Last night the weather did not improve and we had plenty of rain with thunder an lightening thrown in for good measure. Today wasn't much better to start with, although we did manage to take the dogs out along the towpath past Rufford lock without getting wet. We decided that once back at the boat we would get ready to set off but no sooner back than the rain returned and it was quite breezy again. However by 12:30 blue sky was evident and the blustery wind had dropped, so seizing this window of opportunity we made ready and set off out of the marina at 13:00 in sunshine.
The wind was sufficient to push the bow the wrong way as we moved out of the mooring so I let it go and ended up reversing up the marina until past the bridgehole and off we went. Once clear we could see a dutch barge aproaching us after exiting Rufford lock, and with hand signals determined he wanted to turn into St.Mary's. I waved him through and was repaid in kind as several lads at the lock opened the gates for us. In fact I never touched a gate only opened and closed the paddles. I elected to walk on up Rufford Branch to open Marsh Meadow swing bridge so that Bridie could sail straight through and then continued along (past the fishermen on the lock landing) a mile or so to Chicken lock (so much easier to have it ready for Bridie to sail straight into in the breezy conditions). On quickly to German's Lock (No 5) and yes our favoured mooring spot below No4 was free. So two hours cruising, two miles, three locks and a swing bridge and that was it for today. As it was we had literally only just moored and got a drink when the heavens opened again, only just managed to get the covers up in time. By 6 the storm was back overhead and the rain pouring down in torrents!
A good if cautious start to our cruise and we now have the dirty side of the boat alongside the towpath so no prizes for guessing what's on the agenda for tomorrow. We plan to be in Scarisbrick marina for Friday night to pick up Simon and that is only about six miles away so we wil not be breaking any distance records this week. Burscough next stop for a bit of shopping.
Showing posts with label Steve. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Steve. Show all posts
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Saturday, May 7, 2011
Getting ready for our first Retirement cruise
It is Saturday May 7th and raining! Got rather wet taking Mac for his constitutional down by Rufford Old Hall this morning so I have decided it is time to try this blogging lark!
We waited for the Royal Wedding and Bank holidays to be over with before jouneying down the M6 to Rufford on Tuesday. Also we used April to visit London, catch up with the household chores, some much needed gardening and also to enjoy the warm dry spell.
Our first day involved shopping and cleaning so least said. Thursday I took the car back up the M6, no point in leaving it in the marina car park until July and anyway we do not intend returning to the marina until autumn. I returned by train and it was starting to rain as I waited for the first of three trains and then during the jouney south it turned pretty stormy especially over Shap and I could see cars on the M6 sending up clouds of spray.
I had to wait for an hour at Preston for the local to Rufford but time past quickly, more so because I had a call from my cousin to tell me he would be unable to visit as arranged for Friday, but for the very best of reasons, his son had come out of hospital unexpectedly early, and they had been told his brain tumor was not malignant. That has to be the best news he and my Aunt and Uncle have had for a while.
Friday started damp and dismal, but brightened, and Bridie and I decided to take a train trip from Rufford to Liverpool. This was to be by way of a recce to see where we are going to be moored in the docks and to see what we could of the 'Spring on the Waterfront' festival, which will be over by the time we get there. We enjoyed our brief visit, which included lunch in Albert Dock and a city and dock trip on the 'Yellow Duckmarine'.
Things went downhill thereafter as we returned to Liverpool Central only to find services on the rail line to Ormskirk suspended. Getting directions to catch a 351 Arriva bus from Sir Thomas Street we arrived at stand SA (how appropriate?) only to find a notice saying service 351 was ceased in March! After a phone call to a National helpline and selecting numerous options to get to Liverpool information we found we wanted the 311 and it would arrive in 10 minutes. Of course this all took time, the bus took us on a very depressing tour of shuttered shops and arrived at Ormskirk 10 minutes after our train had departed. So a long wait before we finally arrived back at the marina.
Back to today and the rain. No point in departing yet and after yesterday a day of rest is called for. We have downloaded our pictures of Liverpool and been experimenting with Google.
We waited for the Royal Wedding and Bank holidays to be over with before jouneying down the M6 to Rufford on Tuesday. Also we used April to visit London, catch up with the household chores, some much needed gardening and also to enjoy the warm dry spell.
Our first day involved shopping and cleaning so least said. Thursday I took the car back up the M6, no point in leaving it in the marina car park until July and anyway we do not intend returning to the marina until autumn. I returned by train and it was starting to rain as I waited for the first of three trains and then during the jouney south it turned pretty stormy especially over Shap and I could see cars on the M6 sending up clouds of spray.
I had to wait for an hour at Preston for the local to Rufford but time past quickly, more so because I had a call from my cousin to tell me he would be unable to visit as arranged for Friday, but for the very best of reasons, his son had come out of hospital unexpectedly early, and they had been told his brain tumor was not malignant. That has to be the best news he and my Aunt and Uncle have had for a while.
Friday started damp and dismal, but brightened, and Bridie and I decided to take a train trip from Rufford to Liverpool. This was to be by way of a recce to see where we are going to be moored in the docks and to see what we could of the 'Spring on the Waterfront' festival, which will be over by the time we get there. We enjoyed our brief visit, which included lunch in Albert Dock and a city and dock trip on the 'Yellow Duckmarine'.
Things went downhill thereafter as we returned to Liverpool Central only to find services on the rail line to Ormskirk suspended. Getting directions to catch a 351 Arriva bus from Sir Thomas Street we arrived at stand SA (how appropriate?) only to find a notice saying service 351 was ceased in March! After a phone call to a National helpline and selecting numerous options to get to Liverpool information we found we wanted the 311 and it would arrive in 10 minutes. Of course this all took time, the bus took us on a very depressing tour of shuttered shops and arrived at Ormskirk 10 minutes after our train had departed. So a long wait before we finally arrived back at the marina.Back to today and the rain. No point in departing yet and after yesterday a day of rest is called for. We have downloaded our pictures of Liverpool and been experimenting with Google.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)