it to Windermere and Keswick, and by the A590 leading to Barrow. It is also the end point of the A65 road to Kirkby Lonsdale, Skipton and Yorkshire, and a destination on the A6 road to Penrith. Kendal is signposted off the M6 at Junctions 36 (A65, A590), 37 (A684 road), 38 (A685 road) and 39 (A6). A three-mile, £1.9m A591 bypass opened on 29 August 1971. The Lancaster Canal was built as far as Kendal in 1819, but the northern section was rendered unnavigable by the construction of the M6. Part of this section was drained and filled in to prevent leakage, and the course of the canal through Kendal has now been built over. The canal towpath, however, remains as a footpath through Kendal. A campaign is underway to restore the canal as far as Kendal. Kendal has a daily coach service to London. Local buses from the bus station serve destinations such as Ambleside, Barrow-in-Furness and Lancaster, with long-distance National Express coaches to Preston and Birmingham. Education The Queen Katherine School, on Appleby Road, is a secondary school with academy status. The school also has a sixth form. Kirkbie Kendal School, formerly Kendal Grammar School, is a secondary school Business and Enterprise College serving the area. It operates as a foundation school with academy status. Its former pupils include the historian David Starkey. Kendal College provides further and higher education courses and the training for employers. Sport Kendal Town Football Club plays in the North West Division one, with home games at Parkside Road Stadium. Kendal RUFC plays in the 6th tier of the English rugby union system, with home games at Mint Bridge Stadium, which has a capacity of 3,500. Places of interest Kendal Museum, one of the oldest in the country, includes exhibits on area history, culture, archaeology, geology, local and world natural history, Roman Britain, and Ancient Egypt. Abbot Hall Art Gallery (housed in a Georgian villa) mounts nationally important exhibitions, such as David Bomberg: Spirit in the Mass (17 July – 28 October 2006). The permanent collection covers George Romney, J. M. W. Turner, John Ruskin, Ben Nicholson, Paula Rego, Lucian Freud, Stanley Spencer and Barbara Hepworth. The Museum of Lakeland Life in the original stables of Abbot Hall contains exhibits on farming life in the Lake District and a permanent collection of author Arthur Ransome's books and belongings. Castle Howe, Kendal's first