Tough Locks, Spaniel Peril and Late Night Sailing

The dogs were a little earlier today, just after seven, but we had our usual leisurely start and did not get under way until after ten. The first task was the bridge beside which we had moored and then we headed north towards the end of the branch. At the next bridge, which also had the remains of an old lock, the nature of the canal changed. Apparently from this point on it follows the old course of the River Douglas – though the river itself still runs in its in its new course just to the east. The canal looks just like a river here, winding about between rushy banks, with no towpath at all.

Our mooring beside swing bridge 9

The canal near Tarleton looking more like a river.

After a couple of miles of this we came into Tarleton, the end of the line. We moored just short of a boatyard there, and walked with the dogs down to the end where a major lock gives access to the tidal Douglas, and thence to the Ribble. The engineering is on a much larger scale than the inland waterways locks we are used to, and it should be a dramatic trip when we finally make the crossing to the Lancaster Canal. Several of the craft moored around the end of the canal are clearly seagoing craft, yachts and small old-fashioned motor boats.

The final swing bridge just outside Tarleton.

Tarleton Lock, down into the tidal River Douglas and then to the Ribble.

There was no obvious winding hole, and I tried swinging the boat around where we were moored, but it was just too long. Happily a chap from another boat came along and told me there was a wider spot a little further down towards the end, so I motored down there and turned carefully. There was not much to spare, about six feet, and you certainly could not turn a 70’ boat there. But we were OK, and we set off back the way we had come.

Sheep watching us turn at Tarleton.

Some odd - and very tame - geese we encountered at a swing bridge

After we had passed last night's mooring Loulie took the dogs off for a walk, and I moored at a C&RT service area. This is unmanned, but your C&RT key allows access to a water point and rubbish skips, as well as toilets and showers. There is also a pump-out station, for which you need a prepaid card - fortunately we had bought one on our Home Run in August, so I went ahead and did my first solo pump-out, which actually went very well. We weren't anything close to full, but we were going to have to get it done some time on the voyage, so it was an opportune moment.

Our original plan was to go down the main line towards Liverpool for a bit, before turning for home, but as we worked our way up the Rufford locks it became clear that we would be struggling to get on to the main line at all, before dark. As we found yesterday the locks are very heavy, and all the padlocks and handcuff locks mean that you can waste ten minutes easily just opening and closing these security devices at each lock. We were also held up a bit when a man came to ask us if he could borrow our boathook to fish out a spaniel which had got into a sluice channel which runs around the lock, and couldn’t get out. He was just a passer-by himself, helping the two women who owned the spaniel. I went to look, and the dog was not in danger of drowning – the water was only about two feet deep, but it was down a steep overgrown bank, maybe ten feet high. And it did not want to be rescued – it kept dodging away from attempts to hook its collar. We tried offering it treats, and we were contemplating sending our Labradors down to show it how to get in and out, when it was finally hooked and dragged out, very muddy but otherwise unharmed and looking pleased with itself.

Yesterday we had help from C&RT volunteers at the three top locks, but by the time we arrived today they had gone home. The top lock itself has only one working sluice on the bottom gates, which Loulie was unable to work, so I had to get off to turn it. When Loulie was re-locking the handcuff on one of the upper sluices she dropped the handcuff key into the canal. We have a spare, but I decided to try out my fishing magnet, which I bought for just such an occasion. Rather to my surprise I lowered it into about four feet of water, and when I pulled it up, there was our key, nicely attached.

It was after 6pm when we worked our way out of the top lock, and we decided that we didn’t even have time to go to the shops. So we turned east on the main line, and in the gathering dusk started looking for somewhere to stop. This stretch of canal has inclined banks, not vertical, so there is an awkward shelf almost everywhere. After trying a couple of spots, and going through two more swing bridges, we finally had to settle for a mooring on a bend – not bad in most respects, except that we are three feet out from the bank. For the first time we have used the blue plank that we carry on the roof as a gangplank for humans – the dogs of course have their own which we use at every mooring. But the gap is too wide for us to jump reliably, especially in the dark, and Loulie is reluctant to reprise her triumphant dive into the Shropshire Union.

Late update - I spoke too soon. I took the dogs out for their final tiddles, with the three Labradors on leads so they can't run off - and all wearing their illuminated collars as well, in case they get loose. Ruby was not leaded up, she won't go far. So I walked up and down, and got them to do their business, and then persuaded them to walk back along the gangplank onto the boat - tricky because they have differing levels of confidence. Anyway I got all three down the stairs then turned to deal with Ruby. She had paused on the bank, between the two gangplanks, and then suddenly to my horror she gathered herself and jumped for the boat - falling short by a long margin. I reached forward and grabbed her collar as she went under, and dragged her up and eventually onto the boat, though she was wriggling and tangled in weed. At first she seemed reluctant to stand up and I thought she was seriously hurt, but in a minute or two she recovered, and indeed started to charge around the boat madly, wiping her ears on the blankets and clearly no worse for her third lifetime fall in the canal.

Today: 7 hours. 10.1 miles. 7 locks. 9 bridges.

Voyage: 31.5 hours. 63.9 miles. 22 locks. 16 bridges.

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.