Out into the country.

We did a bit more shopping as there was a very handy TX Max and Helen was in Christmas shopping mode. I was sent for such things as cat litter!

The first lock for a while as we thread into the top lock at Blackburn after a very quiet night.

After four locks there is the lock cottage and facilities. We stopped to fill up with water and divest ourselves of all the rubbish we had picked up from the water and the tow path on our trip through Blackburn

The water is very close to the lock so we were glad that nobody came down. On the way down I noticed that many bridges etc had gates across. I had read in an old Pearson's guide that the local council had done this to make the tow path safer. I actually think the best way to make the safe for mooring is by having as many people as possible use them. Even with the gates closed I have no doubt that if folk wanted to they could gain access. I wonder how long the experiment lasted.

The quadrant to open the gates worked very well. It is needed due to the closeness of the bridge abutments. 

A little out of focus but I noticed that this milestone was not quite like the others and it turned out it was the boundary stone between Blackburn and Darwen and Chorley.

It is a shame that the trees haven't quite turned as it would be spectacular on this tree lined section of the canal. Mind you the leaves make a bit of a mess.

This looks like an old water tower that may have supplied the paper works that were near by. It would seem that it has now become a bat roost, or Bat Man has it as his summer residence in England, aking to the Bat Cave!

There are some lovely stretches of the canal and the sun was trying to come out. It got a little windier than of late but it was a lovely chug.

These bridges were almost mirror images as we approached Withnell Fold. The visitor moorings were empty so we tied up to explore the village before it started to rain.

The paper mill here was started in 1843/44 and by 1855 they had three machines working, 74, 66 and 60, called after the width of paper they made. They made many types of paper, writing, tissue, cartridge and newsprint that was for newspapers in Preston, Bolton and Liverpool. The mill was owned by the Thomas Blinkhorn Peake until 1890 when it joined with well known paper maker Wiggins Teape. The factory closed for good on 23rd December 1967.

The village was started at the same time as the paper mill and was a model village. Each house had a front garden and as seen here outside loos. He also built a school that doubled as the Methodist chapel until he built a separate school in 1897.

The family also provided a reading room that had a billiard room, reading room and and upstairs concert room with a sprung floor for dancing. Kathleen Ferrier who became a classic contralto singer played the piano for the concerts. It was built in 1890.

These Memorial Gardens were originally a holding pond for the paper process, but when not longer required they were given to the villagers as a memorial to the fallen of both world wars. On of the villagers remembered is James Miller was awarded the VC in WWI. In the background you can make out some iron railings above a stone wall. This is part of the Thirlmere to Manchester aqueduct that was built between 1890 and 1925.

We went on to walk round the settling ponds that have become a nature reserve and we saw this lovely moss on a railing.