The Ribble Link at Last!

After three years of trying to do the Ribble Link we finally succeeded yesterday and so we are now cruising on the Lancaster Canal.  So this is primarily the story of crossing the Ribble and it is a long post on this blog.  But let's start with a couple of other photos:

Having a boat called Leo means that we now have a collection of lion tiller pins.  This is our biggest and bravest lion.

We had plenty of time to meet our appointment with the Ribble (you do have to book well in advance for the crossing).  So we took our time going down the locks of the Rufford Branch of the Leeds & Liverpool that leads to Tarleton.  Some of it was flat and rather windswept as in  the picture here.  This section follows the old course of the River Douglas and still looks like a river.



Early Friday morning we set out with five other boats to lock through at Tarleton onto the tidal River Douglas below.  You go out of the lock about an hour before high tide, so you are fighting a strongish incoming tide in a narrow river at first.  This is so that there is enough water over the cill at Tarleton but you also have to reach the other end while there is enough water to cross a sea lock which rotates into the bed of the navigation, so it is no good leaving Tarleton on a falling tide.

We had been told to meet on the lock moorings at 8.30 a.m.  In fact there are so many boats at Tartleton that there are no moorings left for the lock.  So we milled about in mid stream and fortunately there was little wind.

We locked in with  Rowardennan as the first of three lock fulls for the crossing.  CRT chaps work the lock for you as it would not be possible to get back on below the lock!

The left boat goes first because there is a danger of the tide sweeping the boat to the right and up the river.  You have to come out fast and keep left aiming for the mast of a dinghy further downstream.

And now it was our turn.  We came out with the engine at 2,200 revs which is a lot for us, but it did prevent us being swept sideways and we began to make slow progress away from the lock against the incoming tide. We soon throttled back because we were catching Rowardennan.  Most of the trip we were at 1800 or less.

The River Douglas is narrow but not too narrow once the tide is nearly full.  At low tide, it is more of a muddy ditch.  We tried to stay away from the fastest flowing water in the middle and stayed a reasonable distance behind Rowardennan while not losing touch with them.

Here is the view looking back to Tarleton Lock on the right.  The disturbance to the water is due to two boats passing at high revs.

It doesn't look that much but this is quite a bow wave for Leo!

Having got round the first bend and under this pipe bridge, the channel starts to widen a little and the tidal flow is a little less.











From here, about a mile from the Lock, it gets a little easier.

On a couple of sharp bends in the widened river we passed Shephard's Boat Yard with a number of large yachts moored.

And then it really widens out into the estuary of the River Douglas.  Fortunately it was not windy so the waves were very small.  But it does feel a large stretch of water for a little narrowboat.

We saw quite a lot of wading birds and flocks of shelduck of which this is one.

And here's a sight you don't often see from your narrowboat - seaweed drifting past!













From here on we were looking out for the junction with the River Ribble and more importantly for sight of the Astland Lamp which marks the point beyond the shallows at the junction where you can safely turn right round the lamp and head up the Ribble towards Preston.

As you come to the end of the four miles down the River Douglas, if you look to the left you can see the open sea and, to the right, Lytham St Anne's.  Help, we're on the sea! Or at least it feels like it.

To the right of the boat in front, Rowardennan again, you can see the Astland Lamp with the yellow notice on top.  Rowardennan is about to make the turn and we will be following her.  The white waggly rope on our roof is the anchor warp.  On tidal waters we tie the anchor on at the bow but would deploy it, if we had to, from the stern.  We reckon this might be easier.

Here we are part way up the three and a half miles of the River Ribble.  Beyond the pylons you can see large public buildings in the centre of Preston.  The entrance to Savick Brook is hidden on the left before the first pylon.








In turning into Savick Brook you have to come in at right angles, allowing for the ebb tide, to avoid a sandbank just to the West of the confluence.  Boats have gone aground here.

Savick Brook is quite a bit smaller than the River Douglas and there was a slight tide flowing out.

