Day 8: Rishton to Boat Yard Inn.

Tuesday 14 July.

We stayed overnight at the Dunkenhaigh hotel between Clayton le Moors and Rishton. It was about a mile from the canal, most of it uphill. Although we left the hotel about 9:15 it was almost 9:45 before we rejoined the canal at the ornate stainless steel gate shown below.

When we rejoined the canal the outlook was still quite rural but one of the features of today's walk was lots of high voltage power lines heading for 

Blackburn.

About 3 miles east of Blackburn the air took on a strange chemical odour, almost nauseating at times, and the smell didn't dissipate until just before we were near the centre of town. 

There was quite a lot of litter, both on the towpath and in the canal, and at one point we passed a strangely coloured stream discharging into the canal. It may have been a natural colouration, but to me it was very reminiscent of the Spen Beck of my childhood. There was also quite a bit of urban decay and regeneration on approaching the city.

Nearing the centre we went through a revitalised canal wharf area with pub and restaurant but sadly it was closed. 

We were going to turn into town when we came level with the main railway stations but someone suggested it would be better to take the next turn off, near an ASDA, a B&Q and many other outlets. We went for a Costa coffee.  

Although up to this point the environment had been at a low point for the walk, in contrast today we met some of the most  friendly and amusing people of the whole trip, both young and old.

Returning to the canal after our lunch we passed the first lock for more than a day. Three more followed in quick succession.  Near them we passed a very interesting sculpture, shown below.

The day started overcast, and we had one small shower, but by afternoon it was a nice, sunny  day. 

After the locks, the litter decreased, and the path became more rural but the towpath walk was spoilt for me by a high and very, very, long green metal fence, which obstructed views into, what appeared to be, a nice forested area. Near the end an older, rusted section of the fence had been left to decay and was gradually being absorbed by the vegetation.

The surroundings continued to improve until we eventually arrived at our accommodation for the night, "The Boat Yard."