Category Archives: Leeds Liverpool Canal

Always Close Your Clough Before The Gate Is Fully Open. Or, What Else Could Go Wrong?!

Keld Well Bend to Gargrave

Wanting to get a touch closer to Skipton today we had breakfast whilst it rained and then hoped for it to be drier for our descent of Bank Newton Locks. With our cuppas in insulated mugs we were rolling back the covers at 10am, Geraghty Zoom time. Mick used his phone to attend the zoom and put it in the clamp on top of the hatch so everyone could see us as we went along.

They had to put up with us sorting ourselves out, but then after push off we could join in on the conversation. Cheese, a friend of Tilly’s (human Tilly) had fallen into the water and Amadeus were the topics of conversation that I got glimpses of.

We waved goodbye to our mooring, two more boats on different loops visible and then we wound round the hills towards Bank Newton.

First lock of the day in view and Anne and Alasdair

Just after we’d arrived at the locks and I was setting the top one the heavens opened, which meant Mick had to leave the zoom as his phone needed to go inside. Hello and bye to everyone from me.

Top Lock cottage and a clough ground paddle open, partially

Just as we’d come into the lock and were closing gates behind us a boat came into view, time to open the gates again and let them come down the locks with us. NB Amelie had been moored round the bend from us last night and they’d spotted us pushing off so had hoped to catch up.

The lady on board hadn’t worked a lock before but that was fine she soon got the hang of things. We wound the paddles up to empty the lock and down the boats went.

Just off the towpath I spotted what looked like a mountain of weed, almost 6ft high, blimey the Lockies must have been pulling this out for weeks!

Always close your clough before the gate is fully open

Now in the land of clough ground paddles I remembered that the best way to move them was by pretending to be the karate kid, well that’s if you could get them moving to start with. The wooden cloughs operate a paddle that sits over the opening below water and you lift the handle up in he air to open up the flow of water. Sometimes the water pressure is such that they won’t shift, but then as the lock fills, the pressure gets less and you can move them easier.

By lock 39 we came across the two Lock Keepers raking weed out from the bywashes, they only had short handled little rakes, I suggested that C&RT should buy them a proper Keb, ‘chance would be a fine thing’ was the response. The mountain of weed at the top of the locks is what they have collected since the beginning of June and every day they collect more and more.

Two hire boats were coming up the lock below so we were asked to wait to empty our chamber until they had lifted the gate paddles so our water wouldn’t flood over the top gates.

I chatted away to the Lockie, Nigel about favourite canals, moorings and where we’d all been for lockdown. However I ran out of time to chat to him about family, back in 2016 we somehow managed to sus that he might just be a distant cousin of mine as his surname is the same as my Mum’s maiden name and his Dad came from Thornton as did my Mum. I still need to check this out with my cousins who we may just get to see on our way into Leeds soon.

The two hire boats swapped locks with us, a lady stood chatting away with me before she realised she might be needed at the next lock, but her boat had just decided to wind before the lock so getting it back on course would take a bit of time.

Nigel informed us that the bottom lock would need all the paddles lifting to fill it as it leaks so much but by the time we got down to it the other Lockie had already filled it for us and opened the gates.

The bridge over the bottom of the last lock has seen better days a huge crack in it and the handrail wrapped in hazard tape. A new box structure has been added on top giving a more solid walkway.

This is when things started to go wrong!

Below there was a wide beam moored on the lock landing. I let the chaps know, they’d be very aware of it as soon as the bottom gates opened anyway. NB Amelie planned on stopping for a cuppa before continuing where as we wanted to carry on to Gargrave. So we were to pull out first, pass the widebeam so that Mick could pick me up at the water point, the other boat loitering until we left.

My gate didn’t open quite fully but I didn’t think anything of it until I came to close it again. Would it move! Would it b**er! With the help of the other lady we tried and tried to push, pull, tug, bump, push again but the gate was just not moving. We’d have to find one of the Lock Keepers.

I stood up and shouted to Mick that I was going to walk up the flight for a Lockie. Then I happened to glance down towards NB Amelie. Blimey, the chap was in the water! His boat was drifting backwards diagonally towards the lock, luckily out of gear as he tried to follow it, swimming with his barge pole in one hand.

Meanwhile the widebeam, realising they were in the way started to untie. The last thing we wanted right now was a turning prop with a man in the water. I shouted to Mick who was looking my way to stop them from pushing off.

‘MAN IN THE WATER!!!’

The chap from the widebeam managed to stop NB Amelie from moving and the chap in the water decided to head towards the off side bank, the water being deep. Fences and mesh were in the way and I knew I’d not be able to help him out even if I could get to him. I think having his pole with him gave him an extra means of pushing himself out, he then just had to climb through hedges fences and wire! But thank goodness he was out.

The lady from the widebeam explained that she has broken ribs and that is why they’d stopped on the lock landing to give her a rest, she’d suggested to her other half to stop a little bit further on. Maybe if they had nobody would have got wet!

The gate still needed closing, still no joy. Three people giving it a heave ho and eventually it moved.

The chap from Amelie was understandably wanting a shower and a cuppa before doing anything else, so we left him to it and pulled out before the widebeam had chance to over take us.

Lock 35 is a bit of a distance on, as we approached a couple of boats were just coming out towards us, marvellous one less set of gates to deal with. We swapped over, I closed one gate and Mick the other. I then wound the bottom paddles up.

Behind us I could hear a boat horn as the widebeam got to the next bridge, there wasn’t enough space for the narrowboat and it, so the narrowboat had to pull over. Mick asked if the gate paddles were closed properly. Mine was, but I couldn’t see the one on Mick’s gate. I walked round to find it a third up, with that wound down we could finish emptying the lock and be on our way.

The gates were open at Lock 34 ready for us, maybe they’d drifted open after the uphill boats had left. Down we went, only for me to not be able to close the bottom gate again. Mick sailed away, looking over his shoulder, but carried on.

I pushed, pulled, bounced the gate. Back and forth the little amount it would move, still no luck. Two ladies walked up and I asked if they were willing to help. With two and a half people pulling it still didn’t move. One lady looked down behind the gate, ‘Look there’s something down there’. Well all I could see was what was meant to be there. We’d have to call C&RT. Luckily by now Mick had realised I needed help so he reversed up and came to help. With the two of us pulling and pushing and bumping the gate in unison it finally moved!

One last lock for today. The gates were open on this one too, but this time it was the bottom gates. Maybe they’d blown open too, or maybe a widebeam had forgotten it was north of Watford and had just left them.

