A ONE-MILE stretch of the Lancaster Canal has been made navigable for the first time since the 1960s bringing completion of a major project to link Kendal with the nation's inland waterways a step closer.

Despite relentless drizzle at Tuesday' s opening ceremony, the vision from local leaders for a tourist super-waterway to the Lakes was clear as they celebrated the re-opening of the canal between Crooklands and the M6.

"Restoring the canal is absolutely vital," stressed Hal Bagot, of Levens Hall, the chairman of the Northern Reaches Restoration Group, the collective supporting the work.

"It will be a major boon to the rural economy, particularly after foot-and-mouth.

It's going to bring not only the boaters, of which there will be plenty, but also the other users - the walkers along the canal, the bird watchers, the fisherman...everybody is going to benefit."

The de-silting work is just one small part of the Northern Reaches project to re-open the 14-mile Tewitfield to Kendal stretch which was cut off from the Lancaster Canal by the construction of the M6 in the 1960s.

British Waterways, the DEFRA agency responsible for looking after the nation's canals, is spearheading the project alongside its charity partners The British Waterways Trust with the Lancaster Canal Trust, the Inland Waterways Association, South Lakeland District Council, Cumbria County Council, Lancaster City Council and Lancashire County Council.

Debbie Lumb, BW's Lancaster Canal waterway manager, said the dredging operation had cost £15,000 and involved lifting silt from the canal bed and scooping it to the sides where it was held back with netting.

"It was the most environmentally friendly and cost effective way of ensuring this scheme went ahead while making sure the canal's little critters had somewhere to go," she said.

The canal project is set for a further boost with the opening of the restored Change Bridge in Kendal at the K Shoes overflow car park on May 13.

The next more difficult phase, expected to cost somewhere in the region of £30 million, is now at the design stage.

It involves engineering three motorway bridges to lift the M6 over the canal, three further road crossings and restoring a five-mile un-watered stretch between Stainton and Canal Head.

The whole project should be complete by 2008.

But the job of connecting the Lancaster Canal to the nation's inland waterway network via the long-awaited Millennium Ribble Link is already near completion and due to open in the Autumn.

l Visitors can get a taste of cruising along the Kendal canal with a boat trip on the 'Waterwitch' run by the Lancaster Canal Trust.

The boat runs all day on Sunday from near the Crooklands Hotel and can take passengers along the newly restored navigable section.