After a couple of days we headed north again. We had out passage back across the Ribble Estuary booked so we had to keep moving.
The Lune Aqueduct is very impressive. Not a spindly little thing like that one in Wales, but solid and strong, Northern, in stature. It doesn't get much publicity though.
We moored a little away from the current head of navigation as the visitor moorings and services are close to the motorway, that is less than 100mt! However it wasn't as noisy as you may think. The weather was great so we decided to have a walk up some of the lost route.
Restoration would take too much as the flight of locks are still largely in place for water movement purposes. The cascades above ar over the sills of the locks. The gates may be missing but some of the paddle gear is still in place. I think it is problems with bridges that is the main hold up with restoration.
There are plenty of walks around the area and we had a lovely day wandering around the local villages.
After another day or so we turned round and headed back south and stopped off in Carnforth. The small station punches above it's weight as it was a junction and also the base and 'staging post' for crews engines etc. There is still a yard here that deals with heritage engines and rolling stock. Of course many people know of Carnforth Station as some scenes of the film 'Brief Encounters' was filmed here. It was chosen as being filmed at the end of WWII a place where the Blackout wouldn't need to be enforced was required, as well as a mainline station. I love the curved platforms, subway access and ofcourse there is the famous clock seen in the film. There is the heritage cafe as seen in the film as well as a museum of the film and of the station and railway itself. All in all you could spend an hour or two here.
The Snug on the old 'Up' main line platform on Carnforth Station adds to the attraction of the Station attraction. It opened on 1st August 2012. (By coincidence Yorkshire Day, and it is in Lancashire!). It must have been the original station buildings when built in 1846 by the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. It became a junction a few years later and then a mainline station a few years after that. The platforms then moved away from the first platform and are now accessed by underpass. It is only 300 sq.ft so is very micro., a little too small really. They have 5 hand pulls, plus loads of bottles and plenty of ciders too. They had 4 pale ales and no stout. I tried the odd one out.
The beer a chose was a collaboration between Bingley Brewery, situated in a small village just outside Bingley, and Hooded Ram Brewery that is found in Douglas on the Isle of Mann. I'm not sure how they collaborated but Bingley Brewery started up in 2014 with a 6bbl plant and Hooded Ram in 2013.
Red Neck is a West Coast IPA and it is strong at 5.5%. It pulled well with a good head and is a nice red colour. It is brewed with 4 different malts including Red crystal and a wheat malt. The malts came through with a nice malty after taste. Five hops are used in the brewing and then an American hop is added as dry hopping at the end but they seemed to get lost a little. Maybe just too complicated for my simple taste.
I tried another beer whilst there, this time from Ridgeside which are found in Meanwood, near Leeds. They started brewing in 2010 but in 2015 a new team came in and started a fresh. They are well known around Leeds.
Tonquin Old Ale is 7% is very strong, but alcohol is not the flavour that comes to you at all. The beer was flat and a dark colour when pulled. It tasted sweet and like a sasperella! to me, sweet and a little licourice like to me. This is the Tonka Beans I expect. The beans are from giant trees that grow in the Amazon. One bean will flavour loads of plates of food so is pretty strong. The chemical in the beans is poisonous if eaten in quantity and is banned in America. I think in this instance the Americans have got it right! As a Yorkshireman I never leave a beer, but I really struggled to get this one down. I don't think it is brewed anymore though.
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