A family stood by the lock. Mum and daughter a bit interested, but Dad had that five year old glint in his eye. Would you like to help? He stopped just short of saying ‘Hell Yes!’ He helped with the gate and then wound up a box paddle to help fill the lock. He and his family were going abroad for their holidays in a couple of weeks, but are now hiring a boat from Silsden instead. He was so excited and very helpful.

A boat was approaching from below, but then they seemed to turn in to face the offside. Where they were wasn’t a winding hole and was far too short for them to turn, so they had got themselves stuck. Me and Mr Over Excited closed the gates, I thanked him and walked down to see if I could help at all.

They’d missed the winding hole and did not want to go up the next nine locks to turn. Only one thing for it, reverse. They managed to get over to the side and let us past, we then promised not to watch as they came backwards. We found a mooring and slotted in. The chap once lined up was managing to reverse really quite well, we congratulated him, as it was his first time.

Before we sat down for lunch Mick headed off on the bike for a newspaper, luckily there were loads of our chosen Saturday read at the Co-op and everyone, including Mick wore a mask.

After a few hours we’ve had to push the stern out and put a tyre fender to work as the pound keeps dropping and we keep listing. Mick’s been to check the paddles at the next lock and all is as it should be. Just too many boats coming into this pound to moor for the day and not bringing a lock of water down to replenish the level. At least we can’t roll off our bed if we list any more.

9 locks, 2.41 miles, 1 damp zoom, 1 cousin, 1 mountain of weed, 1 widebeam, 1 man overboard, 2 sets of gates, 1 dropping pound, 1 cat who’d like to go back to where we were last night please, 3 billboards.

https://goo.gl/maps/6uZVkQnapAdcLJEz6

Vegan Rolls, Beef Burgers And A Pooped Cat

Keld Well Bend

Nudged round the corner just a touch more

As we finished off our cuppas in bed this morning we heard an engine start up. Were our neighbours about to head off or were they just using the microwave? We soon saw the lady walking along the towpath and then herd their prop start turning. We got dressed quickly and were out pulling Oleanna along by half a boats length to be just a touch further away from the bend yet still keeping the views. Perfect!

Breakfast was finished just shortly before the bow of NB Billy appeared around the bend. Last night they had stayed at East Marton so Clare’s daughter could join them for a few days.

We had chats before they carried on around the remainder of the curly wurlys reappearing round the last of the big bends, a final wave. Our bows may cross again this summer as their planned route is similar to ours, but we are slowing down now, who knows we may pass on the Ouse!

Mick had requested a loaf of bread and with a barbecue planned for later I decided to try out a recipe for some dinner rolls made with yeast, not sour dough, to have with some home made burgers. Both types of bread could share the top oven, but mine needed a couple of hours to rise rather than just half an hour for Mick’s.

I needed to make some seed flour, pumpkin, sunflower and a few sesame seeds got zuzzed with the hand zuzzer and then forced through a sieve. Lots of other flour was added along with psallium husk and yeast. No egg or butter as my beef burger buns would be vegan. Have to say after two hours I was glad to see the dough had risen nicely. Mick’s multiseed loaf did it’s thing too before both were put in the oven. Not a bad result, the boat smelt wonderful, although the proof would be in the eating.

The sun had come out so I decided to make the most of being outside and washed down the starboard side of the roof and cabin. Blimey it really needed it. The matting that our coal sits on leaves a pretty pattern and around each mushroom vent was really quite yucky. Have to say I’m not sure when I last washed Oleanna, just hope I can get the port side to match soon.

With the cabin washed I decided to have a go at the grab rail. The red paint has now faded and started to go white in parts and I’d wondered if some t-cut might just bring it back, sadly it didn’t work. Red is renowned for this as it is the first colour to fade in sunlight. I never did get round to finishing touching up the grab rail last summer so some patches need some more work anyway. The original plan was to repaint the grab rail after travelling through Standedge Tunnel but that trip has been put off to another year. So I need to get some more paint mixed as somehow the tin we got shortly after Oleanna was launched is not the correct red. When we were in Sheffield last the painter at Finesse gave me the dregs of a tin to keep us going.

Next I turned my attention to the scratches that a broken branch on the Bosely flight had inflicted all the way along the cabin side. Ages ago I’d bought some blue scratch cover. This seemed to do a reasonable job, although it depends on what angle you stand at, but it is far better than it was. The cabin sides just need a polish now. I suggested to Mick that that was a blue job, not a red one. He’s not so convinced though!

Mick gave our life ring some new rope. The original rope had given up a little while ago so needed replacing. Should you ever need to use a life ring the rope makes it easier to grab and keep hold of in the water. The ring had a good wash too before going back on the roof within reasonable reach from the stern.

This evening the barbecue came out despite increasing cloud cover. The big bag of charcoal we bought at Bollington Wharf was opened, Restaurant grade charcoal. I thought it would burn quickly, but it held it’s heat very well.

A while ago Mick had ordered by accident some vacuum packed sweetcorn. We quite often have sweetcorn for a starter, but we won’t be using this type again. Very watery with little flavour.

I added some red onion, whole grain mustard and tarragon to some beef mince for burgers and they were very tasty indeed and almost stayed together on the grill. The buns were very tasty, maybe next time I’ll leave them to rise a little bit more before baking them.

With glasses of wine to accompany our meal we enjoyed the view even more. A couple of horse riders hacked through the field below and Tilly was allowed to stay out until we finished. It just started to rain as we were finishing off. No sign of Tilly until I started to call for her, a good distance away her tail shot up into the air. After a whole day of exploration she was exhausted, stumbling as she trotted back to me. In the end I helped her out and gave her a lift back to the boat. A few mouthfuls of food a quick bath and then she was out for the count with in five minutes.

0 locks, 0 miles, 7 boats, 9 vegan buns, 1 loaf, 0.5 clean boat, 3 scratches covered, 2 substandard cobs, 4 veg kebabs, 4 burgers, 2 glasses of wine, 1 lovely day in our No 1 Mooring, 1 exhausted cat, 2 Mrs Tilly Stamps of Approval.

Six Years. 23rd July

Greenberfield Bottom Lock to Keld Well Bend, the Curly Wurlys.

A damp day sadly but we hadn’t planned to go far and it was all on the flat. We pushed off just gone 10 with our post breakfast cuppas in insulated mugs, meaning we’d get going sooner.

The farmers were still out turning the grass and raking it up ready for collection. NB Whistle Down The Wind showed off its steam chimney and water gushed into the canal on a bend, obviously being pumped from somewhere.

