Locked in

 We are locked in along the Leeds & Liverpool Canal from Appley Bridge on the outskirts of Wigan to Maghull a Liverpool suburb, a nice long lock free section. We chose this stretch to be ‘locked in’, while Canal & River Trust do their planned maintenance on the locks. Along this stretch there’s easy access to shops and more importantly 3 regular craft groups.

I had a super birthday, way back at the end of October. We had planned a trip to Blackpool to see the lights (my sister calls it the ‘hallucinations’). I thought Edmund was at work, but he’d arranged with Heather to surprise me and meet us in the pub for lunch.

I opened my presents on the train once we’d met up with the Chorley lot.

Edmund stayed for the weekend.

Halsall cutting where they commence digging the canal more than 200 years ago was lovely with the autumn colours.

At one point we had a towpath canal beside us!!

I am taking part in a spinning advent fibre swap, 10g/day through December and a special fibre blend, such fun.

We were in Liverpool last week, so I could give blood. Although it was a Monday, it was very busy. The street decorations were lovely.

Last week, we actually saw an old lock gate being taken off on the Rufford Branch while we were at the nearby water tap.

We’ve had some amazing sunrises and a couple of mornings the canal was frozen.

 

We had a fuel delivery from 'Ambush', which made us feel quite tiny!!!!

 

 

Autumn time

 It’s been ages since I last blogged, and we’ve gone from super summer to autumn. We are doing our utmost not to moor under trees, but with breezy weather those leaves do blow!

Nikita came to stay for a week and her friend came for a few days too. We were moored just below a pick your own pumpkin farm, so it’d be rude not to.

We have seen this wild bee colony in a dead tree on the off side of the canal several times. We took the opportunity to cruise up to it and hover just beside it, so Nikita could take some photos.

While we cruised to see the bees, Heather, Magnus and Hunson strolled beside us.

This young cormorant was making sure the ducks abided by the rules!!!

I had some friends come to join me for Worldwide Spin in public day.

We had a mini wool festival weekend with our friends Carole & Colin from The Wool Boat. It was an alternative to the big Yorkshire wool event in Skipton the same weekend. Luckily there was room for us both to moor outside The Farmers Arms.

It was a great weekend, except on the Sunday afternoon the lane was closed as there was a fatal incident on the near by railway line. I was prepared to wrestle with any boats that came along wanting to open the swing bridge, as all the emergency services were using it.

We had considered taking the boat over to Skipton for the wool weekend. We are very relieved we didn't as there was a huge breach in the canal between Blackburn & Burnley. It’s very likely we’d have got stranded along the 20-mile section that lost all its water. Things are improving now though, and CRT have dammed either side of the hole and have lots of pumps and pipes in place, to by-pass the problem. We are grateful to Colin for letting us use his photos of the breach and fibre festival.

Hadrian’s Wall

We’ve spent a week at a cottage on Kellah Farm, Haltwhistle, a few miles from Hadrian’s Wall. My sister Samantha, hubby Paul & Blue the boxer asked us to join them. We’ve never visited the North Pennines and looking at the Ordnance Survey map there was ‘a lot of nothing’ on the page!!!

Haltwhistle has a lovely station. Sadly, the lovely old signal box has been made redundant and the new box is a Portakabin

The bridge and the old water tower were so great to see.

 

While we waited for our lift to the cottage we had a couple of pints in The Black Bull, a tucked away in a corner, gorgeous pub,

Samantha had arranged for us a ride on the South Tynedale Railway. Sadly, the steam train wasn’t feeling too well, so we chugged along behind a battery loco.

John just loved looking at the signal box at our starting point.

He was thrilled to have a look in the signal box at Slaggyford the end of the line.

 

 

 

It was amazingly quiet in our back garden at the farm, with the occasional baa or moo.

 

We guess because this part of Hadrian’s wall is so remote, it is fairly intact and not been pilfered for re-use. The views are amazing.

Lambley Viaduct, which is disused at the moment, could see trains to Haltwhistle along the South Tynedale Railway.

We’ve walked over many viaducts, but most were double tracked, this is single track.

 

From under it on the shore of the River Tyne it looked as if it could blow over in a strong wind.

We left the boat at Fettlers Wharf Marina while we were away.

Prior to our trip, we spent a great day in Blackpool for Lance’s birthday.

I was thrilled to receive a certificate & badge for my 75^th blood donation.

We have been spoiled by the sunsets over the Lancashire moss since we’ve been home.