It was one of those days!

Saturday 2nd June

And the day started so well! Got going after 9am, bit drizzly first thing and the wind picked up quite a lot later on. We got to Chorley and stopped by bridge 75a to do a Morrison shop. A good 3/4 mile walk but supplies were needed. Before setting off again we had lunch so it wasn't until 1.30pm that we arrived at Johnson's Hill locks. The lock was being emptied but no sign of anyone with windless. Then passing a boat moored in the opposite direction, he hailed us and said he had emptied the lock for themselves and was about to wind. Okay sharing a broad lock usually makes life a lot easier. Not this time though!! As he drew level and brought the boat to a stop, he handed over the helm to his mate and said "He's a bit new to this but he did do all the Wigan flight with another boat so should be okay. Let him go first into every lock". Now normally I would have been overjoyed. I am the worlds worse rope thrower and trying to get a rope up to Ian to keep me in the side whilst the second boat comes alongside is always a challenge. This time though I do wish I had gone first. He tried his best at every lock but wind and lack of experience took it's toll. I often had to stop FS rather rapidly as he drifted across. He also was not happy to leave the safety of one lock before the next was ready with both gates open. All helped to add lots of time to our ascent. Then at lock 60, a long wait ensued. John (Ian found out his name) had gone ahead to set lock 61 but nothing seemed to be happening. We waited, and waited.  After a while Ian walked up to see what was happening. And still we waited. Out come the binoculars and I see Ian standing by the side holding onto something. Turns out a boat was in the lock trying to go up. An elderly couple, both almost incapable of handling the boat as he had fractured his ribs and she was having to use an inhaler to help with breathing while awaiting a heart/lung transplant, had forgotten to close the bottom gate paddles and was baffled as to why nothing was happening. Ian stepped in closing bottom paddles and making sure she was okay as he found her in some distress sitting on the ground. After 30 minutes waiting we were very relieved when it was our turn to ascend the next lock.  But our troubles didn't end there. Because the elderly couple had left the paddles up, the next pound had dropped about 2ft, so much so that the the inevitable happened and I got stuck!!! Luckily John returned having seen the couple through the last lock and seeing our plight, ran water down, enough to refloat FS anyway as the other boat had a shallower draft. Eventually we got ourselves sorted and into the last lock.  2 hours it took us to do those 7 locks and to think we did 21 of the Wigan flight in 4 hours. Then to add insult to injury all the 48hour moorings were full and we had to go off and find somewhere else. Very thankful to eventually stop near bridge 84 and get inside for a warming drink..

Bottom lock Johnson's Hill Lock

And brakes on.

low pound

In a spot of bother.

And seen on route

Probably stolen and dumped.

Rivington Pike Tower in the distance.

Is this why boaters think they can speed by moored boats? 2MPH more like!

And last night during yet another spell of rain.

And today's wildlife

Forget leaves on the line...what about the bunnies.

I like this mooring, I like it a lot. Opposite the golf course, with the occasional sound of a club hitting a golf ball, it's sooo quiet with hardly any cyclists and only the odd dog walker. Also the walks round here are fabulous, especially round Haigh Hall which is only about half a mile away and very dog friendly according to the notice in the cafe. 'Dogs very welcome. Children allowed but only on a lead!

Haigh Hall. Note the Rolls Royce in the drive!

Woodland walks.

To think we were locking up by the DW stadium only yesterday.

Why????

And again why????

 So on the walk both cameras were taken and used often. Ian found he needed the patience of a saint as I kept stopping and I think he got a bit fed up. On the way back I suggested he went back to FS by himself and left me playing. Only to eager to oblige he didn't need telling twice.

Miniature railway only runs on a weekend or school holidays. Good job too for these rabbits.

Ducklings playing in the pond

We're having another day of rain...well the afternoon anyway and luckily we arrived back at FS before it really got going. I also managed to plant up those Begonias bought the other day but am now left with a half bag of compost. Think a small bag would have done except the nursery only had the large bags on sale. Never mind, will do for next year. Just need to find somewhere to keep it!

Rain rain glorious rain.

And the Haigh Hall wildlife.

Broad Bodied Chaser

Roach (L) and Perch.

Damselflies

Playing again

Could the day get any worse!

Thursday 30th

Another early start and another day when we could have stayed in bed for an extra hour.

Leaving Crooke

 All our good intentions went straight out the window when having left Crooke at 6.30am to try and complete the Wigan flight before lunch, Ian found the first lock (Ell Meadow) padlocked! It was fortuitous then, that the C&RT person who snapped the padlock shut forgot to push the anti vandal lock pin back into it's housing. So we came up on one paddle, bit slow but at least we were now back on track. How very wrong we were because arriving at the second lock (Pagefield) outside the DW stadium, found that too had padlocks on the the locks. Time was now 7.15am and we assumed, quite rightly, that one of C&RT bods would turn up around 8am. And turn up he did to a barrage of questions from us. "Why no notices posted on the locks and why wasn't it on the stoppage list?" He answered, "The two locks have to be locked from 8am to 8pm every night to conserve water and has been for the last two years." "It's on our website, you know". Ahh... but what of those that have no computers (and there are still quite a few of the older generation) they would have no idea that these gates are locked between those times. And if one doesn't make a special effort to check on C&RT Leeds & Liverpool site (not stoppages) one would also never know.  Notices need to be put up on the gates and also on notice boards by the facilities. One chap was stuck above the lock having arrived by 8.30pm last night. His destination today, the Marina on the Rufford Branch to be there by 3pm. He doesn't now think he will make it in time. He was fuming and said a letter of complaint would be sent to head office. In a way I felt sorry for the C&RT guy. He was only doing his job after all although he did agree that some sort of notice should have been in place.

The boat moored above the lock arrived too late.

Thinking our travels would now go according to plan we did the first of the Wigan flight locks. Then above the second, Henhurst lock, a C&RT work boat adrift across the canal. Ian left me in the lock to go and retrieve it only to discover the stern rope was nowhere to be seen. So how to secure??? First he had to try and bring it back to the side. Easier said then done. The pole was needed to push it round and then somehow it needed securing. The rope was wound round the bow cleat, wrapped round a bollard and then the end tied to the steps inside the boat. Not ideal but would have to do. So another long delay ensued and it wasn't until 9.45am that we reached the third lock on the flight.

Third lock in the Wigan flight and Nb Aslan moored waiting for a boat.

Then our luck changed. The boat seen in the above photo (Aslan) joined us to tackle the flight. Only 45ft to our 57ft we didn't think we could tie together. After having done the first lock singly and discovering that Kathy had never done broad locks before and was genuinely unhappy at the thought, I improvised by attaching our centre rope to their hand rail and securing our stern rope to their stern dolly. This worked a treat, helped immensely by having most of the locks with us. Although some low pounds made part of the going slow, we eventually arrived at the top at 1.40pm. In all, the flight took us over 5 1/4 hours although only 4 hours from where we were joined by Kathy and John.

John and Ian struggling with the bottom gate on lock 75

Free from each other Aslan heads for the facilities.

 Not wanting to go much further stopping we stopped by the golf course, and after a quick explore of the surroundings the rain set in again. Looks like we are in for another wet and damp night.

 And the wildlife seen today, (also a bit of a fly theme on my wildlife blog)

Caught this morning on it's web between our Buckby cans. Good meal for this spider.

On the Golf course