Red and green posts mark the channel through sheep grazing either side.  The channel twists to and fro towards the white house where the sea lock waits for us.

The CRT chap in the life jacket stands by the sea lock which we are about to go through.  The gate of the lock rotates into the bed of the lock and comes up to hold water at a set point in the tide.

Just round the corner is a floating pontoon.  There was not enough room for all six boats to moor to the pontoon, so some waited in mid stream.  We had to wait here for 30-40 minutes to allow the tide to drop by about 18 inches to allow us to pass under the next two bridges.  Once the tide has fallen, the sea lock was closed so we were no longer on fully tidal water.




From here our route lay up the Savick Brook which is a twisty, muddy ditch.  You need to concentrate hard to get round some of the tight bends.

With the fall in the water level we had plenty of clearance under the road bridge.

This photo gives some idea of the cruise up the Brook.

Here is Amelia following us up Savick Brook.  You can clearly see how tidal it is.  We slipped off a mud bank part way up, but it has been dredged otherwise it would not be navigable at all.

After a series of twists and turns we finally reached lock 8.  Five locks follow as you cruise up the Savick Brook which has been converted into a river navigation.  A CRT volunteer, Ian, helped us up the locks which we shared with Amelia.







After five singleton locks, each deeper than the last, you come finally to the staircase of three very deep locks that lead you up to the Lancaster Canal which is about 70 feet above sea level.

There is a rather unusual manoeuvre to get into the bottom of the staircase.  First you twist left through this railway bridge.

And then right through a tunnel under a road.

As you come out from under the road bridge you enter a basin where the staircase is immediately on your left and back on yourself.  The only way in, having waited for the flow of water out of the lock, is to reverse into the lock and then reverse each step up the staircase.

Here you can see Ian concentrating as he carefully eases Leo backwards into the bottom of the staircase locks.  Tricky but possible and harder for Amelia that followed as there was a smaller target to aim for with Leo already in the lock.

At the top of the locks is a rather fine memorial to the chaps who built the Millenium Link to join the Lancaster Canal to the rest of the system.  What a splendid project, completed and opened in 2002.

Here is Amelia at the top of the staircase locks.  You then have to reverse out of the lock and turn (to the right of the picture) in order to leave the basin and join the Lancaster Canal.

And here you can see Amelia turning left onto the Lancaster Canal. You can also turn right into the centre of Preston.  We decided to leave Preston until just before we go back over the Ribble Link later this month.  So we also turned left.

We moored fairly soon as it had been a hard day of concentration.  I say 'moored' but you will notice the unconventional form of mooring with the back end hanging out.  This illustrates a problem with the Lancaster Canal in that the sides are often very shallow.  But there is very little passing traffic, so it didn't cause any problems.





Today we've had a pleasant cruise with our friends Meg and Graham with lunch at the Hand and Dagger, not far from where we moored last night.

So here we are enjoying a short cruise up to Swillbrook and back with good company on a fine sunny day.  What's not to like?











We aim to enjoy ourselves on the Lancaster Canal and tomorrow our daughter, Lucy, and friend Becca are coming to join us for the weekend.  We'll keep you posted.

Wet, Windy, Wintry Wigan!

On Thursday we came down the infamous Wigan flight of locks.  These are big, deep and many.  We came down 22 from the top and moored in the centre of Wigan opposite the CRT offices.

Here is Leo in the top lock of the Wigan flight.  We think the cottage must have been a lock keeper's house at one time.

We were forewarned that lock 68 was very leaky especially on the left side going down.  If we had been over that side, Ian would have got his feet wet.  As you can see we were on our own going down Wigan.  However a CRT volunteer, John, came to help us and stayed with us all the way down.  What a relief.

Here we are a few locks down with the view over Wigan.  The locks take the canal down over 200 feet.  At this stage it is not raining and Helen is not wearing waterproofs.  Later it got very wet.

