Barlick

Barnoldswick is one of those mysterious places that isn't on the way from anywhere to anywhere, unless you're traveling by canal, so is very easy to pass by.

It has the reputation of being the largest town in England without an A road, indeed it was with some trepidation that I boarded a bus in Skipton to take me into the Barlick Triangle (formed by the by-passing trajectories of the A56, A59 and A682).  Barlick is how the town is called by locals, and I'd at least learned that much so that I didn't look and sound a complete tourist by asking for a single to Bar-nolds-wick.

For a small town, it certainly punches above its weight in impressive trivia: it is one of the longest place names in Britain without any repeating letters; it occupies the summit of the Leeds-Liverpool Canal; it was the location of the longest continuous strike in British history (Silentnight, 1985-1987), it is the birthplace of many a Rolls Royce jet engine, and after happily sitting within the West Riding of Yorkshire and its predecessors for a thousand years or so it was lost to Lancashire in the great land grab of 1974.

So although I was ostensibly visiting to watch a football match, I made sure I had a couple of hours to potter around the town and stride a short stretch of the canal.  In extras you will find a small sample of ghost signs, plaques (noting inclusion of both red and white rose) and canal bridges, as befits such an exploration. For my main image I've selected the cobbled approach to the Barnoldswick Legion Club.

At the football (also in extras), Barnoldwick Town were hosting top of the table Runcorn Linnets in the North West Counties League Premier Division.  Barlick took an early lead through recently capped sixteen year old English schoolboy Emmanuel Ogunrinde  - currently on loan from Salford City. The Linnets equalised on the half hour and were dominating possession but not really doing anything with it until the introduction of substitute Freddie Potter, who managed to grab himself a hat-trick in the final 25 minutes. 1-4 it finished. 

I've managed to find my way back out of the Triangle, aided by the magical Witch Way bus. I will try to find my way back there some day.