SATURDAY. Hest Bank, Lancaster canal
The 2008 trip thus far: 330 Locks; 647.5 Miles; 66 Swing\Lift Bridges. Bus pass journeys 35
We have convinced ourselves that summer has arrived. Two days running we have a dry morning! We caught the bus to Kendal as today, to have a look around.
There are a good amount of early buildings worth a closer look. Lots of interesting alleys with almost hidden shops; on the main street, a Carnegie library (yes, that one) in red sandstone. We went inside and found a very light interior, with a high ceiling giving the impression of a larger building. It has managed to remain true to the original purpose as a library and was well used whilst we were inside.
We arrived back on board just before 1pm. I retrieved both lifebelts that had been keeping the shell off the piling, in a vain attempt to remain afloat. We were aground for all of the time here; at least we were able to the boat keep level which makes it more pleasant when moving around inside.
Tiller on, ropes and chains away – start the engine and we are boating for the first time in 9 days. We had two of them with continuous rain; we used our bus passes whenever possible on the others. Dragging along the bottom for most of the way, the only deep section was the diversion made for the M6 motorway in 1968. We arrived at Carnforth where we had a shower, filled up with water and emptied the PortaPotti.
We carried on until Hest Bank where we moored and walked down to the foreshore. There were sunrays across Morecambe bay at various times, producing a good visual effect as we just sat and looked across towards Grange over Sands. A visit to the Chinese chippy on our way back set us up for the evening.
Tomorrow, weather permitting, we will stop at the Lune Aqueduct and have a look from river level.
Weather – Overcast, dry and sunny for a few minutes.
