Good morning campers 

Yesterday was quite an exciting day though it could have turned out quite differently ??

One of our friends came for a days fishing and every thing was going fine sun was a little hot but hey you cant complain can you

As the sun was so strong I thought why waste it so I disconnected the electric land line and switched on the solar panels (free electric ) everything was going well until I went down to the engine room and noticed a very strange smell now one thing you do not want on a boat or at least an engine room is a strange smell it always indicates something wrong. So I spent a good frantic 10 min tracking down this smell that was getting steadily worse. I eventually found the fault it was a battery that was over heating steam was coming out of the breather hole. Now this is serious as batteries that over heat can blow up so speed was now the imperative that battery had to be isolated and removed. Access to my engine bay is about 2ft by 4ft with a marine engine sat in the middle to get access to the batteries well I will just say its difficult especially when limbs are not as flexible as they once were. The isolation was easy enough but then it had to come out now dont go imagining that these are normal batteries like your car these are double the size and double the weight my first attempt was a failure as the handles had almost melted and just slipped off so I had to quickly make up a rope sling, this worked and I eventually extracted the now very hot heavy smoking battery all the time expecting it to explode. All this was in the space of about 45 min waking this morning I have to back into the depths of the engine room (it should be know as Engine No Room ) and rearrange the spare battery and check that everything is still working I am sure it is as there is no more smoke ? At least today's tidy up I wont be expecting anything to blow up though Noreen will still be there with her Fire extinguisher the last fire we had was again in the engine room we used two extinguishers dry foam it took tow years to get rid of the dust

If I write again tomorrow you will know all was successful though I have no doubt it will be

Just to say how exciting life afloat can be ???

God Bless Stay Safe

Buggerlugs   

 living the dream

I have to feed these every Morning just to shut the little beggars up at 06.30 you don't want that noise 

However Noreen has named them all but so far we have lost 2 thats life 

😊😊😊😊

 

Ding Dong Good Morning campers

Well it looks like Canal River Trust (they are the people who look after and maintain our waterways in England ) and what a terrible job they are making of it very poor maintenance and lack of investment in what is needed has left the North west cut off from the rest of England. Over the past few years they have spent millions on to links that is the link to get boats into the heart of Liverpool and the link to get boats across the Ribble to join the Lancaster Canal now because of their inapt management both these routes are now out of commission due to lack of water or CRTs poor management of water levels. As we all know water flows down hill now, the Leeds and Liverpool canal is the longest canal in England 127and a half miles of most is down hill so you would think that Wigan being the junction that connects the Northwest to the rest of the country would have plenty of water unfortunately due many factors that is not the case CRT have had to take obscene measures by closing the locks into and out of Wigan. Which in reality has left hundreds of boats with nowhere to go. Except for the route between Wigan and Liverpool which can be done in a matter of 4 days but that does not cover a cruising season of 6 months as normally do. However we are the lucky ones for those Boaters between the to of the Wigan flight and lets say Skipton have a even shorter range locks are closed through Blackburn Colne Burnley and Barrowford. Its very much like booking a holiday then finding out you FLIGHT HAS BEEN CANCELED 

We have our grandchildren joining us next week and we are sneaking back into Liverpool Docks its a three days sail 5 days in Liverpool and 3 days sail out. But that is all dependent on water levels which I am very concerned about as the farms around here are extracting millions of gallons of water out of the canal daily and I wonder if this extraction is sustainable ?????

So you think Boating is the idyllic life style believe me its not what you see on the TV it maybe south of Birmingham but even the waterways see a north south divide

We are taking it easy living the dream though we do get a few nightmares we still wake up in some beautiful places meet some beautiful people and enjoy what we have

God bless and thank you for listening to my rant

I will take some pics today of our location Scarisbrick west Lancs

Buggerlugs

Buggerlugs at rest 

 Hi

Very strange weather today 

It has left us with a rather strange sunset  22.15 

 

The leaving of Li

verpool

Tomorrow we leave Liverpool, we have a 08.00 start actually it a 07,45 start as we have to be at Mann island lock be 08.00. With much disruption along the system with with canal closures and lock closures I am facing the the trip with a little pessimism But as I keep telling people “thats Boating”

Last night we went to mass at the Blessed Sacrament Shrine strange church the facade looks like a government building DRAB no features no inclination of it being a place of worship. I have no idea where the congregation come from as the church is in the centre of town in St Johns and there is no social housing as I have found for Miles. I would say a 1/3 of the congregation at the Saturday vigil mass have shopping trolleys may be as Aldi is just around the corner its a place to pop in after completing your shopping whatever it is packed though the body of the church is very small it has a very friendly atmosphere.

