30.08.17 — Journal

Burnley Canal Festival

This weekend me and my dad faced a bit of a conundrum, as the Colne R&B Festival, the Burnley Canal Festival, and the Higham Scarecrow Festival were all happening at the same time. After some very intense discussions, we decided to head down to the Leeds-Liverpool canal which winds through Burnley and check out the festivities there.

Heading down the straight mile
Flags show us the way
A road to nowhere

After a wander down the longest piece of straight bearing canal in the world, we turned a corner and began to approach the hub of the Canal Festival, a newly regenerated ex-industrial site called Sandygate.

Looking skyward
Passing the wharf

Approaching the areawe came across more and more beautifully made up canal boats, starting as we passed The Inn on the Wharf, a pub by an old loading station along the waterfront.

Dad snaps a photo
Bunting galore
A nice little pot

Unfortunately this was Saturday night, and we’d to be back home before 6:30pm in order to wake my mum up and take her to work for the night, and so we soon made an about turn and wandered back along the banks.

Old mill aesthetic
A hole in the wall
Walking back down the waterside

On the Sunday we headed back down once again though, as we never really made it to the square where the event was actually taking place. Parking up in an area nearby, we wandered down the hill and over the canal and found ourselves in the heart of the action!

Looking over Burnley
A collapsed roof

On our way down we wandered amongst the abandoned buildings and mills of Burnely’s bygone industrial age, but I found beauty in the decay and stopped a while to take some photos.

I found beauty in the decay and stopped a while to take some photos.

A window no more
Green on green
Drunk door

Once I’d bought a bottle of water ready for a day cooking in the sun, I found my dad in his usefully yellow t-shirt and we began to explore the festivities. I enjoyed a spot of line dancing, watched an array of artists make an array of cool crafts things, and even stopped for a while to watch the awesome Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band – their music was infectious!

A cheeky dance
Looking over the tents

After wandering down to the water and watching people have fun going out for a quick canoe in the canal, me and my dad reconvened and grabbed some bao – Chinese steamed buns filled with fried chicken and succulent pork. Heaven!

Artwork on the water
A pop up solar cinema

After eating the weather was getting decidedly English and a raft of grey clouds seemed to be blowing over, so we headed back to the car and I spent the rest of the evening having a lovely relaxing bath – a rather blissful weekend if ever there was one!

In other news I am progressing quickly with the coding of my new website design, and I’ll be asking people to test it out pretty soon! Get in touch if you’re interested – I am particularly interested in people with non-Android and non-Apple phones. More updates on this soon…