Great Score swing bridge New Lane

Although we have had a few attempts at rain today and it has been breezy again we have not got wet and it is fairly warm.   We moved a few hundred yards to Burscough Wharf to top up water and empty the elsan before mooring in Burscough so that we could go to Tesco to top up supplies again.   Then after a bite of lunch we moved on through two swing bridges to New Lane, mooring by the timber yard and disused swing bridge where the old wide beam barge Ribble normally moors.

Here we met up with another narrow boat heading into Liverpool on Sunday.   He tells me this is the third year running he has made this trip and that he has had a very quiet trip up this year from London.  Our conversation turned to difficulties he has had with finding moorings in London owing to problems with continuous 'cruisers'  (strike that) continuous moorers.

We are very close to Martin Mere here and can hear the geese when the wind is in the right direction.   We still haven't visited, although we have walked the dogs in the fields close to the site in the past. Had the paint out this afternoon and patched a bad scrape on our cream back panel.   I also painted the two keys I dredged up from lock 3 on the branch yesterday.