Narrowboat Eileen Dover: No fuel like an old fuel

Our plan today was to refuel in Wigan, and then press on to somewhere on the Leigh branch for the night. However when we started to search for places to buy diesel, it became clear that there was nowhere on our route, all the way onto the Bridgewater and down past Leigh. So we would not get a refill today. The gauge was on the top of the red, and we thought that we would probably not run out before we got to a diesel point on Thursday. But only probably – until we actually run out we will notknow exactly where zero is, and we have already noticed that when we fill the tank the gauge only shows ¾, so we are not wholly trusting. We would be nervous all the way to getting refilled, and we would also be reluctant to run the engine to give us power at night. Without the alternator the lights would get steadily dimmer, and the heating would cut out. So in the end we decided to go back to Burscough, a couple of miles behind us, where the map said we would find diesel.

Views of Parbold

One of the things you discover on a canal is that the direction you are pointing matter hugely. The boat is longer than the canal is wide almost everywhere, so we couldn’t just swing round and motor back to Burscough. First we had to go forward a couple of miles to Parbold, where there is a winding hole. I did try in a couple of places where the canal looked wider, but as soon as you start to swing the boat around you realise that you have no chance. After turning in Parbold we came back on our tracks, reaching our overnight spot after about an hour. We went on into Burscough (through two swing bridges) and past the end of the Rufford Branch. We passed a huge old building, a mill of some sort, which has been renovated and turned into apartments – it looked very good. In the centre of the town we came to Burscough Canal Services, a very small business which could, however, sell us diesel. They don’t have a pump, though, they would have to pour it out of plastic 20 litre containers. And could we wait while he went to buy a funnel, as he had mislaid his?

Ainscough Mill

Burscough Bridge

Burscough Canal Services

I walked to Tesco to do our shopping while we waited, and when I got back he had started filling. It took 100 litres, and we had a good chat with the man while he was doing it. He is semi-retired and works for this business, which has two working boats which go up and down the canal with diesel, Calor gas and coal to supply boaters, especially liveaboards.

After we left him we were, of course, pointing the wrong way. The first winding hole was a couple of miles away, through two more swing bridges. Loulie took the dogs off to walk down and work the bridges, then they waited while I went a bit further, turned and came back to pick them up.

Now we were heading towards Wigan, but it was several miles and more bridges before we finally arrived where we had begun this morning, about five hours earlier. We continued through Parbold, and came to the first lock of the day, a deep 12-footer at Appley Bridge. We worked through that, and then the final swing bridge. Here Loulie got off again with the dogs, and I went on ahead, eventually reaching Dean Lock, under the shadow of the M6. I worked this mostly on my own, though another boat coming down arrived as I was filling the lock, and helped with some of the final bits.

The Douglas Valley

The others arrived as we were finishing, and we went on, though not very far, just through the village of Gathurst and half a mile beyond, where we found a very nice mooring in the trees and alongside the Douglas River, another paradise for the dogs. I walked back and explored Gathurst, which I have seen hundreds of times from the M6, and I found there was a nice-looking Indian restaurant beside the bridge – it used to be the Navigation public house. We ordered a takeaway and I walked back to collect it – very nice.