Here, coming out of lock 85, we said goodbye to our volunteer, John.  He was a great help, thank you.

We had been told that volunteers would only be available on a Tuesday,  but clearly some like to work on other days too.

After turning right at Wigan junction we had one more lock in the rain before mooring up for a late lunch.  We had done the flight in three and a half hours which we thought was pretty good.  By half way down the flight it was raining quite hard and you can see the raindrops on the lens in this picture.






Friday morning was not only wet but very windy and cold.  So we lit the fire and stayed indoors.  Very sensible as the passing boaters we saw looked pretty miserable.  In the afternoon we set off.  The rain had stopped but not the wind.  Ian had three goes leaving the mooring before finally getting going and below Pagefield Lock we had quite an 'incident'.  Leo decided it was time to turn round even though tied by the mid rope.  She finished up slewed across the canal with bow out and stern in.  No amount of pulling even with both of us would get her parallel with the canal.  So we tied off the mid rope and Ian powered round with the engine, the boat heeling heavily to port in the process.  Anyway it worked.

Here is the well known 'tippler' at Wigan opposite the Orwell pub. It marks the place where boats used to be loaded from wagons carrying coal and stone.

Here is the figure by the Tippler.  I'm not sure why he or she looks so glum.  Perhaps it's just the thought of work or a testament to a hard and miserable life.  Or is the figure on their mobile phone?

We're used to seeing Gunnera (aka Giant Rhubarb) in ornamental gardens so we were surprised to see it growing in the canal.

No wonder white tigers are rare.  This  poor fellow was clearly drowning in the old lock next to Ell Meadow Lock.

On Friday we  moored at Crooke and enjoyed a meal at the Crooke Hall Inn.  Crooke seemed more pleasant that we had remembered it and the meal was good and also not expensive.  Ian's great grandmother was the housekeeper at Crooke Hall (now demolished) so he has family connections here. 

On a walk round the area before our meal we crossed this overflow from the  canal down into the River Douglas.  Perhaps because of the rain there was plenty overflowing.

And here from the boat window is a night view of the Crooke Hall Inn, its lights reflected in the canal.












We didn't go far yesterday, just a couple of miles to a lovely spot we've been before, in the backwater beside Appley Lock.  Here a pair of locks has been replaced by one deep lock and the old lock cut makes a splendid mooring.

We're now in the valley of the River Douglas.  Later, doing the Ribble Link, we will be navigating on the lower reaches of this river.  Though not spectacular this part of the canal is pleasantly rural, even with a succession of April showers passing over.

And here we are moored by Appley Locks.  The curious boxes on the roof are toilet cassettes.  One is full of what you might expect and the other is full of water.  We spent the afternoon yesterday fitting the new solar panel by glueing it to the roof.  The cassettes are to weight it down until the glue has set.






This morning (Sunday) it is once more raining pretty hard.  We're not in a hurry so we are catching up on jobs inside until it stops.  Our aim is to get down the Rufford branch to Tarleton by Tuesday evening ready for our foray on the Ribble Link on Wednesday morning.  We met a chap yesterday who has had a lot of experience of the Link.  He was very helpful and has left us much more aware of what to expect.

Wish us luck on Wednesday!  The next posting will be from Dublin if it doesn't go to plan.

Waiting for Wigan

One of the downsides of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal is the Wigan flight of locks - all 23 of them.  Big locks, deep locks, leaky locks and perhaps no-one to share the pain with.

Well we're now a mile and a half from the top lock of the Wigan flight and aim to go down tomorrow.

We've worked our way West through Lancashire in cold and sometimes rainy and even snowy weather.  On Sunday we came through some poor areas with lots of litter in the canal which inevitably means odd forays down the weed hatch to clear the prop.  We came through Church where you have to get off the boat to operate three swing bridges.  We've had trouble here before with the local youths, but on a rainy cold Sunday morning no-one was about and it was fine.

