Time Out

Hi All

Our quick visit to Leeds was as usual great we found our usual mooring occupied but the one next to was empty so we were fine as we only had a couple of days we Did the City, the Market and the the food halls. In Leeds Trinity shopping centre there is a food hall that is many kitchens selling every type of food there is from all over the globe I can get Vietnamese Noreen can have Moroccan and we both eat at the same table, fabulous place. the market is still an eye opener as there again is every type of food and ingredients available. well worth a visit if you are passing though, I also find in Leeds you cannot get lost the station and the canal moorings are in the same place if you are walking up hill you are going aay from it walking down hill well that's towards it, Simple

Buggerlugs and her crew are having some time out, we have found a very quiet mooing at Lemonroyd  a few miles outside Castleford, No shops, No Pubs, No people Yet, however the few people that are here are Boaters and the boats are very widely spaced however this is the bank holiday weekend so anything could happen again that's a good reason for staying still, out on the water this weekend will be chaos there will be little plastic chickens (fibre glass Cruisers) all over the place all thinking that they are pirates so its best to lie low, And what glorious weather we have to do it in today and yesterday have been scorchers today we temps of 26/30 with no breeze it was to hot for fishing, even painting was a struggle as the paint was setting as I put it on its really HOT.
We have also been trying to digest the horrors of the Manchester murders, as I am from Manchester and Noreen Salford we have many family and friends there. on the Night and morning after Noreen spent hours on the phone checking everyone was OK and thanks to God they are. I am not going to rant about it what would be the use we all know the horror of it all we all have our points of view lets just pray that all those that were directly involved will recover.

I expect we will leave here Tuesday morning as I need to call at Castleford Boatyard I have ask Shane to mix me up some "Buggerlugs Green" as I have some touching up to do. We will do our final shop in Castleford before we push on down the river Trent to Lincoln  always stock up before you go on the river shops are few and far between

Noreen on the Helm River Aire & Calder

Its great to have so much water around you

You can feel the freedom,

Again the Aire and Calder

LAST LEG TO LEEDS

Having spent five days in Skipton three on my own Noreen went over to Wales to stay with Maryanne as she was on her own, anyway I was getting quite stir crazy. I did get some fishing done and caught up with some painting I even managed to sell a few pieces, John also went back as he a Doctors appointment but unfortunately the outcome wasn't conclusive and has to go back again next week. As we are daily putting more distance  between ourselves and appointments, John decided to do a quick return sort out his appointments and catch us up later.
Yesterday the Domestic battery indicator light came on indicating that something was wrong I also lost a great deal of power from the bank of leisure Batteries. We got through the night by turning all the 240v off and just using the 12v lights, water pumps and  Toilet. So this morning I called in to a boat yard that was so far in the past I thought the owner would come out with a wooden leg and a Parrot on his shoulder, He didn't he was a very helpful young man, having spent 30mins exposing the engine it was decided that all three alternators were functioning correctly and the batteries were holding a charge No decision was made to the reason why the warning light had come on??
So we continued with the journey doing the Bingley five rise, the Bingley three rise and another four locks and seven Swing bridges, except for the two hour wait to go down the Bingley five everything went well Moored up for the night in Shipley the warning light is still on but no other problems I sure I can sort it out, eventually
Stopping at Rodley tomorrow and catching up with Les and Linda who are friends from Fettlers and Scarisbrick Les was a mechanic on the Marina and Linda worked with Noreen I am very interested on the Wide Beam he is in the middle of fitting out (maybe he knows what's wrong with the warning light????)
We will be relieved to get into Leeds as that will end the monotonous regularity of the swing bridges we seem to be stopping ever ten minutes for another one. Talking of the hard work. I have been talking to a number of Hire Boaters who had seen a few TV boating programmes and thought how lovely it all looked and were shocked at just how much worked was involved one couple had hired for two weeks and were returning the boat after the first week as the lady could just not manage she said "I am just not fit enough its actually dangerous for me" She wondered how Prunela Scales did it
I said we all know that they have a crew of twenty doing it for them. I believe that the progamme makers have a lot to answer for. I do however like the Boating on TV it depicts the better side the quiet peaceful life a holiday without any rush BUT they should also show it in its fullness and it is not for the faint hearted

