Onwards from Dover

Sunday 7^th April to Tuesday 9^th April 2013

15 mile, 8 Locks, 1 swing bridge for this period

Totals: 1528 Miles, 1249 Locks, 50 Tunnels, 26 Lift Bridges, 101 Swing Bridges

the frosts have not quite gone

... and still a mist off the early morning water

We left Dover Bridge relatively early on Sunday having in mind to proceed through Wigan and the heavy locks there; fill the water tank and make our way on towards Appley Bridge and thus break the back of most of the remaining locks and a fair number of miles.

Our attitude (at least mine) is to get somewhere ahead of schedule and there can be no hold-ups.

We know from last year making the same journey that there can be problems with some of the swing bridges closer to Hancock’s Bridge, so if we only have a few miles and bridges to go then we will make it easily.

It was another very lovely day – with little wind – and a fair degree of sunshine even if it was a bit hazy – the sun on our backs again was very nice indeed.

Made it through Wigan without any problems – having been here before we didn’t expect any problems from locals – just the locks.

Watered up OK at the water point down from the CaRT offices and just before the turn at Wigan pier.

Onwards past DW stadium – we couldn’t remember if Wigan were playing QPR there or in London – we were still quite early.

We finally decided to moor up on the disused arm at the Appley Locks – it was so peaceful and quiet here – we didn’t even notice the passing trains – running within 100m of where we were moored.

We are still without a heater; still not sure what is wrong with it or what we might do.

So pretty cold in the mornings but with the sun warming the inside through the windows at least we were OK in the early evenings.

across the lock in the disused arm at Appley Locks

Monday came and another very cold morning – Diane was OK – she stayed in bed and waited for the coffee and papers to arrive.

Come 8am and we put the engine on to be able to use the electric heater which gave some respite from the cold.

We only had a short distance to travel today and so we left a lot later than we normally would and Diane made use of this time by washing and polishing that side of the boat on the mooring side – it has come up a treat – very clever she is, that wife of mine – she had looked at where we were going to be mooring for the next few days and saw that it would be only with the starboard side on the towpath and this was her last chance to wash and polish the port side – so it was done.

Cruising was fine – a bit of a breeze and the air was a little more hazy and the sun struggled a bit more to get through the warm us, but in the end we moored up in Burscough before mid-afternoon.

the blue bag crops are coming up just fine this year

a memorial to a long ago time when the canals were thought
of as a vital piece of infrastructure

A bit of a wander around to re-familiarise ourselves with the town; a drink in the Hop Vine and then back to the boat.

Tuesday was again windy and not so warm , so after getting a bit or work done, we had a look at the double glazing which had started to come away a bit – managed to fix up one window and now know what to do for the others – we will however need another roll of magnet to finish the job completely.

I managed to phone Ed Shiers to see if he was able to visit to have a look at the Mykuni for us and he was able to get to see us tomorrow (Wednesday) but in the afternoon – so we sorted out a place to meet – here’s looking forward to getting some heat again.

Off for coffee and an obligatory visit to the chippy; back to the boat for lunch; a bit more work in the afternoon and a relaxing evening – turned the football on to see Galatasaray v Real Madrid and off to bed to get warm.

a sign of a warmer day to come? .. we hope so