Walking up there at 17.30 you have the day trippers heading off home and the night revellers just arriving the first road crossing is just outside the the dock and standing there with another 100 souls waiting for the little green man it was like standing with the seven seven tribes of Israel, you get the feeling of togetherness obviously you get the local idiot here they do not ride chariots they mow people down with motorised scooters but there again you get the swearing and gesturing in a dozen Languages all meaning the same and even that gives a sense of togetherness, Around 19.00 the city and the waterfront take on a new atmosphere changing from a city of museums, historic building, and culture to a city of Stag parties, drunken revelry, and just everyone standing having a good time as Buggerlugs is moored 15 yards from Albert dock main gates (though 12 ft below on the water ) we escape most of the screaming, shouting and attempted singing. And by 23.00 everyone is tucked up in bad but not always their own if the crowds in the day time are like the seven tribes of Israel the the night time must be Sodom and Gomorrah'

Today we have the Grandchildren arriving today its now 06.45 and I am just about ready to start prepaing for the onslaught apparently Pippa wants to go go for a girly shopping trip with Noreen so I will take Zac on a boys trip on the ferry across the water to see the submarine. Maybe Maryanne can get her head down whilst Evie has her nap, well thats the plan but as we know children are never predictable and we have to stay flexible.

By time our guests depart it will be time to prepare Buggerlugs for an early start. I am working on two days to get to Scarisbrick Marina which is our next port of call the water levels look ok so it should be an uneventful but maybe this time when negotiating the swing bridges through Magul we can get through with taking and cars for a ride

God Bless 

Stay Safe 

From the pen of Buggerlugs

22.00 from Buggerlugs Mooring

 

Hi

After a night of ups and downs the wind became quite blustery around 2.30 am we are moored on floating pontoons they rise and fall on stanchions with the tide the one nearest our boat was squeeking like a gang of Banshees so I had to rise from my slumber get a tin of grease a long stick and grease the stanchion, the water in the dock is a lot deeper than the canal so the flat bottom Narrow boat tends to roll more even though it was now quiet it was still rough

Liverpool is one of the most vibrant interesting cities in the North. That may sound strange coming from a true Mancunian however I tell things as they are when Noreen and I stay in a City, Town, village we normally walk everywhere read all the cenotaphs as you get a lot of information from them. BUT today we took to the bus (we have oap passes ) as we were crossing the water to New Brighton which is a Historically fascinating place, especially areas like magazine place and Magazine Road I could write a journal on riding Ariva buses.

Though today's we had a nice safe ride. I remember in the late 50s my dad taking me on the ferry to New Brighton to go sea fishing we were on holiday in Talacre North Wales so we must have come by train in them days that must have been a big day out

Now New Brighton is a little run down but it still retains is sea side outlook luckily the tide was out and the beaches looked pristine with not a sole in sight absolutely beautiful The 2mile walk along the promenade from New Brighton to Seacombe (where we were to get a bus back to Liverpool) is a stress emptying walk as I said pristine beaches and wonderful interesting buildings all with a great history. On reaching Seacombe we discover that there is no bus to Liverpool only to Birkenhead

where we can get a bust to Liverpool unfortunately this bus was Ariva I think all Ariva drivers are trained on a race track and have lead in their boots especially the breaking foot we sat at the back and 20 mins of hard driving makes me quite aggressive Noreen had to remind of the penalty for GBH so I walk off the bus quietly. The bus ride back to Liverpool was quiet but just as fast we sat at the front on the top which I found accentuates speed you would not believe I use to race motor bikes. However other than crazy, blind, lead footed bus drivers we had another interesting day out