Be Good
God Bless
BUGGERLUGS

One of Lock Gates of the Bingley five rise I took that from the boat

the gate stands about 30ft above me

The Blue Bells in the foreground gave the woods a very beautiful

Glow

The Early sun breaking though and dappling the water

What

In Skipton

We have actually arrived in Skipton the sail up from Gargrave to Skipton  I believe is one of the prettiest on the system, we found good moorings (opposite Morrisons and near the water point. As we all know being close to a water point with so many hire boats about can be thwart with danger but we all had to learn and as there is a swing bridge directly the water point then boats cannot get any speed up so any knocks are only slight and I have made precautions by using all available fenders on the canal side.
Arrived here yesterday John went on a recce and found a tiny little Micro pub which was fantastic beer to die for had a very nice night last night Today has been spent carrying out maintenance and a repair on John's water pump, Tonight being Friday we all went to "Busy Lizzies" CHIPPY one of the  most famous in Yorkshire.
looking forward now to a restful weekend may even get some painting done

God Bless
Buggerlugs

Noreen and Kath are considering if its worth it?????????

 

Good Days and Bad Days

Hi everyone
Yes yesterday was a bad one, We awoke to a bright clear day with no wind and just a gentle breeze. We had spent the night at the bottom of Barrowford locks ready to get a good start on the day. Noreen and I had  walk up the locks everything seemed fine with no empty pounds so all looked good. We set off in good heart looking forward to a good sail upto East Marten which was our destination for the day HOWEVER like all plans it lasted ten minutes as entering the first lock I had that horrible sound of a great thud from the prop and a a stalled engine Unmistakeably something wrapped around the prop. All Boaters will know what that means and with a Traditional Stern (the back bit) what it entails, in my case it means clearing the bad deck getting into the weed hatch a space of 18 inches by 12 inches and hanging almost upside down with arms up to the shoulder in freezing water and attempting to cut away what ever has fallen in love with your pro and is now making love to it. this process took almost two and a half hours. BUT how is it that when hanging almost upside down in a very small space do People ask " have you something wrapped around the Prop?? " you do not want to know my stock answer. NOW one could imagine that things could not get worse  wrong !! whilst performing my sea lion impression in the weed hatch you legs and feet become appendages that resemble a broken windmill and have a habit of knocking into thinks Now this could only happen to me. just inside the back door where my feet were performing a pirouette id a dry foam fire extinguisher only I could manage this as the first time I hit it I disconnected the   safety pin the second strike was to set the blooding thing off. As the wind was in the east and the boat facing west that meant that the extinguishing powder sprayed the whole length of the interior of the boat
NOREEN NOT PLEASED. having successfully completed the jammed propeller kit took another hour to Change the bed (that was the powders first port of all and the vacuum the rest of the boat three and a half hours late wet again set sail.
The high light of the day was crossing the border from Lancashire into Yorkshire I now feel as if our holiday has started . we found Moorings at East Martin at 18.30 hs a total of 9 hours sailing and 14 locks
But along the route we were treated to some spectacular views the scenery along this route is second to none. I am in a hurry just now a few jobs to-do before we set off   I will publish pictures tonight
God Bless Every one
Buggerlugs   

