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.