A WHOLE new world will be opened up for boaters, walkers and cyclists with the launch next year of a multi-million pound link between the Leeds & Liverpool and Lancaster canals.

Pauline Hawkins finds out how the development will boost East Lancashire tourism.

A two hundred-year-old plan is to become reality next spring with the opening of a £5.4million inland waterway link.

The Millennium Ribble Link will allow boats to sail between the existing Lancaster canal and the Leeds & Liverpool canal, which passes through Blackburn, Hyndburn, Burnley, Pendle and Chorley.

Bosses at Barden Mill, a converted weaving mill selling shopping bargains alongside the Leeds & Liverpool canal at Reedley, near Burnley, are already looking forward to the opening.

Managing director Jason Fildes said: "I think it is a great idea. We are encouraging canal boats to stop at Barden Mill and we have just built a new landing stage outside our tea room which will be able to take two boats at any one time for overnight stays, in addition to the landing stage already there.

"We are very keen to have as much traffic as possible. We are keen boat people ourselves."

At the moment coach visitors can shop in the morning, have lunch at Barden Mill and then spend the afternoon cruising the canal on a 50-seater boat in a joint arrangement between Barden Mill and Foulridge Canal Cruises. But Mr Fildes said the mill shop had bought a 30-seater cruiser and would be running its own trips next year.

Canalside inns and nearby tourist attractions are also set to benefit, with holidaymakers sailing along the Millennium Ribble Link to make even greater use of the county's waterways system.

Anne Clayton, tourism unit manager for Lancashire's Hill Country Tourism Consortium, said: "I am sure the link will improve tourism. It offers that mechanism by which we can link into the other canal system."

Senior project manager David Baldacchino said the link, near Preston, is the first new canal to be built in England for more than a century. "It is not just the creation of a new navigation, it also involves building environmental features and creating an area of biodiversity which is not there at the moment," he said.

The waterside environment which will be created by the link is not just for people to enjoy. It will also create a habitat for water voles, whose numbers have been in serious decline in recent years, and other wildlife. A linear water park will include new leisure areas, cycleways and a sculpture trail inspired by community groups and made into public art displays by local artists.

For the first time boats will be able to sail out of the Lancaster Canal, along the new canal link -- being created by making nine new locks and 6km of navigable waterway along the tidal Savick Brook -- across the River Ribble. They will then join the main inland waterway network via the Rufford branch of the 127-mile long Leeds & Liverpool Canal.

Information about the new link -- which was originally planned 200 years ago but dropped in 1799 due to lack of cash -- is contained in a new 82-page British Waterways guide.

The guide is full of maps and useful information about attractions and amenities close to the canalside. It includes places of interest, ideas for walks and opportunities for angling and cycling, as well as information for boat users and contact details.

Mike Hughes, from the North West Development Agency, said: "The leisure guide helps to promote tourism and the many attractions in the North West and will assist local businesses in recovering from the effects of foot and mouth disease."

* The new guide, called The Leeds & Liverpool and Lancaster Canals Featuring the Ribble Link, is free of charge and can be collected from British Waterways offices, tourist information centres, canalside attractions or by post from British Waterways, Pottery Road, Wigan WN3 5AA.