#CountryKids A walk on the Lancaster Canal and River Kent

On a cool and wet day over the holidays I persuaded my son to take a walk along the Lancaster Canal Trail which follows the old Lancaster Canal:

For much of the route to Sedgwick from Kendal there are only relics of the old canal alongside the path:

However most of the bridges are still in place which looks a bit odd in an otherwise ordinary field:

At some of the bridges the remnants of the canal are a lot more obvious:

#CountryKids on the Lancaster Canal

 

We were very lucky to be taken for 5 nights on a narrowboat on the Lancaster Canal by my parents. A very much needed break away from it all. We boarded Bluebell at Tewitfield Marina which is currently the most northerly part of the Lancaster Canal that is fully navigable:

After being shown the ropes and having our steering observed we headed south along the canal under one of the many beautiful bridges:

They are all numbered (the numbers start in Preston) so you know where you are: 

The canal is a haven for wildlife and this was just one of the many herons we saw:

This canal was built along the contours of the land (makes it intriguingly wiggly) so it has no locks but does have a swing bridge that the children helped to shift:

#CountryKids A stroll along the Leeds-Liverpool canal by Botany Bay

We had to make a trip to Manchester today (second one in a week!) and on the way back decided to break the journey at Botany Bay off the M61 as its somewhere we have never been:

Not much of a country kids type place you would say... but when we drove into the car park we discovered that this old mill is (and its quite logical really) alongside the Leeds and Liverpool canal: