St Mary's Marina, Rufford to B35 Leeds Liverpool Canal
4 miles, 7 locks, 3 swing bridges
All jobs were done (fill with water, empty yellow water, dispose of rubbish and walk the dog) and we were good to go. Monty and walked across the road bridge to the canal and who did we find to the left of the bridge - non other than Silver Fox from Foxes Afloat.
Our timing was slightly out as just before we left a broadbeam just beat us to it! There was a single hander in front of them and then another boat behind us, so a busy day. The sun was shining and all was well with the world. It was great to be out and on the move again. Since we joined the Lancaster Canal on the 18th May we had only worked 16 locks for ourselves, so having 7 big ones with all sorts of different paddle gear was a bit of a challenge.
All around us farmers were busy making the most of the sunny day
There was a lot of winding including these odd paddles with a horizontal wind
and some heaving on the cloughs that you lift vertically
The broad beam ahead of us is owned by a couple from Sweden and it is named after their mothers. They spend the summer in the UK on the boat for the sun (they hope!) and the winter in the north of Sweden for the snow.
The boat is only a year old and looks fabulous. They were very efficient and interesting to chat to.
We were back where we belong - on the cut and sharing locks
Monty took the high bridges in his stride
Well he was until he made his way down the last steps when he missed his footing. He ended up sitting down holding his left front paw in the air and looking very unhappy. I went and looked carefully, but could see no damage and he then walked off without any trouble, so I think he just shook himself up a bit and he wanted a bit of sympathy!
The path to the penultimate lock is somewhat tortuous and made even harder with fishermen taking up most of the available space!
We made it through the last two locks with the help of two voluntary lock keepers who also worked the swing bridge for us. Monty by this time was lying down on the job!
Round the corner and one more swing bridge to negotiate
and we arrived at the moorings at a pub called The Ring O'Bells (shut and looking very derelict I am sorry to say). There was just room for two boats. We tied up to rings and mooring stakes, deployed fenders stern and bow, engine was turned off and I went inside to prepare our sandwiches so we could collapse for a rather late lunch at 14:20. I, however, beat a hasty retreat with instructions that we would HAVE to move - the saloon was awash with small wasps. We were moored opposite a nest. So off we went and moved on to the next bridge. Not the easiest of moorings as the ground was very hard to get the pins into, but there are no wasps! Lunch was eaten at 15:00!
The side hatch view is not stunning, but a lot better than the side of another boat!
We had made it in warm sunny weather - light rain came and went over the rest of the afternoon and evening. All is well with our world.
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