FRIDAY. Tarleton
The 2008 trip thus far: 351 Locks; 693 Miles; 66 Swing\Lift Bridges. Bus pass journeys 35
All of the recent entries seemed to have started with ‘It was raining when we awoke this morning’ Well, ~ ditto ~. We received a telephone call from Leanne at Wigan BW offices to tell us that the Ribble link passage was to go ahead. So much for the bad weather forecast.
I asked the lockie how many boats were to make the trip, he said nine. One of them had arranged for a tug as she had a small engine; on the upward trip, she had to divert to Preston Marina owing to the lack of speed.
The holding pontoon just up the Savick Brook from the sea lock is approximately 90 feet in length. We were tied up four deep awaiting the opening of the lock; you could not accuse BW of wasting money on the construction of this link. One look will confirm that the whole enterprise was done on the cheap; some of the steel piled lock walls are leaking and one has a sprinkler. Below lock 8, there are underwater obstacles east of the pipe bridge and west of the road bridge. Yes, we hit them both.
We left the pontoon at 2.30pm; the wind against current on the River Ribble was producing waves of about a foot in height and the rain was driving from astern. We passed the Asland Lamp and made the turn into the Douglas at 3.25pm. For the next five minutes, the waves were about 18 inches high with the rain and wind dead ahead; the waves eased as we came under the lee of the east bank, the rain did not.
As we were half way along the reach before the bend at Douglas Boatyard, the tide began to ebb. Passing the boat yard, I increased revs from 1700 to 1800 and we continued to make reasonable speed across the ground. Approaching Tarleton lock, the boat under tow from GNAT seemed to be having a major problem when the tow was slipped just outside the lock gate. In fact, her engine had stopped and would not restart. The crew on GNAT quickly remade the tow and took her into the lock.
We stopped at the visitor moorings after penning up at 4.50pm; I had had enough of the wind and rain for one day!
Lancaster Canal.
Object
To visit the canal
Method
Passage of Ribble link
Observations
Most of the canal is shallow in the centre, all is shallow at the edge.
Tewitfield visitor moorings – Possible offence by BW under Trade Descriptions Act.
Useful for canoes, partly suitable for shallow draught cruisers, unsuitable for narrowboats.
Conclusions
Always moor securely; the local boaters do not slow down at all when passing moored boats.
Carnforth is an ideal staging point for Bus Pass users for the Lakes.
Glasson Basin is well worth a visit; also has excellent Cafe, two good pubs and views of hills
The Lune Aqueduct is magnificent, as is Lancaster Priory and Bilborrow church.
Hest Bank for seashore walks and long views to hills; plus good Chinese take away and chip shop.
The passage of the Rivers Douglas and Ribble would be lovely given good weather. We were not!
Would we do it again? No. In our view, the scenery is no better than parts of a lot of easier accessed canals.
Weather – Raining, all day.
