MONDAY. Glasson Basin
The 2008 trip thus far: 336 Locks; 658.5 Miles; 66 Swing\Lift Bridges. Bus pass journeys 35
We were awake at 7am, bathed in bright sunshine. Plan A was to have breakfast and move off before the rain arrived. Our breakfast had not been completed when the first spots fell and plan B was suggested and accepted. We delayed our start until 8.45am when the first band of showers had stopped. A rainbow appeared; whilst operating the locks, I examined the spot where the rainbow ended. The only crock there was me!
We found all the locks were full with the top paddles up. It later transpired that the BW man that I saw riding his bike down the flight had seen us moored up facing Glasson; he thought that we would be using them and he set them for us. What a pleasure to have been helped in this way, and to meet and thank him at Glasson basin. He told us of the views to be had from the top of the hill just out of Glasson.
We had a very good midday 'All day breakfast' in the ‘Lantern O’er the Lune’ cafe and then suitably strengthened, we marched right up to the top of the hill. There, we found a small view point complete with view indicators. We could see from Whernside, around to the lakeland tops of which only Great Gable was clear of mist. That was 32 miles away, we could clearly see Blackpool tower which was a mere 15 miles, Barrow at 14 miles and Walney Island at 13 miles.
Through binoculars, we could see the ferry Riverdance stranded since February on the beach at Anchorsholme, near Cleveleys. The Dutch salvage team are now in the process of cutting it up after all attempts to refloat had been unsuccessful.
We walked back along the other road, calling in at the Glasson Smoke House where we bought some smoked Marlin slices (taste - a little like smoked salmon but a bit stronger flavour) and some smoked Mackerel. Food is important to us!
Before our walk I had been photographing ‘Silver River’, a coaster leaving for the Isle of Man and other boats moving around in the dock area. The swing bridge was closed to road traffic as we returned to the dock area owing to the passage of two boats into Glasson Basin. Watching the lockies and the boats, we chatted to George; the owner of the ex-CalMac landing craft type ferry ‘Spanish J’ in the dock. He sailed her down from Mallaig, stopping at Kipford on the way.
He spent £2500 on diesel for that trip!
He had not looked at a narrowboat; we offered to show him ours and he took us to see his boat!
He has modified it by installing a Hiab hoist on the deck for working with Cockle and Mussel fishermen. Down below he showed me the two Kelvin 300HP diesels that he had rebuilt without the turbochargers. He is waiting to fit a new pair of starters which should be arriving anyday now.
We wandered around some more and found a lovely view across the Lune estuary toward the high hills; we are glad that we made the effort to come down here, the views from our mooring are the best that we have had since arriving on the Lancaster canal. We have spoken to a lot of boat owners on the Lancaster that have never been to Glasson; we asked them all and the reply was ‘because of the locks’. What a strange bunch they are!
Weather – Showers early morning, drying up before lunchtime.