After a couple of miles we reached East Marton and the Double Arched Bridge. This is where we moored on our second night whilst on our first hire boat together, not quite managing to reach a mooring where we could walk across the fields to Thornton-in-Craven to a friends house for a meal. A lift had to be provided and we were glad of it after 12 locks and 5 swing bridges that day.

The Cross Keys pub at East Marton also has memories for me. This is where my best friends Grandad, Grandpa Lee used to bring us to celebrate his birthdays. A long table would be laid out for his 15 to 20 guests for Sunday lunch all ending with Grandpa Lee telling us a shaggy dog story and nearly always getting the punch line wrong having to be corrected by his grandchildren who’d heard it numerous times before. I always give a wave to him as we pass.

We pulled in at the water point just a little further on to top up the tank. I had a walk back to take some more photos of the bridge. I’m considering turning my illustration/painting skills to capturing scenes from our canal journeys to add to my Etsy shop which could do with a bit of a boost. Hopefully if popular this would give us a touch of pocket money whilst income from theatre is none existent.

With the tank full we pushed onwards, not much further, with our fingers crossed. We hoped that we could find space at our favourite mooring on the curly wurlys.

The canal sticks to it’s contour and winds round Langber TV mast, first it’s on that side then ahead then the other side, but soon you forget it is even there as the views open up around you.

We could see that there were boats. One along the last straight before the canal ties itself in knots. A cruiser on the end of the bend. A grey boat sat where we thought we’d like to be, we pulled just past it, maybe a touch too close to the bend. I walked round to see what space there might be on the other side. Two boats but a length just in front of them which seemed to be just a touch further from the bend than where we’d pulled up. We pulled round and moored up, hoping we were leaving enough space in front of the first boat so they still had a view from their cratch.

When asked by people which is our favourite canal we say the Leeds Liverpool. When asked which is our favourite bit, we say the curly wurlys. Last time we came through we didn’t manage to climb the locks early enough in the day to reach here as it was dark.

Time to see what Tilly made of it. Well she had a good sniff around and then jumped on the wall. Yep not bad. NOt bad!!! She just wanted to get her head down and find friends.

The afternoon stayed damp. My starter stayed flat. I’m running out of brown rice flour and am getting a touch disillusioned with it. I fed it one last time and decided to use the discard to make some crackers. A good amount of fresh rosemary and thyme went into the mix along with a scattering of sea salt. The result was really quite tasty and certainly crunchy. I may be making more of these!

I’d found a pack of gluten free pizza dough in the drawer the other day, so that was used instead of a sourdough base. It was okay, but lacked much taste and was only a vehicle for the ham, caramelised red onion and goats cheese topping.

We also finished watching the second half of Amadeus from the National Theatre. Salieri and Mozart were great performances. It was enjoyable but I really wished I’d been sat in the theatre as there were obviously things happening just out of shot that I’d like to have seen.

Three boats came past. Two hire boats who we thought had managed the bend well, so we looked away. Then a big bang followed by a 58ft 6inch scraping noise all the way along our rubbing strakes. The boat in front of us was a touch more peeved than we were, shouting out their hatch as the scraping noise continued for another 50 odd foot before the tiller was pushed over, as the hire boat ended up facing into the off side bank. They were being followed by another boat who had been managing to hold their course well until they had to slow down. Mick offered tiller advise which helped. They were both just heading to wind, but luckily they returned with out making contact.

Today there has been a flurry of emails regarding Chippy Panto. So far there is no news. The government have only given the entertainment industry aspirational dates for reopening to full houses. Under current guidance Chippy would only be able to have 40 to 75 in the audience, not enough to cover the cost of opening the building for the day and all the additional cleaning required between performances. Along with audience safety there is also the safety of the acting company and creative staff both on stage and off in such a building. It may be that all entrances have to be from SL and all exits SR and no audience participation! Not quite panto.

The doors currently remain firmly closed to help preserve the theatres future for years to come. The Governments rescue package still has no guidelines as to how it will be distributed and whether it could be used to guarantee the show. We all carry on waiting.

On a much lighter note, the title of todays blog. Six Years ago today we climbed into our Peugeot 207SW dropped keys off to our house with the rental agency in Scarborough and headed to Sowerby Bridge where NB Lillyanne (Lillian) our bright yellow boat had been waiting for us. Houdini our second mate did not know what was happening and found a shelf in the wardrobe very comforting for the first few days. So six years ago we set out for a year afloat and we’re still here, on our favourite mooring. Not a bad way to celebrate, well we’ll postpone the celebrations till tomorrow when hopefully the weather will have improved.

Our mooring here on the 3rd September 2014

0 locks, 3.78 miles, 1 double bridge, 1 full water tank, 1 wave, 1 damp day, 0 sourdough pizza, 1 boring doves pizza, 32 tasty crackers, 0 news about 0 news, 1 woofer stand off, 360 degree views, 6 years.

https://goo.gl/maps/PRCaTijmr3YLtCKt8

Crossing The Border. 21st July

Foulridge Wharf to GreenHill Donkey Rose Bush Mooring

My sour dough starter might have been left a touch too long between feeds in the fridge. I got it out a few days ago and have been doing my best to encourage it to bubble up. I’ve reduced the size of it to help with flour consumption, keeping the ratios the same as before hoping for little discard. But it’s sleepy so I’ve had a discard jar on the go. I won’t be baking bread or pizza until it bucks it’s ideas up but the discard does make good pancakes! Add a few blueberries and well, yum.

Our Sainsburys delivery was half an hour early, which we didn’t mind and the only thing missing from it was the price of one box of wine, we got the red wine we just weren’t charged for it, Bonus!

As I worked my way through sorting the shopping Mick topped up the water tank as our long hose reached the tap from our mooring. The Billy crew had come through the tunnel this morning and had enjoyed a breakfast at the Cargo Cafe. We’d considered one ourselves, an evening meal a few years ago had been very nice, but pancakes needed to be made so as not to waste that sour dough discard.

NB Billy came past, leapfrogging or hopscotching us again. I suspect we’ll be passing them tomorrow.

A load of washing finished in the machine and it was time to leave our neighbours, a grey boat who likes to run his genny and engine til quite late and NB Elvira who it turns out reads the blog, Hello!

Our cruising will slow down now, there are more moorings to choose from and views to enjoy and hopefully people to catch up with. So we checked our map and chose a mooring we hoped would be free.

The sewage works that sit a short distance away is having major work done. The round settling pits look to have gone and there were diggers, all sorts on site. Wagons had been passing us at the wharf every hour or so for the last day. Yorkshire Water are upgrading their waste water treatment processes, enabling them to remove more phosphorus from the water before it heads back into rivers.

