Sedgewick |
 |
 |
 |
Bridge 182  |
Bride 181  |
Bridge 180 to 181  |
Bridge180  |
South of Bridge 180  |
Bridge 179  |
Sedgewick  |
Sedgwick Aqueduct  |
Sedgewick Aqueduct  |
North of Hincaster  |
Hincaster Tunnel North  |
Hincaster Northern Portal  |
Watwers end by Bridge 172  |
Bridge 170  |
Bridge 169  |
The canal remains in water as far as Stainton Bridge It provides good fishing, with tench being in abundance. From Stainton northwards, the canal is no longer in water. Just before Hincaster Tunnel, the canal is split by the new A541 Kendal link Road. On the other side of Hincaster Tunnel the canal runs north for 400m, overlooking the woods of Levens Park and the Kent valley, before it is again curtailed, and this time disastrously so, by the Kendal link Road, which passes through a wide sloping cutting well below canal level.
The walker must leave the canal before this obstruction is reached and follow the adjacent minor road for 800m, until it crosses a Bridge over the link road. At the north end of the Bridge look up the bank for a stile with a Lancaster Canal footpath sign. Once over the stile, the walker can be forgiven for thinking that this is not the correct way because the canal was obliterated In 1985 when the local farmer 'landscaped' the canal into the adjacent fields.
However, head NNE, across the field in the direction of the Canal Bridge in the distance. This used to be a very impressive stretch of canal, cut into the hillside with excellent views. The canal reappears and remains as far as the grand 'structure of Sedgewick Aqueduct, a listed building which towers above the village. 200m further on the canal is again obliterated across farmland but can be followed along the line of a hedge on the left for 600m to a kissing gate in the far left-hand corner of the field. It then went straight ahead for 600m through a Bridge, which now stands isolated in the middle of the next field and now serves no purpose except as a shelter for the cattle.
The canal bed reappears and there is a pleasant leafy walk through a cutting to Larkrigg Hall Bridge, where the canal comes into the open. Beyond Crowpark Bridge, the canal has been filled in to the level of the adjacent farmland and will not be seen again for the rest of the way to Kendal, which is now visible in the distance.
Sedgewick is a small pretty village dominated by the canal embankment and the aqueduct. There is no pub but there is a useful general store.
Hincaster Tunnel
This is 380 yards long and is the only tunnel on the canal. It was built to take barges close to Sedgewick Gunpowder Works. The tunnel has no towpath so the barges were hauled through by means of a rope fixed on a sidewall, or were 'legged' through by the boatmen, by pushing against the tunnel sides with their feet. The horses were led over the tunnel along the horse path which today's walker must follow This footpath is an interesting feature, which has the status of a listed building.
