Bye bye Blackburn

Blackburn from the canal

View towards the Pennine Hills

We travelled into Blackburn through attractively wooded countryside getting further into the hills, as farmland gave way to grass fields and then rough pasture and the cows were replaced by sheep. On the way we saw our first kingfisher of this trip - in the southern canals we were used to seeing perhaps 2-3 a week, but they seem much rarer further north.

Of Blackburn little needs or can be said. The canal was shallow and dirty, we counted at least 6 shopping trolleys in the canal as well as a fridge. People we are travelling with picked up a duvet and had to stop because of other rubbish wrapped around their prop. Just outside Blackburn a group of children spat at us from a bridge.

However, leaving Blackburn the scenery is stunning. We are moored on a hillside with views across to the Burnley and the high Pennine hills with just a faint rumble from the distant M65.