At Bridge 149 we looked over our shoulder, a sign welcoming you to Lancashire, we were almost at the border. A stream coming down from the hill is the border and a white sign marks the place.

This border has moved around through the centuries and it wiggles around quite a lot here too, but we class this as the Border. Back in Yorkshire by boat after more than a year.

Another half mile and we kept our eyes peeled for the mooring. Mick spied a couple of bollards on a high wall, that was it. We pulled in carefully so that I could get the bow rope around the first bollard, a pesky rose bush in the way made this a touch difficult. To get the stern in an Andy manoeuvre was called for, but this would have been quite painful for me and the cratch cover. We managed to get close enough into the side and then the sheers came out to do a bit of pruning, the bow rope could then be tied up.

A quick check for feline hazards, none other than a lot of bikes, the doors were opened and Tilly set free for the afternoon whilst the sun did it’s thing drying the washing on the whirligig.

Different play mates today. A donkey to ride on and some geese who had funny noses. She thinks they are Swan Geese, but that doesn’t make sense. Anyhow, none of them minded me sitting on the wall watching them, although they were a touch rude sticking their tongues out at me every now and again!

This outside has several catwalks, all at different levels. These turned out to be quite useful when woofers came by, they could smell me but not see me! There were also some holes which needed me to stick my arm down, but I didn’t find anyone or thing there.

With my flattish starter not rising enough for pizza I popped a gammon joint in the oven to bake, thinly sliced potatoes for dauphinoise, a kind of Christmas Eve meal to celebrate being back in Yorkshire.

0 locks, 1.54 miles, 1 full water tank, 1 load washing, 1 clean pooh box, 3 boxes, 1 free, 11 bags shopping, 1 rendez vous arranged, 80% hire boats, 5.5 hours, 5 swan geese, 1 chocolate donkey, 1 happy cat again, 1 cupboard and 4 drawers cleaned and sorted, 0 bin bags needed for a year, 2 happy boaters back in Yorkshire.

https://goo.gl/maps/nJLaUisjEYoTBUKWA

Going The Wrong Way! 20th July

Barrowford Locks to Foulridge Wharf Visitor Moorings

A slow start to the day, a slow breakfast with no shore leave for Tilly, she quickly accepted this and went back to bed. The boat behind us had gone up the flight on his own and one boat had come down, so we were lucky that the bottom lock was empty and waiting for us.

11:15 we pushed off, I walked up to the bottom lock of the flight only to find that the handy little bridge that used to span the bywash has vanished and the route now is blocked. There was a well worn footpath up the next lock so at least I wasn’t stranded on the off side.

Swapping with the first hire boat of the day

A bit of levelling was required before I could open the bottom gate, by which time I could see that a boat was just entering the lock above. It took a little while before Oleanna was settled in the lock and I was able to lift a ground paddle, above the lock was already emptying, the water running straight down and around the bywash. We were about half way up when a boat approached from below, NB Billy.

We swapped locks with the downhill hire boat and then awaited Billy before entering the second lock in the flight. Clare and Sarah were on their own, Pete and Steve having gone to move their car, they would be returning to join us by bike.

Fortunately there was just enough water in the pound to fill the lock without Oleanna going aground and for Billy to make it over the top cill, so need need to run water down. The chaps soon arrived back and joined the crew.

There were plenty of gongoozlers about, all interested in the locks and our boats as they rose in the next few locks.

Between Locks 49 and 48 Clare spotted raspberry canes on the offside. Whilst the next lock emptied Mick managed to pick a handful, well ten, he didn’t want to get stuck and the wind was a touch blowy, so it was hard to hold his position and pick at the same time, if ever there was a need for Mountain Goat Frank Matthews!

Bikes were loaded back onto Billy, then Clare and Pete swapped roles. Fountains were out cutting the grass around the reservoir. The chaps had two remote control lawnmowers, not quite the size that I’d seen at Hurleston during lockdown. They’d just finished and were driving them up the ramps onto their pickups.

Up at the lock there was a very tame pigeon wandering around the lock gates quite happy eaves dropping our conversations. Pete brought Billy into the lock, but didn’t give her a big enough push to get her nestled behind a bottom gate. A second attempt was needed all the time Clare giving words of advice from above. As the gates closed behind Oleanna we spotted that Mick had a new passenger, the pigeon.

A ring around it’s leg suggested it was a racing pigeon. Had it stopped for a rest? Was it in need of some food?

It had a good wander around our pram cover but then flew off. He’d been hoping to hitch a ride and give his wings a rest, but we were obviously going the wrong way!

We’d just started to lift the gate paddles when Pete vanished inside. Was there a problem? Was he alright? Clare was concerned with nobody at the helm, so she went to be by the tiller, keeping Billy’s stern away from the bottom gates. It turned out that he’d gone to get the rubbish from the well deck as we were alongside the bins.

Looking down over Barrowford Reservoir the level looked quite low. C&RT had lowered the levels of several of their reservoirs for maintenance earlier in the year and as lockdown started to be lifted it looked like there wouldn’t be enough water to last the season. Locks on the Leeds and Liverpool remained closed for a while, then they brought in timed passages, but with the amount of rainfall we’ve had over the last few weeks levels have improved enabling the locks to be open full time. The level must have looked really low back in April and May.

Lock 45, the last lock up onto the L&L summit. Since starting our ascent up Poolstock Locks a week ago we have climbed 400ft and 9″. Apparently we are now at the same level as we were at in Birmingham back at the beginning of the year according to a programme we watched the other evening, although google suggests we might be 8 meters higher!

The Billy crew were stopping for water and lunch whilst we wanted to get through the tunnel and claim a mooring for a shopping delivery. So we waved our goodbyes for today. We pootled on leaving the views behind us.

A chap on one of the offside moorings asked if we used to have another boat and had been in a magazine. Sorry we didn’t get your boats name or yours, but thank you for following us.

Not quite a mile to the south portal of Foulridge Tunnel where we knew we’d have to wait. Foulridge has red and green lights, the passage window of ten minutes on the half hour heading northwards and on the hour for south bound. So we had around about a half hour wait for the next green light. A hire boat had positioned themselves in the middle of the waiting moorings, not quite enough space behind them for us, so we pulled in in front.

One boat came through and when the lights turned green we checked it was okay for us to go first, we wouldn’t have minded waiting but it maybe was just as well as their boat didn’t seem to have warp drive!

