Leaky locks and Old folk

Tuesday morning arrived, blown in with the wind. Oh Joy! I just love going between locks with gusty wind!
I was supposed to meet the volunteers to help me down the locks at 8:30.  It was 8:10 now so I thought I would move closer to the top lock.  Unfortunately the wind caught me, nearly knocked me sideways across the canal, and lined me up for the top lock perfectly.  Luckily another boater could see my boating prowess, and opened one of the gates for me!
The volunteers turned up and  did a great job sorting the locks out so all I had to do was sail from lock to lock.

Some of the locks were leaking quite badly.






and some of the lock gates were not sealing as well as they should.

In lock 73 the engine stalled when the prop picked up a rubber fender, but other than that evrything went smoothly and soon we were at Wigan junction.  The Leigh branch was closed for lock gate repairs, so I passed through Henhurst lock  to moor up.

The canal is 59 feet wide here.  I know this because when I tried to turn around at the dry dock, the wind caught me and blew sideways down the canal!

A bit of shoving and swearing, and I managed a much more graceful turn on the second attempt!
Moored up in Wigan, but waiting for the Leigh branch to re-open on Saturday.

Wednesday morning, and I went for a wander around Wigan.  There are so many huge industrial buildings that must have been a great sight when they were manufacturing - now sadly derelict.


Soon I was back at Wigan Pier, also closed.

There was only so much of Wigan, so I decided to head off up to the Old for a day or so.

I thought i saw a fire om the way past Staveley, but it was just a dustbowl kicked up by the traffic going through recently repaired roads.

It was still daylight when I arrived, so I had a bit of a walk up the valley to Chapel Stile

Just enough to build up an appetitie for Game Casserole!

And then it was folk night

..and before I knew it it the day was over.

The following morning I had a walk up Mill Ghyll, then over towards Grasmere,  and down Red Bank to Ambleside

       

A mission for clean diesel

So, my first trek out on DnD has been quite eventful. I have put down the "Water in diesel" incident to the fact that the shell as been in the boatyard unfinished for a few years, so there could be anything in the diesel.  A quick google, and Stretford Marina do fuel polishing.  So off to Stretford we go.
A vital bit of info from Yorks Rob is that you can get assisted passage down the Wigan flight on a Tuesday if you are single handed. Excellent.
A quick phone call to CRT and I was booked in for Tuesday first thing.
Sunday evening, I set off for Wigan, but got stuck behind the party boat after half a mile. 1/2 a mile an hour all the way to Cowling, where it turned around to return.
I got as far as Adlington, and decided that Sunday evening in the Bridge Inn would be a good plan. Good pub.


Monday morning was a straightforward cruise to Spring Bridge at Wigan. I couldn't moor near the top lock, as I kept running aground, but Springs Bridge is only 1/4 mile from the top.  I got on the main road where, thanks to guidance from Google Maps, I found a bus into Wigan centre, then to Chorley to pick up the car so I could abandon/park it in Wigan centre.

The down side of this plan was the walk up the Wigan flight to the boat, which is definitely further uphill than it was downhill.  When I returned to the boat, my neighbor was another nbBlueMoon, again from Yorkshire. There must be a lot of mooning going on in Yorkshire!

Cratches, Kennet and the Langdale Ring

I left the Caribbean on the Friday evening and headed out to Rishton.

Having moored up I had a walk down to the Butcher for a quick pint, where I met Chippy Paul.

A couple of pints later we were back at the boat where Paul fit the cratch that he was so proud of.

 

 Then it was about turn and back to the Calypso for the Blackburn canal festival.

 Quite a good festival, despite the weather, and a merry evening had by all drinking Costa Del Salford and Marshmallow Unicorn

The star of the festival was Kennet, which is a great boat to wander around.  It is great to see the cabin at the front where the crew used to live.  Amazing how you fit so much in such a small space.



Kennet departed on the Sunday and I decided to move on as well, though in the opposite direction. Chris Bruce said that if I could get the boat to him, then he would do the sign writing.

I left and went down the Blackburn locks with Lottie Jane

I decided not to stop at Riley green and continue all the way to Botany Bay.  I had great help down Johnson flight with CRT volunteers and arrived at Botany bay at dusk. I then decided to bugger off up the lakes

A great Lamb Shoulder and chips set me up for a great days walking the following morning.


A quick wander up Mill Ghyll and the wonderful hydro plant that NT has wasted so much money on - still not working.




From there it was the usual great scramble up Jakes Rake to the top  of Pavey Ark, then across to Harrisson.
  







Along the ridge over Pike O Stickle, then over Rosset.

When I was on my way up Bowfell Buttress, the Weather started getting a bit dull, so I crossed the screes back to the path down Mickleden, and cut the Langdale ring short.
 
Back to the Old, and a nice bowl of Tomato Soup and a pint of Yates to finish off the walk!

Water & the Caribbean

I went down to Tonbridge to judge beer at the Juddians Rugby club.

 This was Charlies last competition before she goes to work for Farams.

Guy is excited when he finds the Tonbridge model railway club






Back from Tonbridge it was time for me to take the boat up its first locks.  Rob from nbBlueMoon said he would help me up the locks, then when I reached the top, we could walk back down and I would then help him up them.

We got up the locks without incident, so all I had to do was find somewhere to moor up.


 Just past the Wheelton boat club and "chug, chug, phut" the engine stopped, and wouldn't restart.

  I phoned Kier, and he said if I got down to Botany bay he would come and take a look, so we walked down the locks and I left Rob to go up the locks by himself, while I carried on to Botany.

Kier drove to the boat, which happened to be abandoned on his mooring, and quickly diagnosed water in the diesel.

He cleared the water and showed me how to bleed the system, then produced a couple of beers.  That is service!

We then sat in his tranquil mooring drinking beer until Rob turned up.

We then continued to Riley Green for overnight mooring with terrible beer at the Boathouse.

The following day we had an uneventful trip up the Blackburn flight to arrive at Eanam Wharf for Blackburn Canal Festival.

Had a great Caribbean curry in the Calypso, while being watched by Daves cat.