6b. Boatyard.

  

                                                                      Wharfside crane & boatyard, 1960s.

Option 2. This is a detour from the main trail which is about 130 m. long, wide enough for wheelchairs and buggies, but less well-surfaced, and with a short uphill section which levels out and winds through woodland to a picturesque canal arm and boatyard.

As the wooded area is entered, on the right is a brown underground breather pipe which removes gases from old mine workings and coal seams below.

Continue to some green metal railing, and pass around a white metal barrier to join a canal arm with moorings and narrow boats.

This is the site of Harris’s boatyard, one of a number of boat builders and canal carriers at Windmill End that served the flourishing collieries and heavy industries of the area; the wharf once had a rare timber gallows-type dockside crane (no longer visible) that is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Return by the same route to the main path, turn right and continue downhill to a ramp on the right and a viewpoint over the lake.