Branching Out

A few squawks from the pheasants overnight but they didn’t wake the dogs and once again we had a relative lie-in until 7:25. We made our usual leisurely start, with a walk for the dogs and then breakfast for us all, and we were under way by about 10:20. It was turning out to be a lovely day, typical for October actually, with bright sun that was almost hot, though late on the clear sky made for a cold evening.

Parbold Mill

Parbold Village

We quickly reached Parbold, a delightful village with a disused but well-preserved windmill, and a sharp bend in the canal. Here it was planned that the Leeds & Liverpool would strike out north west, cutting south of Preston and straight to Burnley. In the end it never happened, and the route loops south through Wigan and then back up to the north.

Spencers Swing Bridge, Burscough

Passing through the bridge

We had a couple of swing bridges to do before we reached Burscough, both automated, and no trouble for Loulie – the second one was very satisfying, with flashing lights, sirens and barriers dropping. We than reached a lovely arched bridge marking the entrance to the Rufford Branch.

Entrance to the Rufford Branch

The Rufford Branch takes the canal due north, to the estuary of the River Douglas, which in turn gives access to the Ribble. This route allows you to cross over to the Lancaster Canal near Preston, as that canal does not link up with any others in the network. You have to book ahead to make the crossing, which is done in a supervised convoy, and only in the weather and the tide are favourable. We are not going that way on this trip, though it is on the list.

As soon as we entered the branch we encountered the first lock, but fortunately there were also two C&RT volunteers, who helped through the first three on the way down. This was lucky, because the Rufford locks have a strange variety of mechanisms for the lock sluices, and in addition some of them are very stiff to work.After we had done those three we moored for lunch, and Loulie took the girls for a walk while I went into town for provisions (especially chocolate and wine).

After lunch we had four more locks to do, unaided, and these were tough. At one lock I had to work the sluice gear because Loulie simply could not move it. At another we thought for a time we would have to give up, as we could not work out how to unlock the C&RT padlocks, though eventually we did it. There are no instructions – you simply have to know how, or figure it out. We also came to three swing bridges, which are not powered on the Rufford. Again the toughest part for Loulie was operating the locking mechanism – swinging the bridge across was easier than moving a tough lock gate.

We had intended to go right to the end, to Tarleton Lock, which gives out to the tidal river, but we realised that we would be getting there as light was fading, and we weren’t sure we would get a good mooring. So we selected a good spot by swing bridge 9, with solid Armco on the bank – a lot of the banks on the Rufford are very weedy and overgrown – picturesque, but hard to moor against. We are near a village called Sollom, famous for racehorse training, and in the morning we will do the few miles down to Tarleton before turning back to tackle the locks again. We are moored in very flat land, getting down towards the Ribble, and quite like the Fylde to the north of the river – good rich soil with lots of drainage ditches. We had a lovely view from our window to the west, with the setting sun and the clear evening sky.

Today: 5.5 hours. 8.2 miles. 7 locks. 5 bridges.

Voyage: 24.5 hours. 53.8 miles. 15 locks. 7 bridges.