. A small plaque nearby marks the spot.

A few days ago we mentioned the vertical rollers beside bridges installed to reduce friction on the tow ropes when narrow boats were towed by horses. The picture below shows a good example of the wear that took place before rollers were installed.

We saw the first cases today of where boats have sunk at their moorings. We enclose a picture of the more spectacular one.

As we entered a more urban area around Maghull the foot path signs began to be defaced; at first with greenpaint, but later the complete circular path badges were removed, 

The area beside the canal still kept its rural feel however. Note the abundance of lily pads and bamboo canes beside the canal. The last shot, taken behind Aintree racecourse gives little impression of how urban/suburban the surroundinsg area. We didn't see any barges moving past Maghull however.