Hi everyone
Staying at Burscough was very interesting as we managed to get up to Fettlers and meet the new owner that was mainly to put the Chinese rumours to rest. Why is it that when ever change is on the horizon everyone assumes the worst and as we are now getting on in years and have seen it, done it, been there, and in my case witnessed it. Together we are almost unshockable if that's a word.
and what will be will be my advice to everyone is don't worry about anything until it happens because in all probability it wont
On leaving Burscough we rounded a bend near to Dean Lock I notice a few people walking the tow path I knew I recognised one of them but you know when you know someone but they are not where they should be so you discard it  well that happened, getting closer  I realised it was one of our dearest and closest friends from Blackburn Jenifer but as usual in these situation we couldn't stop only enough time to pull in for a hug and promise to meet up as we win our last 4 attempts ere passing through Blackburn next week. see you then Jen
Time now to face the inevitable the WIGAN FLIGHT  I know its only 22 locks which is no great effort however  in our last 4 attempts that's 2 up and 2 down we have always at some stage  ran out of water. This time I was quietly confident as the Canal was still blocked at Boothstown thereby restricting traffic going north and the same restriction impeded traffic heading south only traffic coming from the west or going west were using it.
We had decided earlier that as there was two boats and four crew we would breast the two boats together for me to take through the locks, John to gallop ahead and set the next lock and the two gallent ladies to work the lock that I was in. As it happened this was quite fortuneate as we had a 20pmh wind blowing with the lock ahead set and open I could go straight into the next open lock without having to hover two boats in the pound( open water between two locks. the system that I may add has worked for 200 years and nothing we had invented was great and for for old codgers we completed the flight in under four hours
The journey from the the top of the top of the flight to our overnight stop at Addlington (  which is just before White Bear Marina) on the side of the park really nice overnight stop)
is a very sedate run no linear moored boats no traffic its just a beautiful run through stunning country side. If you do take this trip keep a lookout for Kingfishers there are more along that stretch than I have ever seen

Off now to Skipton through the industrial heart land of the North West which though less picturess is steeped in its industrial heritage and its worth stopping and admiring what our forefather actually DID

that's it Folks
Catch  

Fac ing the Wigan Flight

Hi everyone

Staying at Burscough was very interesting as we managed to get up to Fettlers and meet the new ow

ner that was mainly to put the Chinese rumours to rest. Why is it that when ever change is on the horizon everyone assumes the worst and as we are now getting on in years and have seen it, done it, been there, and in my case witnessed it. Together we are almost unshockable if that's a word.

and what will be will be my advice to everyone is don't worry about anything until it happens because in all probability it wont

On leaving Burscough we rounded a bend near to Dean Lock I notice a few people walking the tow path I knew I recognised one of them but you know when you know someone but they are not where they should be so you discard it  well that happened, getting closer  I realised it was one of our dearest and closest friends from Blackburn Jenifer but as usual in these situation we couldn't stop only enough time to pull in for a hug and promise to meet up as we win our last 4 attempts ere passing through Blackburn next week. see you then Jen

Time now to face the inevitable  WIGAN FLIGHT  I know its only 22 locks which is no great effort however  in our last 4 attempts that's 2 up and 2 down we have always at some stage  ran out of water. This time I was quietly confident we would make it, as the Canal was still blocked at Boothstown thereby restricting traffic going north and the same restriction impeded traffic heading south, so only traffic coming from the west or going west would be using the flight.

before starting the flight we had decided that as there were two boats and four crew we would breast the two boats together for me to take through the locks, John  would  gallop ahead and set the next lock and the two gallent ladies  left to work the lock that I was in. As it happened this was quite fortuneate as we had a 20pmh wind blowing with the lock ahead set and open I could go straight into the next open lock without having to hover two boats in the pound( open water between two locks. A system that I may add that has worked for 200 years and nothing we had invented. It worked  wonderfuly well  and for for old codgers we completed the flight in under four hours

The journey from the the top of the top of the flight to our overnight stop at Addlington (  which is just before White Bear Marina) on the side of the park a really nice overnight stop) is a very sedate run no linear moored boats no traffic its just a beautiful run through stunning country side. If you do take this trip keep a look out for Kingfishers as there are more along that stretch than I have ever seen

Off now to Skipton  not before spending two nights at Riley Green with our old mate John who owns the Marina here, always good to catch up with good friends, then Sunday crack on through the industrial heart land of the North West which though less picturesque is steeped in its industrial heritage its worth stopping and admiring what our forefather actually DID I know I am really bias about the north But in life you have to be proud of something

that's it Folks

Catch you along the cut 

Both Boats Breasted up heading for the first lock

Made it penultimate lock 

at rest at top lock

Ainscough Mill Burscough  now converted into Flats sorry apartments

Get out early miss all the traffic???????