Haybarn Swing Bridge

I went out in the afternoon on a fairly long and rather hot walk. Starting at Wisborough Green, I followed the lane down to Harsfold Farm, then Lowfold where the horses are. The bridleway continues southwards down a track and at a junction I took the easterly turning. This led through Shipbourne Farm to croos the River Arun and I arrived at Haybarn Swing Bridge on the Arun Navigation. This is the only Swing Bridge on the canal and was installed in 2004. It carries a farm track and public footpath and the towpath I followed back northwards to arrive back at Harsfold Lane later on. The Leeds & Liverpool Canal is one of the main canals that have Swing Bridges on them and at each location of interest on the Arun Navigation, you can pick up a leaflet that tells you all about a particular site. The one for this bridge revealed that it HAD actually come from the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, having been redundant and was offered to the canal trust for re-use. It came originally from Bar Lane, Keighley, and has been fully restored to operable standards. However, the canal is not navigable here and there is little water in it at present as more work has to be done in the restoration process..

The tractor is a John Deere 6230 likely built at their plant in Mannheim, Germany and is 4WD with a 95HP engine. A fine tractor which was off to work in a large field of hay.