Weather - Bah Humbug - harder to pick than a broken nose

Saturday 11^th May to Tuesday 14^th May 2013

I am blaming Diane’s phone and the weather forescasting apps that she has – neither of them seem to understand that we want to cruise along in sunny conditions, little or no wind and just really pleasant.

What’s happened to it all?

Just a week ago it was shorts and t-shirt conditions – the sight of Paul’s legs in the new bright blue crocs is now becoming a memory – it is now back to coats, scarves and gloves.

The main problem we are experiencing and struggling with is the fact that the ability to moor up is confined to those areas designated as mooring spots – the rest are either banks where you couldn’t possibly get close and others with nice straight sides where you definitely cannot get close because it is too shallow.

Couple this with the need to be exact in your steering or one side of the boat rears itself as you run in the soft mud and it becomes a bit a chore sometimes.

Having said that, the scenery is truly lovely and worth the effort; a combination of many of the other canals that we have been along over the past two years, but all in one waterway.

We spent just the one night at Garstang but enjoyed this town and will be calling in on the way back; we did find some excellent moorings at Galgate – we managed to get both front and back into the side, but apart from a couple of pubs and a few other shops there is not a lot there, but the area still is quite lovely.

The bridge over the River Wyre - truly magnificent

We had a bit of a look at the top lock of the Glasson flight, but so far declined to venture down into the dock area.

When the Lancaster was opened to steel craft the locals must
have reeled in horror - but it was a boom for fenders sales

Further on to Lancaster and again with an eye on all of the weather reports we will spend two nights here – sadly the day that we thought it was going to pour down turned out to be bright and sunny – but we did get to do a tour of the castle – now a closed down prison and a still active courthouse – resisted the need to be locked in the dungeon.

Lancaster Castle

The Judges' lodgings

Lancaster is a city where you can see the wealth that has been here before – beautiful old buildings and now a university city. The local golden stone is seen in so many of the buildings.

But again there are limited moorings – we managed to get the last one – squeezing in front of a cruiser – Diane was a bit more than a little worried as we approached – certain that we would hit it and crush it – easily made it in.

15 miles

Totals: 1681 Miles, 1294 Locks, 56 Tunnels, 28 Lift Bridges, 129 Swing Bridges