Barnoldswick Marina

Did a 15 mile circular walk from home...very flat for us....along disused railway lines from Colne to Skipton ( various MPs for over 20 years promised to reopen it , and we were close, but a betting man would keep their odds now.....HSV2 v the rest of the country's dilapidated rail system...don't get me started!) But then also fantastic canal towpaths. I marvel at the irony of the industrial heritage of our area....the canals and railways connected our hillside villages to major cities ....combining prosperity and poverty ...and servitude to the thousands of textile millworkers.....then the mills became enormous engineering factories...especially aerospace during the war to get it out of London. Hey...we built Spitfires and Concord up here...
....and then it all got taken away...and here we are walking in the open fields again....cos we have no industry left after Thatcher.....whilst our city cousins struggle. The rich will always prosper in the UK. ..Anyway...you wouldn't normally see all the barges tied up here.....but of course the canals are closed right now. I love the colour and solidarity here.