Having a big torch at the back of the boat shining up at the ceiling meant we got to see all the formations on the brickwork. Fins of what look like shark jaws all line up against each other as the water drips off them. Maybe the sharks were hopeful that there might be a cow swimming through. Here’s a song about Buttercup. Sadly I didn’t get a photo as we were being followed so couldn’t stop.

Back in the light we warned a Silsden Hire boat of the slow boat behind us and then we carried on to find a mooring. There was space for a couple of boats on the 3 day moorings which would be great for our delivery tomorrow. First we tried at the far end, furthest away from the car park for feline safety, except there was something stopping us from getting into the side. We pulled back, but that was even worse. The close proximity to a shaft/well with birdies down it made our minds up, unsafe for Tilly. The bird looking back up at me was very relieved!

I’ve got enough to contend with without a Cat down here!

We pushed out and reversed back to another space, close to the water point and car park, then we spent the rest of the afternoon saying ‘NO’ a lot to Tilly.

7 locks, 2.58 miles, 1 mile of tunnel, 3 mysterons, 0 cows, 6 hire boats, 1 lost pigeon, 6 crew, 2 boats, 3rd mooring lucky, 0 shore leave, 1 delivery confirmed, 1 Paul Hudson.

https://goo.gl/maps/tyPDU5F47TjpcHWm7

Number Five. 19th July

Pipe Bridge 115A to Barrowford Locks

We really should try to get up earlier, the crew on NB Billy always seem to pass us just after we’ve finished breakfast. Boats were on the move today several having passed us early on and by the time we’d rolled the covers up the boat directly behind us had also moved on. The increase in boat traffic most probably due to Barrowford Locks now being open.

The sun was out but there was a touch of chilliness in the air. We continued on our way following the contour, wiggling back and forth all the time with the M65 close to hand but taking it’s own straighter route along the side of the valley. Views kept coming with every bend more miles of hillside could be seen. I know lots of people think the Ashby Canal is beautiful and has views, but we prefer doing a bit of hard work, climbing some locks and being repaid with spectacular views.

We passed a floating dry dock, a moorhen with her babies and encountered a lot of duck weed. In places the weed stretching right across the canal, we mixed the mushy peas up as we went.

NB Billy was moored up on the visitor moorings at Hapton, meeting with some friends, we leap frogged them, although Pete said we’d hopscotched them! Neither Mick or I used to play hopscotch, but I certainly sang and played The Big Ship Sails. This got me thinking, where had this song come from to keep kids amused and tide up in knots in school playgrounds?

A look on the internet confirmed that it was the last day in September that the big ship sailed, but just where was the Alley, alley O? Some theories were The Manchester Ship Canal, others the Suez Canal and more the Atlantic Ocean. Then the date? The Arctic ship sank on the 27th of September, high tides at the end of September, ships bound for St Lawrence River in Canada had to enter it before the winter ice set in, all sorts of theories about the songs origin. I just remember getting tied up in knots.

Is this a Chinese or an African goose?

As we got closer to Burnley the canal winds under the M65 several more times. We took the opportunity to stop for water at the services on the offside just before Dugdale Bridge. A Dutch Barge sat at one end of the moorings and an ABC hire boat at the other end, leaving the water point free. As we tied up the hire boat pulled out, the chap being a touch too friendly as he cranked up the engine.

As we filled up and disposed of rubbish along with things that had been picked up around the bow and prop, the hire boat returned at warp speed! He shouted over to Mick who was down the weed hatch, ‘You okay?!’ The reply came ‘If you slowed down I would be!!’ Their engine slowed a touch then was cranked back up to warp drive to continue. At least we didn’t think we’d catch him up!

Under the motorway again and then into the blackness of Gannow Tunnel. I remembered to turn the lights on this time. Back in 2016 I’d been drawing below and had forgotten that there was a tunnel so had no cabin lights on!

Now over the motorway for a change, plenty of bridges to keep our interest, new, old. Old mills that have been redeveloped into offices, workshops and residencies.

The moorings at Burnley Wharf were chocka, boats breasted up and a group of boaters sat in the sun drinking with each other outside the closed pub, all very cheery. As we looked back under the bridge we could see a section where steel or iron had been added to the archway. Had this been an access point to load goods, or just reinforcement to the bridge?

Rivets holding the metal to the underside of the bridge

Then the final left hand bend round to line up with Burnley Embankment, The Straight Mile (even if the embankment is only 0.71 miles long). This stands 60ft above the valley floor and reduced the distance it would have taken continuing along the contour to reach the other side. This is one of the Seven Wonders of the Waterways and crossing it Oleanna was bagging her fifth wonder.

From the canal the view of the structure is just straight, not that impressive to look at. But the shear amount of work that went into building the embankment! For us it is the views of the houses that make it special, the lines of neat chimney pots all identical running off down the streets and the views across the roof tops.

At the half way point the embankment becomes an aqueduct to cross over Yorkshire Street, breaking up the straight line just a touch.

The warp drive hire boat was back at base at Reedley Marina and people sat out on the balcony having a drink in the afternoon sunshine. Another day of lunch on the go for us.

Mill after mill after mill. Most have been restored and converted into offices or housing. During the Industrial Revolution Burnley became one of Lancashire’s most prominent mill towns, at it’s peak it was one of the largest producers of cotton cloth and had many foundries and ironworks supplying the mills and coal mines with machinery.

A stone wall had numerous drain pipes, one every 10 to 12 foot. A look at google earth confirmed it was a factory with rows of angled glazing on the roof, letting natural light in and each requiring a gutter and drain pipe.

Between Scotland Road Canal Bridge 141C and Hodge Bank Bridge 141D there is a very handy recycling centre on the off side with its own mooring. Here we could dispose of any recycling and deposit the engine oil from Oleanna’s last service.

Only a mile further on we pulled up below the Barrowford flight. A dutch barge was moored on the end of the bollards, we pulled in on the off side and banged some spikes in. On this side there would be less footfall and Tilly had a great variety of trees to climb which kept her busy for a couple of hours before she was called in for dingding.

0 locks, 13.1 miles, 0.71 miles of embankment, 1 tunnel, 1 scaredy cat again! 1 warp drive, 1 full water tank, 0 rubbish, 2 lots of engine oil, 2 lunches on the go, 1 slow cruise, 1 parasol flying, 1 boat caught, 1 flung glass of red.

https://goo.gl/maps/hapT4vRm86j1KvrR8

After The Rain. 18th July

Pipe Bridge 115A

Miserable. We made the decision to stay put for the day as it was so totally miserable. We’ve had a couple of long days and really didn’t want to get wet again.

