Walking in the rain

It was SO good to have Ada & Dale to stay last week. We stayed at Adlington for six nights. It was the Adlington Carnival weekend and the field where all the activities were going on was on the other side of the canal from us.

The rain luckily stopped for an hour or two while the carnival parade took place. It was a large parade for the size of the village, with more than 50 entrants. However, it was SO not like the Luton Carnival that we took part in for so many years with Madhatters Stilt Walking Troupe when the kids were members there. We were looking forward to having a look around all the stalls on the sports field, attend the music in the evening and visit the beer tent, but, it cost £4 each to get in (so we spent our £8 at the pub). From chatting to people on the tow path, they were able to purchase the programme in advance for £3.50 that would cover both of the days activities. We heard the evening 1970/80's tribute band very well from the comfort and dryness of our boat and on Sunday we could see the llama racing over the hedge!!! We stood and watched the fair and marquees being driven away and the field was like a quagmire.

Monday we decided to go for a 'summer stroll' up to the water fall, reservoirs and moor we could see on the map. It was a good job we had a map and a good sense of imagination as our whole walk was in the very thick wet clouds and we could hardly see our hand in front of our face. At one point, I thought there was something wrong with my eyes as everything looked blurred – it was the thick misty clouds blowing by!!! There are 4 reservoirs which appeared to all link to each other. They were all very full and Yarrow Reservoir had a very impressive waterfall down into the Anglezarke Reservoir, several cars stopped to take a look while the dripping wet mad walkers were gazing over the bridge. Before we got totally soaked on the moor we had stumbled across the Rivington Bowls Club tea room/bar = beer and a cake for lunch then. The actual waterfall we'd gone to see was down from a disused lead mine at a place called 'The Meeting of the Waters'. I think a similar 9.5 mile walk in the winter would have left us with hypothermia.

Yesterday we moored on the outskirts of Chorley and walked up into the town, well low and behold the moor (where we walked the day before) looked beautiful and the view over to Chorley must be impressive. So we may need to retrace our steps on a clear day. 

 The tow path here's very wide and grassy so I actually managed to use my rotary washing line for the first time yesterday as it was warm and sunny.

Last evening we had our own personal show from the bats display team. They were swooping almost into our faces, amazing.

We've booked to attend and help at Blackburn Canal Festival the weekend after next. So we hope the weather perks up a bit.