Canal comeback

The Guardian covers the opening of the Millennium Ribble link, the first new canal for over a century. The new four-mile section connects the landlocked Lancaster canal to the rest of the country's 2,000 mile network, making it possible to travel by narrow boat from London to the edge of the Lake District for the first time. See Punchbuggy past.
Plans are now advanced to open another section and push towards Kendal in Cumbria as part of a £500m programme of waterway restoration throughout the country. Over the past decade more than £2bn has been ploughed into the network.
The new £6m section, which links the Lancaster canal to a branch of the Leeds-Liverpool canal, is the first new waterway to be built since the Manchester ship canal opened in 1894. With nine new locks and four bridges, it is dependent on tidal conditions because part of the route crosses the estuary of the river Ribble.