The back doors were opened up as we had breakfast for Tilly to head off into the wet air. No hesitation from her this morning. Well I’d found friends yesterday and had to find more today. I also had to work out how to get one of the big wooly friends home. That was going to take quite some calculations as there is a fence with square holes and wooly friends are not square by any means!

The Geraghty Zoom had talk of a close pass by an asteroid this week, the second coming on the south coast and the existence of a UK desert. We also had a late arrival from Ruth who’s birthday it was, she’d already hit the prosecco as it was a none wedding day for one of her best friends, the day certainly had to be marked.

Could we be bothered to get damp for our Saturday newspaper? A stretch of our legs would be good, so we both wrapped up and walked back along the towpath to Clayton-Le-Moors, a slight round about trip down a footpath we’d seen yesterday meant our walk included some up and down too.

Mick headed into the Co-op whilst I had a little look round. A queue at the chemist, I could have had a hair cut (but that would be five months too early) or a Benidorm tan. I decided to stand in the rain instead. Mick took his time and it turned out that he’d bumped into an old work colleague John in one of the isles. Back in 2014 John came to visit us on Lillian, but sadly today it was only a quick chat in the Co-op.

Early afternoon we heard the swing bridge behind us and peered out the back doors. NB Billy was pulling up very damp. Yesterday they’d only just managed to get into the countryside before they’d had enough of the slow going, but their mooring wasn’t ideal. We’d let them know where we were and it only took them three hours to cover 7 miles!

The weather gradually dried up through the afternoon, Clare popped round to have a rivet gun workshop. Yesterday in one of the locks our cratch cover had caught on one of Billy’s rivets, a press stud took most of the force and a slight rip to the fabric. In narrow locks we roll the covers right up to prevent this, but we’d decided to have them down for the leaky Leeds Liverpool ascent, so this was always a possibility.

Mick got the gun out and demonstrated how easy it was. I just need to find a bit of suitable fabric to mend the rip which I’m hoping the Fent Shop in Skipton will provide. Then they headed to see if we had the right size rivets to mend Billy’s covers (not injured in the locks with us), not quite but a mend was possible to keep them going.

As the afternoon turned into evening the sun even came out. Then after we’d finished our macaroni cheese (with extra bits) the sky looked amazing outside.

This morning we’d risen to no view, someone having stolen the hills. This evening we were treated to wonderful amounts of sky, hills as far as you could see and a wonderful sunset.

Earlier in the day we’d been trying to decide our favourite moorings with views. We obviously have several. This evening, this mooring came out on top as it showed off in style, curlews calling out as they flew past as the sun nestled down behind the hills.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3 miles for a paper, 1 colleague, 2 damp boaters, 2 more pairs of wet shoes, 4 moving boats, 1 life raft, 3 rivets, 1 gun, 9 hours, 1 stubborn none square sheep, 3 smaller friends, 1 stunning evening, 1 stove lit, 1st in the view catagory.

I’ll Race You To The Locks. 17th July

Riley Green to Pipe Bridge 115A

Shortly after we’d finished our breakfast NB Billy cruised past, Clare saying good morning with a wave. Would we manage to catch them up before Blackburn locks so that we could share? Would the locks be long enough for us to share? By the time we’d got our selves ready we were most probably half an hour behind them.

Four and a half damp miles to the locks. Plenty of gardens backing onto the canal have made the effort. A K6 phone box sat in one garden along with a post box and stamp machine.

Then neighbours obviously have different opinions on ducks!

A young lad sat on his bike waiting for our arrival, as we came up alongside him he said ‘I’ll race you to the locks!’. Well we had no chance he’d have easily beaten us there if he’d tried. Instead he coasted along with the occasional pedal, at one point he hopped off saying that walking would be fairer, all the time all of us were getting damper.

Divers, at least they were getting wetter than us!

Through Hollin Bridge we could see the stern of NB Billy mid channel, were they stuck? Then a Police officer walked towards us in high vis, they had divers in the canal below the locks, but we were clear to go up. Pete had walked up ahead and was emptying the bottom chamber. A quick check with Clare that we could share and we were on our way.

With a slightly over long boat you have to get yourself in past the bottom gates, so Billy headed in first and then Clare pushed the stern across the lock and reversed back behind the gate. Mick could then bring Oleanna in alongside slowly, Clare pushing the boats apart. Second gate closed and a thumbs up the lock could be filled.

Locks 56 and 55 are very close together the pound between them dropping quite a lot as we filled the bottom lock. Coming down hill here last time we so nearly flooded the C&RT offices as we hadn’t double checked the paddles were down at the top of the lock, so water flowed through the lock and into the pound, the lower lock already full. But today we just needed to empty the top lock to make sure we had enough water to get over the cill.

Four lads came along interested in what was going on. Pete offered them windlasses and ended up hardly having to do any work at the next couple of locks as the lads were keen.

A pause was needed to empty a cassette and the we were back on our way again, heading up the rest of the locks. The pounds were a touch low, only the occasional bump and scrape on the bottom as the boats passed through.

An interesting box attached to a wall on the offside caught my eye. It resembled a new water point, but on closer inspection Mick could see a solar panel and a mobile phone aerial on the lid. Anyone have any ideas what this might be please?

Once up the last lock, the drizzle that had kept us damp dried up. We were heading straight on, but Clare and Pete planned to stop for some shopping. Phone numbers were exchanged a possible plan of sharing the Barrowford Locks in a couple of days.

Mick pulled us out of the lock, I hopped on after closing the gate. He knew we’d picked something up on the prop but was hoping it wouldn’t inhibit our progress too much. Well we only just managed to limp to the side where I held the centre line whilst he cleared the prop of plastic and a fishing fish with a big hook on it!

We now followed NB Billy, the going slow. Plenty of weed and the bottom being too close to the top for any speed to be had.

The wallpapered K6 outside Graham and Brown is still there and under Sour Milk Hall Bridge the large flock pattern brightened up the day, well until it was Billy’s turn to have problems with their prop, they were stuck. No help was needed just patience to get themselves back on the move again, so we took the lead and headed off.

We’d already decided where to moor for the day quite a few more miles on. Luckily the drizzle stayed away and we had lunch on the go. Progress was slow due to weed, but that gradually petered out and apart from the odd lumpy bit the depth improved too.

Now on the long pound to Barrowford Locks the canal winds it’s way along a contour for 23 miles. Views every now and again. Granada studios and Blackburn in the background, all the houses roofs blending into one long slope down the hills.

Over the M65 aqueduct the motorway making far more noise than it should for the amount of traffic on it.

Gaggles of geese lined up ahead of us. I wonder if the white goose felt out of place or not?