In Church we passed the half way mark on the Leeds and Liverpool, being 63 and five eighths miles from each city.  This ornamental steel sculpture marks the mid point.  But I guess we cheated because we haven't started from Leeds.

Coming through Blackburn we passed Eanam Wharf, where you can see the old awning that covered boats being loaded and unloaded.  By the brightly coloured boat is the old wharf building, now converted into a Caribbean Restaurant.

Soon you come round a bend and find the Blackburn Locks in front of you.  When we came up here last September the locks were dreadful but we were pleased to find that CRT have replaced all the gates over the winter and they work beautifully.  As you can see it is fine and sunny, but it was very cold.

 On Monday we moored overnight at Riley Green and had a pleasant meal at the Boatyard Inn, a large family diner sort of pub.  We went for a short walk around and came across these daffodils right by a half mile canal marker.










On Tuesday we cruised a short way to Withnell Fold, a lovely sleepy little village built in Victorian times to house the employees of a paper mill there.

The road to Withnell Fold is surfaced with granite sets and only goes to the village, so traffic is rare.

The village has a shady garden set in the hollow that was originally a reservoir for the paper mill.  Just above is this structure.  Under the curved green grass by the fence is the water pipeline from Thirlmere in the Lake District to supply the folk in Manchester.







Not far beyond Withnell Fold we came to the top lock of the flight of Johnson's Hillock.  This flight of 7 locks had been closed for five days for repairs, but opened at midday on Tuesday.  It is a testament to how empty this canal is of boats that we only had to wait for a couple of boats to go down before it was our turn.

Here we are filling up with water just before the top lock.  We came down with a couple of chaps on a boat called Fleur de Lys and enjoyed their company.

Our fellow lockers pressed on below the locks but we moored up.  The bottom lock is on the right in this picture.  To the left, under the  bridge, is the Walton Summit branch which was originally the intended course of the Lancaster Canal which would have crossed the River Ribble on an aqueduct at Preston to carry on North.  Sadly the aqueduct never got built, so we have to find an alternative route.



Today (Wednesday) we visited the retail emporium of Botany Bay at Chorley.  This occupies five floors in an old mill and is mostly full of things with which to clutter your house.  Interesting to visit but not our cup of tea.  This afternoon we passed the boat owned by some friends, Helen and Chris.  Though they were not on board, they'd left a message in the window:

Like us Helen and Chris failed to get over the Ribble Link last year because of the collapse of a culvert under the Rufford Branch of the Leeds and Liverpool.  Hopefully we will both make it this year.  With this good luck message, how could we fail?

Well tomorrow promises a hard day of locking dropping down over 200 feet into the valley of the River Douglas.  Anyone fancy giving us a hand?

Over the Top and into Lancashire

Well we're finally off and cruising on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.  We left Skipton on Wednesday afternoon heading West and spent the first night between Skipton and Gargrave near Thorlby Swing Bridge.

Here we are just about to leave our mooring on our adventures for 2016.

We now have a teapot which lives on the roof.  Obviously the teapot has to be in the shape of a lion.  He signifies that Helen is a member of a secret society, but I'm sworn to secrecy.  It is nothing too offensive!

These were our first ducklings of 2016.  We've seen quite a few in the last days and today we even saw a gosling.

This is Thorlby Swing Bridge although in fact the picture was taken the following morning when we set off.  Helen is by the bridge swinging it open so that Leo can pass.









On Thursday we carried on to Gargrave where we climbed our first locks of the year and had a coffee at the White Cottage Tea Rooms before carrying on up the Bank Newton Locks to moor at a favourite place on the Bends, where the canal weaves back and forth across several small valleys.

We popped in to Gargrave Church.  This was the effect of the sun through stained glass there.  We did not know before that  Iain Macleod, one time Chancellor of the Exchequer is buried in Gargrave and we found his grave.

 Here is a lovely view looking back down Bank Newton Locks to the hills around Skipton.