Tomorrow who knows Stay Safe

God Bless

Beautiful clean beaches 

Encountering the tunnel top of the bus 

 Hi Everyone 

     Well we made it into Liverpool. The last leg from Litherland is now part of our tradition its a no rush day so we start with a full English in Tesco move out about ten then its a cautious cruise through Bootle though these days the kids are board with throwing stones at passing boats   The last leg is normally the easiest unless you have hail and a 25mph Blowing and swirling wind then it becomes "uncomfortable BUT thats  boating and we were along for the ride. its only a 2 hour sail from Litherland to Stanley lock This lock connects the canal to Liverpool docks system. Here you meet the volunteers who take you down the first flight and then on you are on your own to Salthouse Dock. As we have done this trip a few times before and know most of the work force and volunteers its like a little reunion. They all warned us of the problems with the wind and the fact that they almost lost a wide beam coming out this morning so I had be extremely careful. another boat was  going down with us called Leo a 54ft Narrow, as they had never done the run before so it suggested that I lead ( not my suggestion ) everything was going well through the first stage though by the time we hit Princess Dock the wind had really kicked up. the big problem is when you cross the open water through Albert Dock and the Salthouse this is only awkward because you have couple of hundred people watching your every move However we gave the Gongoozlers (look that word up)  something to remember as we crabbed our boats across two locks and one bridge GREAT FUN and people ask why do I go boating its boring ? anyway we are here now moored up 5 mins from Liverpool One and settled in for the week

They dont show you days like today  on the TV canal Programmes 

God Bless 

Safely moored in Salthouse Dock

Top Stanley  lock looking towards The Tobaco Warehouse 

Biggest brick build building in the world 

Litherland mooring  

No matter how humble its still home 

 Hi

Very quiet day today, as  It rained very heavy all night so as you can imagine the state of the tow path this morning is very damp  still we were sailing not walking to our next location whitch was Tesco in Litherland its only about 2 and a half hours away however these mooring at Tescos are the last safe moorings before you get into the so from here there is no stopping before you reach Stanley top lock thats takes you onto the Liverpool link through t bandit country of Bootle, These moorings are gated and you are on the opposite bank to the tow path the only problem I could see was the amount of boats you can squeeze in which on average is 7 and you have to get there early as all the boats going into Liverpool and all those coming out use it as a safe mooring We were lucky and got the last proper mooring now we have boats buttied up (along side Each other0 But it makes for a cosy evening. From Aintree to Litherland you would be amazed just how much green space there is Liverpool / Sefton council have done a good job of retaining and keeping clean green  spaces .

So we are booked in to go down into Liverpool on Monday Tomorrow we will fill Buggerlugs with another weeks rations and gin. Priorities you must get your Priorities right 

Caught this Heron having a little sleep 

One of Noreens swing Bridges its only a small one 

she likes the little ones they dont have crazy drivers  

 Good Afternoon 

Strange day today and one of the hardest as we had to go through Magul which entails 8 swing bridges Now Noreen refuses to take the boat through a swing bridge or into a lock everything else she can and will do very well, So this means Noreen opens the swing bridges and locks I must state here so all the feminists don't come hunting for blood.  it is Noreens choice..The day  started well with a late start 08.55 a very leisurely  cruise ahead clear blue sky and a light breeze. The first lock was over and done with in less that 6 min second swing bridge in sight Noreen had started the bridge operation I saw two cars jump the flashing lights and the siren but the third didn't make as the barriers came down in front  and behind Now here comes the dilemma are you a Noreen type Christian or a Alan type who believes the for every action there is a reaction , luckily for this driver she got the Noreen type who stopped the operation reversed it and re-opened the bridge  and let her and her off and not a thankyou to be seen. Now the Alan type would have carried on with the operation and had the car hanging over the water whilst I took the Buggerlugs through only inches from the car Bonnet. that driver will NOW go away knowing that she can try that again The Alan way would have her drive miles to avoid canal swing bridges "For every action there is a reaction "   But the amazing thing is when Noreen re-opened the bridge two other cars did the same by jumping the lights. all I can say is Magul is a satellite of Liverpool  and maybe I'm a not a good Christian ?? just a practical one 

The rest of the journey was quite uneventful I found a old friend from years ago we were sailing in opposite directions so only really had time to swap emails and promise to contact. 

We were moored up by 12.15 after doing the usual checks around the boat I thought I could smell diesel,  After searching I eventually found a possible leak ob the filter anyway I think I have stopped it we will know tomorrow when we stop again 

We are now moored in a nice little spot very quiet we have tv and  internet  I say that because we do not always get both. We are opposite a stud as we are only a couple of miles away from Aintree there are some beautiful horses in the paddocks with a wonderful aroma it is what I describe as a powerful country fragrance thankfully its quite breezy and the aroma is only spasmodic and not offensive I wonder is Posh horse S--- is different to Poor horse sh--  

God Bless 

Stay Safe 

Sorry no pics today I am angry with myself not to get one of the stranded car 

BUGGERLUGS