Returning to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal (Leeds to Kirkstall)

It was an accomplishment completing by foot the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in June 2017. There are many happy memories and relationship with my family has grown stronger.

 

 

I have made a couple of trips to the canal since June.  I mainly walked the Leeds stretch on the canal a couple of times - it is encouraging to see improvements and differences, albeit small ones, to the canal and its environs.

 

More people are using the canal whether cruising, cycling, running or walking.  The Stables Cafe, by Oddy Locks, held in a former horses stables, is a perfect place to stop for a coffee. This is an area which was once run down, derelict and smothered in graffiti.  Now the area has been regenerated, developed and now a pleasant place to stop and travel through.  The residents there take pride where they live including its canal.

 

On another canal visit I accessed the Armley Mills Industrial Museum.  Enroute I stopped at The Stables for a coffee then walked further to the museum.  Housed in a former mill, I saw Winterreise (Winter Journey) in the museum's Victorian intimate cinema.  The building is situated at a strategic point between the River Aire and the canal.  It certainly shared its purpose when the mills were in operation. The film screening connects people with nature. As well as nature this particular building can allow people to interact with their minds the industrial heritage and social history.

 

   

Returning to the Leeds and Liverpool Canal will give me an opportunity to embrace the past, present and future of England's single longest canal.

    

 

Whenever I make visits to the canal, depending on what I do and if I have anything interesting to share, I'll be blogging!