Blackburn

The cruise to Blackburn was an interesting one. The area was run down with grafitti tags, high perimeter walls, razor wire and rubbish, but there was also evidence of a community spirit in the efforts of small businesses and groups. We passed a mural being painted, a wallpapered phone box and Del Boy's 3 wheeled yellow car as examples of this.

Drawing near central Blackburn we saw the brick built Imperial Cotton Mill, 1901 -1980. Until recently it had been used by Lancashire Saw Company but in the last few years the District Council bought the site with intentions to preserve local heritage and use it for community events. The chimney of Daisyfield Corn Mill caught our eye as it still displayed the symbol for Granada TV from when they used it as offices.

Mooring up between a red painted footbridge and a wharf overhanging the water it was surprisingly quiet (well, once the workers regenerating a factory building on the opposite bank shut their cranes and work tools up for the weekend).

On Sunday we explored the city, visiting the cathedral grounds, shopping mall and The Exchange; an impressive old corn trading building that had been bought by a church group, who were in the process of making it into a gathering place for events such as makers markets, music nights and meetings as well as offering support and advice. They were very open and happy for us to wander. There were photo boards showing an impressive green barrelled ceiling on the upper floor, but there wasn't any access to it.

We made our way to a few works of art marked on the Maps.me app, but several had been removed while the squares and pedestrian junctions were modernised. Even for a Sunday the streets were very quiet. Some shops were open, but many hadn't thought it worth it, including some large retail chains.

Hoping for a good view of the city we climbed a road called Shear Bank that lived up to its name. We passed a mosque where children could be seen playing football matches, then cut through Corporation Park to reach The Tank Toposcope. It marked the site of a 50,000 gallon iron water tank, used to supply the houses near the top of the hill between 1897-1978. The view over Blackburn city was mostly obscured by trees and nearby houses but the next valley opened up beneath us and we reckoned that you could see the Blackpool tower and sea on a clear day.

On our way back we stopped at a Caribbean restaurant called The Wharf, just 100m away from Rainboat. We paired curry, rice, peas and dumpling with a couple of cocktails/ mocktails each. We were the only customers so the atmosphere was a little lacking but the food and drink was good enough and good value.

The builders started work again on Monday morning and we moved on. Austerity and the cost of living was clearly hitting Blackburn hard.Читать далее