Another sight we maybe wouldn’t have seen coming the other way was the beehive coke ovens near Oswaldtwistle. Lumps covered in turf have collapsed in parts showing the brickwork inside. Here the remains of Aspen Colliery lie buried, 24 coke ovens (known locally as Fairy caves) and what once was a canal basin where coal and coke used to be transported from. More info found here. If we had more time we’d explore here more, another for the next time list.

Just after Simpson’s Bridge 111A a large cream wall has a rather good painting on it. Two creatures sit on a pennyfathing, long sticks tied to their feet to reach the pedals. One looks out with a bent spy glass and behind them they trail clouds, letters and paper aeroplanes float in their wake. I’ve tried looking this up on the internet, but nothing is there. I suspect it may have been commissioned by a recruitment agency in the building, but I have no idea who the artist is.

Church Kirk Changeline Bridge has been modified since horses pulled boats, it’s not a patch on the snake bridges of the Macc.

Just beyond is a mile marker, the halfway point between Leeds and Liverpool. Around it fretwork panels celebrate it’s position. Oleanna can now tick off half the L&L canal, Liverpool to Wigan in 2017, Wigan to half way now, over the next few weeks she’ll cruise the other half along with two of the wonders of the waterways.

We now had to deal with the first of the swing bridges, Church, Rileys and Foster. These have anti vandal locks on them, you then use your windlass to raise a bar to unlock them. Lining everything back up to re-lock them is a bit of a pain.

I was just about to cross Church Bridge when a pickup drove along and stopped half way across. Puzzled for a few moments whilst a chap closed a barrier behind, locking up the access to a work site, he then pulled away end of the working week.

Rileys proved to be slightly problematical. Blimey it was stiff! I shoved and pushed and pulled, bounced it eventually getting it to move. I think the base that the closed bridge sits on needed clearing. If I’d had a bucket of water and a stiff brush I’d have given it a clear out.

Then Foster’s didn’t want to line back up properly to be locked, requiring a kick.

Our mooring now lay in front of us just after the not so picturesque pipe bridge. One boat was already taking advantage of the view, but there was plenty more space for us. If only it was a touch warmer we’d have had a barbeque and sat out to drink up the view. Instead Tilly managed to do a touch of self catering during her meagre hour and a half shore leave. A long day for all, maybe we’ll have a day off tomorrow.

6 locks, 15.23 miles, 3 swing bridges, 1 boat held up, 1 locking partner, 2 divers, 1 race, 4 helpers, 1 coconut, 2nd day of lunch on the go, 2 K6’s, 1st August? 1 view, 1 crunchy friend.

https://goo.gl/maps/eHjApCcpfM7fqY7u7

Hillocks. 16th July

Haigh Golf Course to Riley Green

The alarm had been set so we wouldn’t be lazy this morning, however we were both awake before it went off. For some reason I decided to put my waterproof padded trousers on today, there was plenty of water hanging in the air and after the last few days I thought I might not overheat!

The western end of the Leeds Liverpool has been dashed through before, avoiding trouble spots, keeping our heads down whilst it rained and dashing to avoid stoppages. So today despite us still being on a touch of a mission we had more time to look around us as we cruised. Going in the opposite direction is always different anyway.

Mile posts sit strong and proud along the towpath counting up from Liverpool and down to Leeds. At 47 miles from Liverpool we got a glimpse of the mile post, you’d not see if going east to west. It went by too quickly for a photo, so here is someone elses which must have been taken a few years ago as now the trunk of the tree has grown round it, hugging all but the Liverpool mileage.

We don’t remember much about this stretch, just that there are a lot of moored boats to pass slowly. I seemed to take the same photos though, a widebeam called Chug, it’s name once red, now faded.

A C&RT van sat by a bridge a short distance on four chaps stood on the towpath. There was a lot of pointing going on at the crumbling wall on the opposite bank. Then a generator was lifted onto the towpath and a drill plugged in, a five foot drill bit ready to bore a hole into the concrete bank which would then be filled with resin/foam to help hold the bank and eliminate leeks.

On the off side visitor mooring at Adlington we passed NB Freedom whom we’d followed down the Marple flight, they must have passed us when we were moored up in Droylsden Marina.

The Leeds Liverpool Canal bridges tend to have the archway stones painted white, well at one time they were, the weather having worn a lot of it off now. The key stone obviously sits in the centre of the arch, but this is not the centre of the navigation due to the towpath taking up some room.

To one side of the key stone there tends to be a white line painted, aim the centre of your boat at this and you shouldn’t touch the sides.

More moored boats as we came into Botany Bay, one being NB The Grenedier that we came across on the Grand Union a few years ago, their beam just a touch too wide for them to be able to share broad locks and necessitating the need to have both gates open.

Up ahead we saw the first of two moving boats, a day boat. The lady at the helm must have panicked when she saw us, arms moving outwards to express her concern, bringing the bow round to full on collision course with our port side! Mick put Oleanna into reverse as quickly as he could, getting us out of the danger zone. I know the gunnels already need a touch up but a big dent would need more than paint!

The day boat managed to get back on a straight course and we passed as if nothing had happened.

Botany Bay Mill was once a place to visit, the towpath was always quite busy here, but today there was not one boat. The Mill used to house a number of stalls selling all sorts, clothes, gifts, furniture, I suspect a good place to browse. But in February last year the 1855 mill closed its doors, repairs to the building no longer viable and redevelopment now on the cards. Botany Bay Outlet Village, an ‘iconic lifestyle destination’ that’s trendy bollocks for shops, houses, maybe a cinema next to an old mill and a motorway junction.

Through bridge 80 we spied the bottom of the Johnson’s Hillock flight, nestled through the bridge hole was NB Billy all locked up and nobody to say hello to. Two day boats had stopped for their lunch, the crews spotting us came out to watch us at the locks.

On the right the locks climb the canal up another 65ft 2″, but to the left another channel heads off. This was the Walton Summit Branch of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, originally this branch continued onto Clayton Brook, quite close to the junction of the M61 and M65. From here a tramway headed north west to Preston crossing the River Ribble and connecting up with the Lancaster Canal.

Waterway Routes has a free downloadable map of the abandoned canal and tramway should you be interested. I was quite surprised at how close we were to the end of the Lancaster canal, 7.2 miles as the crow flies, back in 2017 the Lancaster felt like it was in another country due to crossing the Ribble Link.

Back at the Johnson’s Hillock flight the lock landing is quite overgrown at the moment, a bit more foot fall is needed. The bottom lock was full, wide locks on our own would mean a lot of walking round them as there is no route over the top gates. I think I must have walked over the bottom gates about five times at each lock, my step count for the day was around about half that of when we came up Wigan and here we only had seven locks not 21!

