Altham bridge 118

A hard day today. We set off very early (5:30). We had been warned by several people that we could encounter trouble in Blackburn. Also the town currently has a very high incidence of the “Indian” variant of Covid, so we were keen not to meet people. From those points of view everything was fine,

Near Bridge 89 (L&L)

Another hot day. A slightly later start than recently, about 8:00. The Leeds and Liverpool is lovely, wonderful views over the countryside and very quiet boatwise. All day today we have only passed three boats. There is evidence of past industry with various disused mills. We arrived at the Johnson’s Hillock locks about 10:30, and

Above Wigan Top Lock

Another 6:30 start, toast and a cup of tea taken on the move to Poolstock locks. The pound between the two was very low. I just crept along a few inches above the bottom. We had been told by CRT that Wigan locks woud be locked overnight and would be opened at 8:00am. We arrived

Ince Moss

We made an early start, just after 6:30. It was a bit misty first thing, but the sun soon got up and it’s been very hot – in the mid twenties. A fairly uneventful trip along the Bridgewater canal into Manchester, then out along tne Leigh branch. For a while we we following a very

Bollington Aqueduct

Yesterday we drove up to the marina, the journey was delayed by an accident on the M5 near the M6 junction. It took a bit longer than usual to unload as we have brought quite a lot of stuff. We are going up the Leeds and Liverpool to Skipton where we’ll meet up with Andrew

Anderton

Just a quick trip, only couple of nights just to check all is ok after the lockdown. Yesterday we arrived at the marina an chugged slowly up to Anderton. The canal is blocked north of here with a landslip. CRT guys and contractors are working on it. Hopefully it will be fixed it time for

Rookery moorings (again)

6 miles and 20 locks An eight o’clock start with the weather looking much better than yesterday. Almost the whole day was spent doing locks, but it was quite pleasant. The sun was out and we didnt have to wait at all. We met an upcoming bost at most locks. Several of the locks on

Above Church locks

A good day’s cruising today, though a bit cold at times. We set off at 7:30 and arrived at the top of Bosley locks about an hour later. Going down Bosley is a bit more time consuming than coming up. That’s because, unusually for narrow locks, there are double top gates. Also the top gates

Gurnett Aqueduct

Not such a good day weatherwise today, not wet but cold and overcast. We left Bugsworth at about 8:45, topped up with water and then set off down the Peak Forest back towards Marple. Andy Russell was working at Furness Vale so we stopped by to ask him about the touchup paint for the gunnels.

Bugsworth Basin

Last night we noticed that the boat seemed to have a list. The only explanation was that all the water from the spillage was still in the boat somewhere. We had mopped up quite a bit with towels etc, but the tap was full on for about 40 mins, so there must be some more.