Wednesday, 2 November 2016

Cold and frosty morning

November’s certainly here with vengeance, the temperature halved last night and our first frost this morning. Yesterday afternoon I was sitting out beside the boat knitting. We had lots of coal delivered to Heather & Jason’s garage today, then we can have a bit at a time as we don’t have a coal boat like we had last winter on the Macclesfield & Peak Forest Canals.



We are moored in Tarleton just by Heather & Jason’s for this week as it’s half term. Heather’s had the chance to do some overtime the last few weeks so as we’re here we are looking after the kids.



Last Sunday we helped at the 5th ‘Burscough Fibre Festival’ organised by Carole and Colin of ‘The Wool Boat’. We’ve been to the first three in the car. It’s a tiny event compared to any of the other ones we’ve been to. We were looking after the entries in the Halloween competition, which gave us the opportunity to chat to lots of people. I spun on a drop spindle & John had lots of interest in his knitting loom/block. One of the stall holders was a boater who sells hand spun yarn, dyed yarns and fibre & felting.



We decorated the boat for Halloween with some bright orange bunting, gel window stickers and the ghost & pumpkin light’s Edmund brought us. Plus we had two small pumkins carved on the bow. We got some sweets in as we had the Overells booked in and Nikita had her friend with her. There is a new housing estate right by the mooring, there were people commenting on the boat’s decoration but none knocked.






We’re planning to go to the firework display on Saturday at Southport as we can all squeeze into the car.

Sunday we’re planning a trip with the Overells back down to the main line of the canal.


















We have seen the end of the season long celebrations of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal’s bicentenary. We caught the train from Burscough to Wigan on Friday 21st October to see the flotilla headed by ‘Kennet’ the Liverpool short boat that’s been renovated and converted into a floating museum, it was doing a week long trip along the whole canal. ‘Kennet’ had a huge band of volunteers that were assisting it’s passage down the Wigan flight of 21 locks. The second boat in the procession was our friend ‘Ribble’ the other short boat that we’d helped when it got stuck under a bridge. ‘Ribble’ was looking much higher in the water as it had unloaded it’s 30 tons of sand. We’d taken our windlasses & anti vandal keys with us, so we helped ‘Ribble’ with it’s crew of just 2 down quite a few locks. Then on the Saturday the flotilla came past where we were moored in Burscough. We put up our bunting, pompoms and fairy lights. I made the grandchildern some wavers out of some old material and we blew bubbles and honked the horn as all the boats went by.




 




 Then on the Saturday the flotilla came past where we were moored in Burscough. We put up our bunting, pompoms and fairy lights. I made the grandchildern some wavers out of some old material and we blew bubbles and honked the horn as all the boats went by.



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