We pulled a large crowd. The day boaters, who are considering moving onto a boat, today was their first time and they have a week booked later in the summer. Shame they didn’t hang around to help push lock gates, maybe I made it look like hard work and put them off! Then there were couples out for a walk and Dad’s with their kids. A look around for that glint in someones eye desperate to push a gate and help, but nobody showed any sign of interest, maybe they didn’t want to touch the lock gates.

We quickly got into our rhythm, Mick closing up as I walked on ahead to empty the next lock. Still no one offered to close gates as Mick walked his way round the locks.

A fisherman kept one pound ahead of us pulling out a 2 to 3 pound pike at one point. Someone else had been fishing here too, magnet fishing. A line of rusty windlasses sat on the lock beam at 62 along with a rudder! If you’ve ever lost your rudder maybe it was yours, we didn’t bother picking it up as a spare.

I soon felt I was over heating so my coat was handed to Mick, nothing much I could do about my trousers unless I wanted to carry on up the locks in my pants! Drizzle came and went as we climbed up the locks. At the second lock memories came back to me from either September 2014 or October 2016 when a couple from New Zealand were ascending the lock on a boat they had hired for several months, the lady was of slight build, could it have been Graeme and Clare on Mr Blue Sky?

Ascending the penultimate lock I could see the top lock was being emptied, when the gate finally opened I tried signalling to them to leave the gates open, Mick even bipped the horn, but it didn’t catch their attention and the gates closed.

As the boat came towards me I wondered why I knew the name NB Hannah May, we’ve come across it before. Then as it came alongside I remembered why, it’s a Stillwater boat our original boat builders!

We still wanted to get a few more miles under our belt before stopping for the day, just as well as the visitor moorings above the locks were full. We ducked under the M65 surrounded by green and meadow sweet filling the air with its sweat aroma.

You’d never guess we were about to go under the motorway

The curve towards Riley Green came into view, the road noise still audible, but just far enough away, we pulled in and tied up onto the armco. Round the bend there would have been rings, but here was further away from a road and much better for Tilly for her two hours shore leave.

7 locks, 12.11 miles, 1 rightish, 2 moving boats, 1 damp day, 1 cancelled pamphlet, 2 hours shore leave, 3 miles walked, 1 noisy mooring, just what would it have been like in April?

https://goo.gl/maps/cTQJbK6jE7j2k33Y9

Fonts. 15th July

Haigh Golf Club

As we had our morning cuppa in bed we discussed what we should do for the next few days. Ahead of us lie three lock flights before we reach the summit pound of the Leeds Liverpool Canal. We’ve been right across the L&L a couple of times, east to west, but never west to east. Our first hire boat together was from Silsden through Foulridge Tunnel and then back across to Bingley for the five and three locks. So on this side of the Pennines we’ve not explored so much, we’ve been looking forward to it.

However. Lock 51, the bottom of the Barrowford flight has a problem with its cill, an attempt to mend it took place on Sunday, but didn’t work. Engineers were due to have a look on Monday, but they were too busy elsewhere so today they would access what would be needed. This meant that until we hear what the prognosis is we won’t be rushing to the bottom of the flight, it’s a 15 hour cruise away.

The other thing that affects our route is C-19. The area that we will be travelling through currently has a spike in cases, not as high as Leicester, but still high. For the last few days the local news has been talking about special measures being imposed in Blackburn and Pendle with the hope that the number of cases can be brought back down, therefore avoiding local lockdowns. Even before we knew about the spike, our current covid world meant we were unlikely to spend much time in the towns and cities, doing our best to avoid being with too many people.

So now we have a slight dilemma. We would quite like to speed through the next 40 odd miles to avoid a possible lockdown but we also don’t want to be stuck waiting for a lock to be mended right in a Covid hotspot.

It was raining, so we decided to stay put for the day and await the engineers report later on. The back doors were open for an excited Tilly who was given a full 9 hours shore leave. Except the damp air didn’t go down too well with her! Much of the day was spent staring at the outside from the dryness of the pram cover, occasional trips out but not for long.

Mick went off in search of milk and bread, retracing our route then cutting across country to Whelley where there was a Tesco Express.

Meanwhile I got on with a touch of work. Vanessa from Separate Doors has asked me to do an illustration for the cover of a Crisis pamphlet. A couple of days ago I’d sent her some ideas and yesterday she’d replied as to which one to go with, luckily my preferred one.

Time to work out the layout and then search for a suitable font. Our new computer has a huge list of fonts, but half of them you have to download. Not a problem, except to see what they look like it means downloading them all! A tiresome task, not one I fancied today. So I just worked my way down the list of those available, selecting possibles for an audition. Once I had my shortlist I then gradually wheedled them down to one. Then that needed manipulating, all taking loads of time.

With the correct size and spacing I then traced the lettering onto the page only to discover that my centre line was just slightly off and some spacing of letters looked a touch odd leaving small gaps! A bit of nudging about and it was better, good enough for a mock up to send Vanessa for approval.

This afternoon Mick took the opportunity to lift the engine board and give Oleanna a service. Her last service had been 250 hours ago at the beginning of March. Just an oil change and filter today along with checking coolant levels and belts. We also renewed our RCR membership which had lapsed in the last week.

Two boats came past today. First NB Billy, Hellos and waves were passed from our dry position at the dinette to Clare’s soggy one at the helm. Then mid afternoon another boat came past heading towards the locks. I think we may have found the quietest stretch on the network at the moment, this of course may change when we reach Yorkshire.

By the end of the day news came through from C&RT that scaffolding would be erected at Lock 51 tomorrow and they hoped that the repair would be finished on Friday, with the navigation reopening in the evening. Great news.

Then on the local news there was more talk of re-imposing measures to try to take control over the spike. We took a closer look at our maps. Pendle covers a large area which includes Barnoldswick and Greenberfield Locks, the other side of Foulridge Tunnel! Hopefully for these communities the measures they are bringing back in will work and for us hopefully we’ll be through should a full lockdown be enforced. We’ll just have to come back to explore this section another time.

0 locks, 0 miles, 3.5 hours for Wigan yesterday, 4 pts milk, 2 loaves bread, 1 stocked freezer, 1 damp day, 4 muddy paws, 1 illustration in danger, 10 fonts down to 1, 51 broken, 9 litres oil, 1 filter, 1 bronze membership, 2 spikes en route, 1 west side still to explore.

Narrowboat Oleanna

Travels of Narrowboat Oleanna