On Friday we climbed the three Greenberfield Locks. At the top is a cafe which of course we patronised.  Having huge portions of cake meant neither of us felt in need of lunch.  If you look to the left of the wall along the canal you can see what looks like the top of a canal bridge.  It is on the course of the old route of the locks here.  We learned that there used to be a two lock staircase here.




Around what should have been lunch time we pulled in to Lower Park Marina to collect our new solar panel which we had arranged to have delivered there.  Sadly the panel we've had on the boat for three years has failed.  Fortunately the suppliers are honouring their guarantee.  The main problem was that it was glued onto the roof and was a real pig to remove (with a saw inserted underneath it to cut the glue).  Anyway when we've repaired the paintwork from this, we will be able to refit the new panel.

We moored overnight on Friday at Foulridge just before the tunnel and today we went through the tunnel and down the Barrowford Locks into Lancashire:

Here you can see us about to enter Foulridge Tunnel.  The green lights show this is OK.  Boats East to West are allowed through at the hour and the other direction at the half hour.  The tunnel is just under a mile and takes about 15-20 minutes.  It was quite drippy. 

Here we are waiting at the top of the Barrowford Locks which come just over a mile the other side of the tunnel.  These 7 locks drop you down to industrial Lancashire at Colne and Nelson.

 This afternoon we stopped in Burnley at the museum for the Weavers Triangle.  This gave an account of cotton spinning and weaving and had information about the canal as well.  It was worth a visit but on what was a cold day it would have been better with heating.  We retired afterwards to the pub you can see here and had not beer but warming cups of tea.

Inside the museum was a splendid model fairground seen here which all worked.

Slater Terrace just beyond the museum is seen here by the canal.  The top two floors were houses with their front doors opening off the long balcony.  The ground floor was a warehouse.










We've come quite a long way today - 13 miles and 7 locks - and we're moored at Hapton outside the less desirable bits of Burnley.  Tomorrow we'll probably have an easier day, well it is Sunday, the day of rest.

Our aim is to get to Tarleton by 3 May for our crossing to the Lancaster Canal over the Ribble Link.  Fingers are crossed as we've not managed to do this before.  Watch this space to see if we are successful.

Only a week before we're off!!

We went boating again last weekend but not as we normally show on this blog:

Well we've lived in Knaresborough for three years now and we hadn't yet been rowing on the River Nidd.  So we took the opportunity of having Graham and Liz (a couple of friends from way down South) staying with us to try it.  We had lovely weather and really enjoyed being out on the River with our expert rower at the oars.  Ian just sat there and took pictures.  In case you're wondering Graham and Liz were in a second boat.

We aim to set off on our travels on Leo on Wednesday 20th April giving us plenty of time to cross the Pennines for our appointment on 4 May to go over the Ribble Link to the Lancaster Canal.  This will be new territory for Leo.  Let's hope that nothing stops us going this year.

We hope to see all our boating friends and plenty of landlubber friends too as we pass nearby this summer on our travels.

Thinking of Boating

Well the days are getting longer and thoughts turn to boating in 2016.

We've booked our crossing to the Lancaster Canal on the Ribble Link so that's where we will be going to start with.  Who knows, perhaps we'll actually get to the Lancaster after several years of trying.  Last year we were foiled by the collapse of a culvert on the branch of the Leeds & Liverpool to Tarleton.  Let's hope it all works this year.

We're booked to go North from Tarleton on Wednesday 4 May and we come back on Monday 23 May.  After that, Helen has suggested we travel without a clear plan for a change.  However we do have vague ideas of going far South and taking Leo up the Basingstoke Canal.  We cycled and walked the Basingstoke a lot when we lived in Woking, but perhaps it's time we took Leo up there.  And on the way we might take in a few bits of the canal system that we seem to have missed.  These include Braunston Locks and Tunnel, the Aylesbury Arm and the Birmingham and Fazeley.  We'll see.

Anyone else heading for the Lancaster when we are there?

Hope to see some of our boating friends sometime in the summer.