Liverpool & Leeds Canal - Blackburn to Chorley (★★★★☆)

With rain continuing to keep the ground wet across most of England, we are back on the canals today - and continuing to tick off sections of the Liverpool and Leeds Canal - which runs for 126 miles between Liverpool and Leeds.

On our last visit to this canal, we had walked a fairly urban section of the canal from Burnley to Blackburn - and today we get a more rural section, walking from Blackburn on to the outskirts of Chorley.

On the following day we will resume our walk and then finish in Appley Bridge, having walked to and through Wigan. And after this we will have completed almost one hundred miles of walking along the canal - with two final days remaining, to complete the journey to Liverpool.

For now though, we are finishing up a rather picturesque train ride into Blackburn - with our route including a particularly pretty section of train line that runs between Todmorden and Burnley.

But having reached Blackburn, we must now make our way to  the canal - and with town planning not being high on the agenda in Blackburn, this means a walk past the retail parks, until we can drop onto the canal at one of the road crossings.

With this over, we then have a fairly quiet walk through Blackburn, with only a very small number of people out and about along the canal (which has been well finished along the whole section running through Blackburn).

But with the map showing a lovely quiet rural stretch ahead, once we get out of town - my main focus is just on getting through town and out to that promise of open countryside.

And indeed, it is not too long before we get there - and start to see trees and fields on either side of the canal.

Heading out beyond Blackburn

I have glossed over the trip through town - but there isn't too much to get excited about on that more urban section, and for those looking to just do a highlights tour, there is the option of starting at Pleasington train station (which will allow you to skip entirely the more urban sections heading through Blackburn). From that train station is is a short walk down to connect up with the canal.

But irrespective of the starting point for this walk, any walker will now find themselves in very pleasant countryside - albeit with the M65 for company (once again) - and here we can settle in, pretend that there isn't a stonking great motorway, and enjoy our stroll along the canal.

And as we pass by Riley Green (to the side of the canal), we get some lovely views to make up for the road noise.

Some rolling hills to keep things interesting

The M65 is a noisy motorway, with very little in the way of noise dampening, but soon we find ourselves heading underneath it - and this also means that it is also time to say goodbye to a companion that has rather overstayed it's welcome (with the motorway having joined the canal at Colne, many miles back along the canal).

Heading under the motorway

Here we have both pretty countryside for our eyes and quiet countryside for our ears - with the sort of canal we ultimately come here to enjoy - heading across a fairly empty landscape, with nothing other than a few small villages, and a lot of ducks, to keep us company.

Some geese

A bridge

An abandoned building (at Withnell Fold)

Along this section there is not too much to report back about - the route of the canal is fairly straight, and the peace and quiet makes the walk enjoyable, but fairly uneventful.

But as we head past Wheelton (on the far side of the canal), things liven up a bit as we reach a run of seven locks in succession, and as we drop down onto lower ground.

Going through the run of locks

Looking across from one of the ponds

Up to lock number 63 now

Looking back from number 64

At the base of this lock flight, we encounter an odd little jink in the canal, with a transition from our old canal path, to a newer route that continues on ahead - but with this newer route also heading off into a separate dead end as we look behind.

And here we find a relic of the Lancaster Canal, which had been planned to run between Kendal and Westhoughton (which lies just beyond the Wigan Lock Flight - which we will reach tomorrow).

Having crossed over the bridge at this odd jink in the canal, what we are walking along now is actually the southern end of the Lancaster Canal, although it has now been fully adopted as part of the Liverpool & Leeds Canal. And tomorrow when we turn at Top Lock, this relic of the Lancaster Canal will come to an end.

Beyond that, the section on to Westhoughton beyond Top Lock was never built, nor was the necessary join to get across the River Ribble (resulting in two separate sections of the Lancaster Canal, which were connected together via a tramway).

This southern end of the Lancaster Canal came to a halt near the join of the M61 and M65 at Walton Summit, and then the northern end of the Lancaster Canal came to a halt very slightly further south of where it terminates today.

Then in the 1960s, this southern section of the Lancaster Canal closed between Johnson's Hillock (where we are stood now) and Salton Summit, in order to facilitate the construction of the M61 (hence the odd dead end). 

And whilst this section remains, it is now fully part of the Liverpool & Leeds Canal - albeit with odd changes in direction both here and at Top Lock (as we will see tomorrow).

These days boats can still get between the two canals, but must now instead head up from the Liverpool & Leeds Canal via the Rufford Branch (which we have not reached yet) to the River Ribble, and then on via the Millenium Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal.

But for now, we continue very briefly along this section that was formerly the Lancaster Canal, until we finish for the day at the next bridge.

A last look at the canal

Overall it has been a fairly undramatic day - and our walk has taken us across a fairly empty stretch of countryside - but this quiet is really what has made this such a nice day of walking.

It has been very relaxing, and upon reaching my hotel room, I even have a nice view of the canal to enjoy until the light completely fades.

Tomorrow we will take on a longer day of walking, and will get a particular highlight as we take on the Wigan Lock Flight, which will feature 21 separate locks and a height change of over 200 feet.

Total Distance: 10.0 miles (9.2 miles on the canal)

Total Ascent: 354 feet (25 feet on the canal)

Enjoyment Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ ★ / 5

Click for the writeup for the next section of the Liverpool & Leeds Canal from Chorley to Appley Bridge.

Disclaimer: This writeup provides a narrative of what to expect rather than a route guide to follow. The route is covered by the 102 (you don't really need this map though) and 103 (this is the main map for this walk) OS Landranger maps (links redirect to Amazon). The route is in general well way-marked.