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| This lovely duck house might have been on an MP's expenses, but I doubt it |
Monday 25th June We took caffeine in Wigan first then I went into BW
Wigan Office to check details of our trip into Liverpool and to buy electricity
cards. I had intended to get one large card but we are being made to move
moorings halfway through our stay so bought two smaller ones. Away around 11 as we came out of the first
lock we met Cyril & ?Daphne Blackford from Ashby Canal Association and friends coming
up. A few friendly words then it was a scramble back aboard because the towpath
is some 5 feet higher than the water. We met other boats at other locks on this
day of lovely weather.
Just as we were
exiting one lock the charity trip boat Rose of Parbold cast off & made its
way in the same direction as us. Well they nearly didn’t move as we struggled
to keep behind them even at tickover. Really considerate boating. At the next
lock we met the worst boat we came across, an old Norman cruiser being moved
single handed from a boatyard on the Lancaster Canal and so he had already
managed the Ribble Link.......but I don’t know how! He was complaining that the
gear & throttle linkage to his outboard was not working well so needed both
gates open (!) but made no effort to help. Just pleased Carol no end after the
Rose effort but at least because of his very slow progress through the lock we were
no longer close behind the charity boat.
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| We are stationary here & Rose of Pabold, a widebeam, has just crashed into another widebeam on a bend |
We carried on through
three swing bridges, meeting two old flats returning from last weekend’s
Burscough Rally. We tied up at 5 after 10 miles, 5 locks & 3 swing bridges.
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| Meeting a flat close to Burscough |
Tuesday 26th and we were able to renew friendships made last year
in Burscough, and the coffee was great & I was able to tip my old engine
oil at Arthur’s garage. We decided to take a trip into Southport where we were
unable to see the sea as we had forgotten the binoculars! Weather was mixed.
Wednesday 27th and fortunately we receive Waterscape Stoppage
Notices as through these we knew that less than a mile from Burscough the New
Lane swing bridge was mis-behaving and was being operated by BW, but only
between 9 & 12 and 4 & 7. If I hadn’t seen this we’d have been stuck
the wrong side at 4 & faced with arriving at the collection point sometime
after 7 pm!
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| A boater has made this floating nest site |
It was lovely that the hand cranked bridge that caused me grief
last year is now a push button job, but I am contacting BW about the new
screens they have for these bridges. They have poor contrast on the screen
& no cover to cut down outside glare.
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| The pan was moored on the inside of a bend with a road cone as a warning. I suspect it was placed there to warn of an underwater obstruction. |
As it was we got there in good time
after a lovely cruise in warm weather, mooring where we did last year just past
bridge 11 after 12 miles & 7 swing bridges. We popped along to the two
other boats waiting for our trip and found out that they only found out about
the limited swing bridge hours when they spoke to someone in Burscough and if
they hadn’t they would have been cruising late!
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| Our mooring below br 10. We could see the towers of both Liverpool Cathedrals from this spot, provided we looked the other way from the way I took this! |
Thursday 28th and at 9 we waited for BW to swing the bridge with Roger & Teresa Fuller on Azelia and Glyn & Rosemary on their unconverted working boat Aquarius, and
soon after were cruising alongside Aintree race course.
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| Waiting at bridge 9 |
Thursdays are supposed
to be “out” days but for some reason I don’t understand we were going in this
day & others were going out on Friday. Part way through we met up with 3
other boats that had spent the night at the Litherland services and we all went
down the Stanley Locks, we shared with Tony & Jenny on Josh 2.
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| Josh turns by the Jesse Hartley tower. Birkenhead is in the background |
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| Part of the route through a partially filled dock |
The pleasant
weather we had enjoyed so far began to change and a fine drizzle started at the
locks, but our luck held and it eased, only to throw it down just after we had
tied up on mooring S2. The wind got up through the evening and night and Lily was buffeted and blown making our ropes
and fenders creak & keeping us awake, about 25 feet of Lily sticks out from
the end of the pontoon! 11 miles and 5 locks and of course as it was Thursday
we had a curry!!
Friday 29th and just after 10 Trevor from RCR came to remove our
engine alternator to get it rewound, now we were on mains power we did not need
to run the engine. He was the man who founded RCR and it was interesting
hearing from him about how it happened. He was also glad that the chap next to
us came across and told him how wonderful his men are, doing lots of jobs that
are not really in the job spec. After he had left we
were able to set off for Lime Street to return us to our car in Narborough to
spend the weekend celebrating our grandson Sam’s 18th birthday. The
trains were on time and we had a really wonderful time, even if some of that
time was spent hacking at Himalayan Balsam growing though slabs in the yard of
our flat.
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| Sam at his party. Many of our boating friends know him from Leicester Festivals, but he has grown a bit since then! |
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