Hi 

it was hard work but we all arrived in Liverpool safe and sound is not a little hot and bothered we could complain about the heat but then I think when  boating rain Monday, Rain Tuesday, Windy Wednesday, Rain Thursday and Friday  Rain with Gale force wind. Sat Sun  cloudy and Cold So now I just accept what God sends us. 

We arrived in Salthouse Dock Liverpool thats the one opposite the Police station at Liverpool 1 and in front of Albert Dock. Nice pontoon with free  electric although today we have a black out as all the electric went out at 09.30 morning and has only just come back on 14.57 But thats OK Mat Lorraine and Thomas turned up and taken them all off to West Kirby by train, They have Gone Crabbing and we(thats Noreen and I have the whole afternoon to clean up, tidy up, Stow everything away in its rightful place as a boat that is untidy is a dangerous boat. 

When we arrived we were just in time to get to the evening session at the indoor Fair Ground Its really good ,not cheep but good value once in every ride was free for as many goes as you want and it wasn't packed out we didn't queue for any rides we started at 18.00 and ended at 21.00 the kids were knackered and went to bed quietly? Yesterday it was New Brighton the beach was packed I have never seen so many people on New Brighton beach so so hot but what a great time the kids had and today as I said Mat has taken them all to West Kirby so we have the afternoon off I think tonight is all you can eat Chinese Banquette se haw that goes down with a 7,,5,, 3,,year old I think the mop and Buckets  will be Out  But who cares its soon cleaned up. Talking of that I had a pump out booked this morning for 09.15 they arrived at 11.15 the excuse was a man fell in the Marina and was retrieved Dead so everything was shut down for the police to carry out their work. So I let them off for their tardiness 

No Idea about Tomorrow and Sunday though we will go to Mass  but early I think I will be told whats happening after that 

Life in the fast lane 

What a wonderful back drop from New Brighton

                                         She only ran him over twice I told him not to stand there 

First time on a proper train not too bothered 

 Hi 

Most of the Locks in the north west are still closed well closed as fat as we are concerned they open 2 days a week from 10am to 4 pm Now the majority of boats waiting in the queue are from the south and  trying to return home so we have left them to it CRT could not run a raffle I would not let them look after my garden pond. Yesterday I was contacted by the BBC asking if I would like to join a debate on radio 4 about the lack of water in the canal the other guest would be Richard Parry head of CRT now you may not know but since my head injury when I get nervous I stutter I did as a young lad but the bump I had has started it off again so I declined instead they got a hire boat /marina owner from Skipton and he said all the things I wanted to say. That being CRT are useless at looking after waterways. I now regret saying no I should have just gone for it.

Noreen and I have just had a nice weeks R&R as we are still moored in Scarisbrick Marina I have had a good weeks fishing and Noreen has read about 4 books. However tomorrow the grand Children arrive and we embark on another trip into Liverpool (thats the only route open to us ) and that is only a three day cruise. We arrive in Liverpool on Weds and it will be full on from day one But we are so excited about having them on board it should be a load of fun the most demanding aspect is H&S its in the front of your mind 24 /7 However to have them here is well worth the stress 

Today the Marina is very busy with this morning a cycle ride formed up and then a model boat club arrived (Boys with there Toys ) some very nice looking model boats there not just a model boat with and engine these are works of art I have a 3ft Narrow Boat hanging in my shed just needs the interior finishing off  I just don't seem to get the time I will try again in the winter .

We are looking at getting back to our home mooring the weekend of the 20/21 Aug 

Keep smiling Stay Safe 

God Bless 

 

Boys and their Toys

 IT IS EASY TO REPLY ONLY TAKES 30 SECONDS. I KNOW ITS NOT GROUND BREAKING NEWS  BUT IT DOES HAVE PICTURES ?????????????????????????????

Catch up

 Hi Everyone 

Sorry I have been off the air for a week but in my defence its been a busy one,and really Im only doing it now because its to hot to do anything else even the fishing has had to take a back seat.

Last week we all went to Blackpool that is three grandchildren Maryanne Noreen and me I only did Monday and  Wednesday we had Matthew Lorraine and grandson Thomas a real good family DO I only did Mon Tue as I had to get back to the boat there was a few repairs to do the solenoid was sticking and she wasn't starting to good the grand children are coming again at the weekend for a historical (hysterical) cruise into Liverpool with and extra 4 on board  the accommodation had to be sorted and it was a good excuse to escape for a few days. they will arrive on Sunday lets hope the weather stays dry.

the two days in Blackpool were really good those days when bed time couldn't come quick enough But as a wise man once said " Grandchildren are Gods compensation for getting Old"

We are still moored in Scarisbrick because the canal is still blocked to go North and East so we are virtually maroon here in west Lancashire but I can think of worse places to be maroon, our permanent mooring Fettlers Wharf is only a days sail away BUT it entails 7 of the worst locks in the country  and then we would have to do that twice by keeping in easy and staying here our trip into  Liverpool will be much shorter. As I Celebrated  my 75th last week I have been told I should start taking it easy I say Sod Off Im quite happy as I am age is just a number we all know it means nothing as long as you wake up in the morning and can not feel any wood around you get up and enjoy another day God has given you for free.

However when I returned here last Tue another boat was moored along side us I realised it was a friend of mine Ronnie I did some painting for him last year. As I didnt see any one aboard I ask the marina staff was Ronnie ok. the look was enough " sorry Alan  he died last week. he came home one night made a brew it was still in the cup went to be but never got up" he was a chauffeur for Liverpool council they tried to contact him couldn't so  rang his daughter she came over and found him. RIP Ronnie.

Im just glad he paid me for all the work I had done for him some of my clients still owe me from 2020 thas not being disrespectful Ronnie would laugh or kick himself for paying to soon.

Thanks for Listening it means a lot 

God Bless Stay Safe 

Alan

Sun down eight bells and all is quiet

As the England ladies did so well in fact Brilliantly this is Pippa who has been selected to play next season for Howarden Rangers (would you take her on ???) 7 and  ready to take on the world (whens the world cup for Ladies ? 

Evie Southport Beach it took half a mile walk to find the sea but she insisted 

Sports Day in Blackpool with Shaun the sheep

THE THREE MUSCATIERS 

  

 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