A canalside stroll in Galgate

The Lancaster canal opened in 1799, connecting Preston to the village of Tewitfield (a few miles north of Lancaster). At around about the same time, the southern part of the canal, from Chorley to Clayton le Woods, also opened, the two sections being joined by a tramway. By 1819, the northern section was extended to Kendal, enabling coal from the Lancashire coalfields around Wigan to be transported north, and limestone from Kendal and Burton to be moved south.

The tramway at the southern branch of the canal closed in the 1850s and the southern section became a spur of the Leeds & Liverpool canal, but the remainder remained in use until after the war in the 1940s. Then commercial traffic ended, and when the M6 was built in the 1950s, rather than build over the canal, they simply blocked it off.

The link to Glasson Dock had been completed in 1826, connecting to the main canal near Galgate. Earlier in the spring, we explored the Glasson end of the canal and visited the hamlet of Condor Green, but today's walk took us along the canal towpath at the opposite end of the Glasson spur, around the village of Galgate.

Galgate has a colourful marina, and there were plenty of boats moored up on both sides of the canal. The village is a popular stopping point for barges, being easily accessible from the canal towpath and possessing the added advantage of having a good chippy!

Our walk took us along the towpath past the marina and down to the start of the Glasson branch. From here, we walked down to the next set of locks before retracing our steps back. Interestingly, the top set of locks on the branch are kept locked by British Waterways - any boaters wishing to us the branch must ask for the keys and after use, the locks must be kept empty. This helps ensure that the water level in the main canal is maintained.

The canal is particularly popular in the summer months, but at the moment, because of the M6, boaters can only go as far as Tewitfield. Beyond this point the 'Northern Reaches' of the canal have been built over in several places, although there are now plans to restore the canal all the way to Kendal. If these plans come off, a new marina and basin would be developed, although the costs of the proposals are high. It will be interesting to see if the redevelopment of the Northern Reaches progresses over the next few years, and if it does, what this will mean for Kendal and for the canal itself.