Unique chance to see waterways heritage brought to life
For two hundred years, thousands of canal boats were towed along the canals by horses, today there are only 5 operators left in Britain with their horse-drawn boats. On Wednesday 21 July, people in Manchester will have a fantastic opportunity to see this spectacle first hand as a horse-drawn boat starts her journey along the Rochdale Canal. The boat will start from Castlefield Basin in Manchester city centre, going to the Summit of the canal between Littleborough and Walsden, where the horse and boat will be on Sunday 1 August.
The expedition is part of the award winning week-long Rochdale Canal Festival, which starts on Saturday 24 July. The Festival Finale will take place at the Rochdale Canal Summit on Sunday 1 August. Here visitors will have the chance to get close to the horse and boat, watch demonstrations of boathorse harnessing, take a trip along the canal, discover the mini-beasts who make their home along the waterway or simply browse the stalls and enjoy live music. Sue Day from the Horseboating Society said: We hope many people will enjoy seeing our horse-drawn boat at some stage of our journey, which will take us along the entire 32mile length of the canal. Horse-drawn boats have become a very rare sight on the waterways so we promote horseboating now with boats both old and new. Lucy Rogers, Rochdale Canal Development Manager at The Waterways Trust, said: This years festival promises to be a walking, biking, wildlife-watching, canoeing, angling, boating, eating and relaxing week of fun! The horseboating is a great addition to the festival programme and will give people first-hand experience of how our waterways and towpaths used to be used. All festival activities and events are free of charge, providing the perfect opportunity for people to come along and discover what the waterway has to offer them. A full listing of all events, which are free of charge, can be downloaded from www.thewaterwaystrust.org.uk Horseboating Schedule:
Wednesday 21 July Castlefield Basin to Dale Street/ Piccadilly Basin, Manchester
Friday 3 July Piccadilly Basin to Failsworth Basin
Saturday 24 July Failsworth Basin to Rose of Lancaster, North Chadderton
Monday 26 July Rose of Lancaster, North Chadderton to Slattocks
Wednesday 28 July Slattocks to Littleborough
Friday 30 July Littleborough to Summit
Sunday 1 August Rochdale Canal Festival Finale at Summit
9 11 August Summit to Hebden Bridge The Rochdale Canal Festival is organised by The Waterways Trust, British Waterways, Rochdale Council, Manchester City Council, Oldham Council, Calderdale Council and the Rochdale Canal Society. Funding has been made available through the South Pennines LEADER programme (Rural Development Programme for England), which is jointly funded through Defra and the European Union, and is managed by Yorkshire Forward in the Yorkshire and Humber Region, the Environment Agency, Oldham Council and the Lottery.
|
|
