Malcolm and Kathleen

Friday 7th Auust, 2015 at Salterforth.
This is a pretty spot. We set off at 9:00am with nb "Spring Dew" as arranged. John and Mary-Ann have a share in her and have to return the boat to the Lower Park Marina at Barnoldswick tomorrow morning.

The seven Barrowford locks are in a delightful setting (once one had gone through the second lock, which sadly is dominated by the bridge carrying the noisy M65 over the canal).

For some reason, the paddle gear on many of the locks that we have done in the past few days has been so high that it was difficult for M to reach them. So she was delighted to find that on this lock, some thoughtful soul had provided a much needed step to assist those of us who are 5'2" or less!

As we went up the flight, on our right was the Barrowford Reservoir that helps to feed the pound below the flight but the water level in the reservoir was woefully low.

We were a little taken aback to find notices announcing a speed limit and speed bumps. We looked for bumps in the canal but none were to be seen!

A little further on was a notice announcing "No Entry" into the next lock. We ignored it!

Although the gates on this flight had been renewed recently, much of the paddle gear was in a very decrepit state as illustrated by this picture. (It's the paddle that is decrepit, not the Lock-Wheeler!).

It took about two hours to climb through the seven locks to get to the summit pound for this canal at 487ft above sea level. Tomorrow we will start to go down again, all the way to Castleford. However, this will not be the highest point on our trip as we intend to go down the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, where the summit pound is at 645ft going through the Standedge Tunnel, all 3 miles and 418 yards of it!
Ahead of us on the summit pound lay Foulridge Tunnel, a mere 1,640 yards long and controlled by traffic lights. The tunnel is famous for the exploit of "Buttercup", a cow who, in 1912, fell in at one end and swam heroically through to the other end, where she had to be revived with brandy!

M set off to walk over the top, which was a delightful walk with lovely views. On the way, she met this little fellow on the path.

The guide books said that the route was clearly marked - but as often happens, the promised signs were nowhere to be found. Despite this, M did not get lost (this time!), arriving at the other end of the tunnel at the same time as R and MM. She said that Foulridge village belies its name and is actually a charming little place.
We had arranged to meet our good friends Malcolm and Kathleen at the Anchor Inn at Salterford. They live just across the valley at Earby and we were delighted to see them arrive in their Hymer campervan, both looking well and "in the pink".

A tour of MM, followed by tea and cake (including local Eccles cake, of course) was a must and, after a lovely "catch-up", we walked across to the Inn, a most attractive building.

Many years ago, when he worked for a local brewery, Malcolm used to deliver to this pub, so he knew it well. The original landlord that he knew was no longer there and the new landlord had only taken over this Monday!
The Inn dates back to 1655 and is one of the oldest buildings in Salterford. When the Leeds & Liverpool Canal was excavated between 1770 and 1816, the pack horse road past the inn was raised to carry it over the canal on a bridge and additional floors were constructed on top of the old inn. However, the original ground floor of the Inn is still there underneath it and is now its cellar. Water from the canal has seeped in, forming stalactites and stalagmites. This photo was taken standing on what was the front doorstep of the old inn, looking out on to what would have been the old pack horse road.

The new landlord very kindly allowed us to go down to see the cellar, so we felt duty bound to stay and have a drink. Malcolm chose an excellent local beer and R (who is not normally a beer drinker) enjoyed it so much that he had a second pint!

We had dinner back on board MM and a thoroughly enjoyable evening together. It was so good to see Malcolm and Kathleen again.
Today: 4 miles, 7 locks and 3.8 hours.
Trip: 196 miles, 100 locks and 120.7 hours.