Drive & Stroll, with Ron Freethy: The Lancaster Canal

THIS year I seem to have walked along the Lancaster Canal more than in previous years.

I'm sure this has been the case with most people who enjoy strolling along towpaths because 1997 has been the 200th anniversary of the canal opening.

The main line of the canal has no locks and so boaters love the leisure of being able to cruise quietly along without having to use their muscles to operate the machinery.

The one stretch where locks are needed is between Galgate and Glasson Dock where a spur off the main line drops down to the sea.

The Lancaster is a canal of contrasts. There are urban stretches near Preston and through Garstang and Lancaster but all these places are steeped in history.

The Preston stretch leads through cotton mills and proves how important the canal was when cotton was king. The mills of Preston needed lime to produce the mortar for building and the limestone to make this came via the "water cut" into Preston.

Garstang is still a wonderful old market town surrounded by magnificent walking country and with a heritage centre based in the old Grammar School.

There is a canal basin and some historic coaching inns which were vital when Garstang was a important staging post.

Lancaster is also an exciting place to walk through history and here is the Maritime Museum which has a substantial section devoted to the Lancaster Canal.

Here it is possible to sit in a replica of one of the express barges which guaranteed the swiftest passage possible for the period. It operated between Kendal and Preston, and averaged almost 10mph with regular changes of good horses.

For the walker, however, idyllic rural sections are essential and one of the prettiest is the section from Galgate Marina to Glasson Dock. The marina is now the base of British Waterways but plenty of pleasure craft are still tied up and adding colour. A most important amenity hereabouts is the presence of a rather good little cafe providing home-made goodies.

I was lucky to walk on a warm morning when narrow boats and prominent signposts reflected in the water of the canal. While strolling, I collected enough juicy blackberries to make a pie and a brew of wine which might just be ready at Christmas.

Both these are cheap ways of living off the land and I also collected some sloes and the sloe gin is already brewing away gently. This is not cheap but well worth the expense.

The stretch is also worth the walk for all those interested in birdlife in autumn. The fields around the canal are gathering grounds for birds which have come down from the breeding areas around our East Lancashire hills. They are joined by migrants especially thrushes and waders which may have come from places as far away as Norway and Russia. The swallows which were gathering will soon have departed for Africa.

We can all wonder at the engineering skills of those who built our canals, road and rail links. But how much more should we celebrate the wonders of bird migration. Let nobody use the word 'bird-brain' ever again unless it be as a compliment!

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