Lancaster Canal..........

Surviving the 'Millennium Link' Ribble crossing we had a couple of weeks to explore the lock-free Lancaster canal from Preston to the terminus at Tewitfield north of Carnforth.

Joining the Lancaster canal just south of Preston we decided to turn towards Preston and start our exploration from there if only because there is a Canal and River Trust sanitary station about a mile from the end of the canal where we could fill the water tank, etc.

Finding a space on a small visitor mooring near the sanitary station we decided to spend the night there and start afresh in the morning, especially as there was a few shops nearby to top-up with groceries.

I had been chatting to a local boater and his opinion of the Lancaster canal was simply that the further north you go the better the canal and surrounding countryside becomes......so off we went to take his advice.


Cruising the first few miles towards Swillbrook seemed to prove his observations as we progressed through some uninspiring countryside that gave way to pleasant green farmland with Pennine views off to the right . Together with the added bonus of the sunshine chasing the clouds away everything started to visually improve.

Lancaster Canal

I had asked the owner of a boatyard at Swillbrook if he sold diesel. He had a sign clearly stating 'DIESEL' but I was suspicious after being warned that there was NO fuel sales from  marinas and boatyards on the Lancaster canal.

" No sorry....... we do not sell fuel, try next marina on the right " he replied.

Next on the right was 'Moon's Bridge' marina....and yes there was a diesel pump and a nice lady in the Marina shop ready to sell some to you. So our tanks was topped up to the brim with some forty litres or so..........unfortunately there was no 'split' (propulsion/heating) on tax offered so you have to buy all the fuel at the higher price..........oh well, you pay your money and make your choice.


A serious word of warning at this point ......if you are planning to explore the Lancaster canal in the future, this is the only marina in the whole forty miles length of the canal that sells fuel.  Many are marked in Nicholson's guide as selling fuel, but time has overtaken this information and they no longer offer that service. I presume because they cannot be bothered with the current  propulsion/domestic 'tax-split' paperwork regulations or cannot afford the mooring 'space' dedicated for a fuel point.  Thankfully marinas on the rest of the canal system do go to the trouble of supplying fuel or recreational boating  would simply disappear and the canals with it.

One marina we rang was 'Nu-way Acorn' in Carnforth which Nicholson's guide stated sold diesel.  A definite 'NO' was the answer.  A word to the wise though if you are short of fuel in Carnforth there is a petrol station right next to the canal and you can walk the few yards to the pumps with your 'Gerry' can and obtain fuel ( enough to get you back to Moon's Bridge perhaps)

Lady behind the counter said she did a good trade from boaters both petrol and diesel. One option is a company that 'deliver' near Garstang I was told......but like many others I am reluctant to carry 20-40 litres of fuel any distance back to the boat if I can avoid it.

One of the first visitor moorings (48 hours) we visited was Bilsborrow complete with a sanitary station. Considering the Lancaster canal is only forty miles in length it is well blessed with good sanitary stations complete with equally good refuse disposal points - not always the case on some other canals.

Owd Nell's Tavern, Bilsborrow.

 Mooring for the night the night at Bilsborrow we enjoyed a few beers and something to eat at the friendly 'Owd Nell's' pub.  Our next stop stop was Garstang - an attractive old town that I must admit I have never visited before.  Again there are 48 hour visitor mooring here that are obviously very popular at weekends with local boaters.

Garstang was in my judgement an absolute delight with an attractive old main street with just about everything you could wish for.......pubs,restaurants,butchers,small supermarkets, etc.  If Garstang has ain't got it - you don't need it.

Wyre aqueduct, Garstang

Garstang

We stayed a couple of days here and thoroughly enjoyed it. There is an excellent sanitary station as you leave Garstang
easily spotted on the right of the canal complete with pump-out equipment if you need it.


We were blessed with wall to wall sunshine as we moved on towards Lancaster.  Blue skies and warm sunshine proved that even the British summer can be kind and the  surrounding green farmland looked just superb .

Take care the sides of the Lancaster Canal are shallow!!!!!!!!

Passing the Glasson branch we resisted the temptation to do the six locks down into Glasson dock, if only for the reason that we would have to do the same six locks back up again!!!!!  Perhaps we missed out on a night moored with the sea-going boats in the the dock.

Passing on through scenery that the Lancaster canal is renowned for we entered the centre Lancaster with a plentiful supply of 48-hour visitor moorings. We found most of these moorings already taken but managed to squeeze in at the end of the line.  

Lancaster canal........Lancaster centre moorings.

We stayed the maximum allowed here and decided to explore Lancaster visiting Lancaster Castle, Maritime museum and Lancaster Priory......you really need more than 48 hours to enjoy Lancaster and the moorings here were until recently 7 days, but presumably to give everybody a fairer chance of mooring it has been reduced to 48 hours. 

We did managed to find time to visit the popular 'CAMRA' recommended 'Water Witch' pub which is canal-side near these moorings and sells a full range of superb craft beers. I did not go completely through every choice available but I tried my best !!  

Water Witch pub..........Lancaster.

Our 48 hour mooring period came far to quickly to an end and reluctantly leaving the rest of the beers in the 'Water Witch' for another time, we moved on towards Hest Bank adjacent to the sands of Morecambe bay.

A couple of miles out of Lancaster is the imposing Lune aqueduct that carries you some 60ft over the surprisingly wide River Lune. Lancaster was a major port for visiting sailing ships from all over the world sailing into the Lune until ships really became too big for the tidal river to handle and the sea trade with Lancaster eventually ceased.

Crossing the Lune aqueduct

River Lune from the aqueduct

Hest bank is again a 48 hour maximum visitor mooring, but many boats seem to outstay their welcome so it can be a little tricky to find a mooring.  The Lancaster canal is very shallow at the edges and the banking here is in poor condition making mooring the boat problematic and you really need to use your 'gang-plank' on occasions. So a another word of warning regarding the Lancaster canal if you or any of your 'crew' have any mobility problems and cannot balance along a plank onto the tow-path then you might be confined to the boat on occasions.


We took the opportunity to visit nearby Morecambe and Morecambe bay with the clear weather giving amazing views over towards the Lake district.........

Life's a beach..........time to admire the view. Looking over Morecambe bay to the Lake District

Morecambe bay near Hest bank

Mother and child sculpture, Morecambe Bay.

 Again we reluctantly left Hest Bank and moved on towards Carnforth where we found a garage next to the canal and topped up our fuel with our 20 litre 'Gerry' can. Carnforth has some visitor moorings but again impossible to moor close-into the bank despite recent new bank-pilings.


We eventually managed to moor outside the 'Canal Turn' pub which we had avoided because of a sign restricting mooring at stated times during morning and late afternoon for a 'water-bus' stop. We had seen a few of these with boats moored on them and the licensee of the 'Canal Turn' mentioned that he had not seen the 'Water-bus' visit for over twelve months and suggested we moor and move if it actually did arrive.

Fibre-glass cruisers predominate on the Lancaster Canal.

Carnforth is a great place to stop.......Sanitary station, Tesco superstore; chip shop; laundrette.......everything a visiting boater could need including a great base to visit the Lake district.


We were now only three or four miles from the canal terminus at Tewitfield and it was with genuine regret that that we came to the current end of the canal that originally continued on to Kendal......let us hope that perhaps money and the will can be found to restore the full length of Lancaster canal at some time in the future......