6 miles, 11 locks and 3 swing bridges. The Bank Newton locks are padlocks overnight as a water saving measure. They are supposed be unlocked at 10:00, but when we arrived at about 9:30 they were already open. There was so much water coming down that it was overflowing onto the towpath, so why do

Only a short trip today. We didn’t start until 10:00 and we had moored up by 12:00. We chugged slowly up to the winding hole by bridge 158 then back to where we had lunch yesterday. A picnic lunch was taken out on the towpath and then we did a very pleasant 4 mile walk.

We are moored up only a few yards from where we were before, but facing the other way! Grandson Josh, Georgia and her parents came to visit. They were on tneir way back home from the Lake District. They arrived just before noon and we took them for a short trip for about two miles.

Only 8 miles and 3 locks today. We needed to moor up somewhere where grandson Josh and his family can find us tomorrow, so we chose here. We are now in Yorkshire. We came through Foulridge tunnel first thing. That took us over the Pennine watershed and into Yorkshire. The scenery around here is stunning.

We have reached tne summit of tne Leeds and Liverpool. This is highest we’ve ever been by canal. A slightly later start at 7:10, it was cold and cloudy not at all like the previous days. We made good progress through Burnley and it’s suburbs. It looked very sad with decay and dereliction everywhere. I

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,

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

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