alafloat : Almost Home

Having left Leeds and continuing on our homeward trip unfortuneately we have to replace our steps as Biggerlugs is too long to do the circular route via the Rochdale canal into Manchester. However once you have become familiar with a route and can remember were the shops are, where the good mooring are, and what to avoid then you can start to relax. Now travelling west we have the Bingley staircase locks to contend with again I assumed wrongly that going up would be easier than going down though this time I did not get as wet but Buggerlugs did the cascading water the soaked me last time, this time flooded the cratch and the leeking walls poured water in through a port hole and Hatch door not a lot but enough to be bloody annoying, one advantage was that on the ascent the locks are easier to get out of.

Arriving in Skipton we managed to get a mooring right in the basin 100 yards from Busy Lizzies, Skipton is the ideal place to have visitors as there is always plenty to do, as usual we had plenty of visitors its also a good place to catch up with old friends and make new ones which we always do

As we have plenty of time on the return leg we have attempted to visit a few more of the obscure places and fit in some good walking trips. The Leeds and Liverpool canal is steeped in Canal history with its hidden Wharfs, Reclaimed Mills, the odd Coal and Lime shoots where these goods were loaded into the craft of the day to be carried from East coast to West coast and beyond. After Skipton most of the large obstacles on this canal are now behind us, to arrive in Skipton from Leeds we had 28 locks and 14 Swing Bridges and some are right buggers, what people tend to forget is; that the technology used along the canal today is 200 years old it also has a habit of breaking down. I must admit that some of the people that come on the canal would be better served getting a caravan, for there is no such thing as rushing on the cut if you need to be there quick get the bloody bus. Last week one speeding boater was in so much of a rush he/she rammed the gates of a lock on the Wigan flight. Now the Wigan flight has restricted access whilst repairs are carried out this now means that hundreds of visitors and holiday boaters are being affected by these delays. At the moment we cannot get back to Rufford as the Rufford branch is closed due to a breach which will take six weeks to repair and as we fly to Aus in three weeks we will be leaving buggerlugs in Scarisbrick until our return.

After leaving Skipton we start to feel that the cruise is nearly over and we find ourselves on home territory as passing through Church /Accrington you pass St Mary's church which is 63 miles from Leeds and 64 miles to Liverpool the half way mark.

Maryanne had asked if we could do an overnight Baby sit as she was off to a wedding we pulled into Reedley Marina on the outskirts of Burnley, we have always been made very welcome and almost feel at home there its easy for Mat to get to he took me to Rufford to collect our car and off to Wales we went. We also intended to meet Phil and Steph who would be on there way to Skipton this worked out great as on the Sunday they were going through Johnsons Hillock so as we were returning from Church in Salford we made a detour and put them through the 7 locks. Noreen in her infinite wisdom she decided to offer our services to put them through the locks in Blackburn So off to Mats for a brew and then 3 hours later into Blackburn to meet up with the again that completed we setoff back to Reedley were we waited for them to arrive on the Monday we managed to secure the birth next to us so we had a good afternoon catch up and a lovely dinner together. This morning we awoke to a force ten gale carrying intermittent rain leaving the Marina Phil and Steph turn East and had the tail wind we headed West into the gales right in my face However Buggerlugs slogged on regardless and then after 4 hours of hard graft we are moored up in Rishton just outside Blackburn. Noreen has done it again with her organisational skills. Tomorrow we pick up a new crew in Blackburn in the form of Rachael and Tom who will be assisting us through the Blackburn 5 and the Johnsons Hillock 7 and then being collected at Botany Bay from there we carry on to Adlinton as the following morning we meet up with John and Kath on Orion who will be going down the Wigan fight with us there they turn east to go to Nantwich and we continue heading West to be in Scarisbrick by Friday lunch.

That’s your lost folks

God Bless everyone

Buggerlugs