Discovering Bingley and the Five Rise Locks #walkwithwynsors

It was a bit of a wet morning when my daughter and I set off to Bingley for a walk to the Five Rise Locks. We love getting out and about for walks in the countryside, but I hadn't realised just how easy it was to sample nature from the train station in Bingley! We had been invited by Wynsors World of Shoes, who have just released their brand new outdoor range.

Ready to walk!

We were handed some fantastic information packs by the Canal River Trust, including a map and some activities for when we were back home. The packs were brilliant and my daughter also absolutely adored the bug container and tweezers. She's a bit obsessed with bugs and loves to be able to look at them more closely! In fact, she took a dead moth with her to bed this evening to 'look after it'.

Bingley North Bog

The lovely people at Bingley Walkers are Welcome took us on a guided tour of the bog and the canal. The walk is perfectly manageable for little legs, even in the rain! There is plenty of nature to spot on the way, including a heron in North Bog, who sadly wasn't there when we walked past. He was probably sheltering from the rain. Our handy activity sheet informed us that the area in between Bingley Three Rise Locks and Five Rise Locks is a fantastic place to spot damselflies and dragonflies.

Damart Mills Bingley

We walked along the Leeds-Liverpool canal and then veered off to take in the North Bog. Then we went to the Five Rise Locks. It's somewhere I have always wanted to see. It's known as one of the 'wonders of the waterways'. It takes around 45 minutes for a boat to go up the locks but 30 minutes for a boat to go down.

Five Rise Locks Bingley

Sadly we didn't get to see a narrow boat make it's way through the locks, but we did get to see one of the locks filling up ready for a boat to come through. The lock-keeper's cottage was incredibly cute. It also got me thinking that it would be really good fun to go on a narrowboat holiday. Although I am sure I would pretty quickly get fed up of being in a small space with my children!

Feeding the ducks in the rain

One of the main things we took away from the walk was that ducks should not be fed bread. It fills them up quickly, meaning the are hungry again quickly. It just doesn't sustain them. I'm not sure this swan got the memo about being fed oats though, it was rather unimpressed! We lived near the canal for eleven years and I still really miss it, even though we moved away from it two years ago. I used to love those walks along the canal and, when my son was very small, it was one of the best ways to get him to sleep!

Feeding the swans

You can get yourself an information pack about Bingley and the Five Rise Locks here. If you want to find out more about Wynsors and their new outdoor range, check out their website.
Disclosure: My daughter and I were invited on a walk in Bingley and were provided with lunch and a goody bag for the purpose of this review. This had no impact on this post, which is honest and fair.

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