The Lancaster Canal
Saturday 8th May, 2010
Sunday 9th May, 2010
Monday 10th May, 2010
Tuesday 11th May, 2010
Wednesday 12th May, 2010
Thursday 13th May, 2010
Friday 14th May, 2010
Saturday 8th May, 2010
e made a circuitous way to Preston today (it is not all that far, really) taking in Morecambe with its dangerous quicksands and its statue of its favourite son, Eric Morecambe of Morecambe and Wise fame.
We had lunch at Garstang and moved on to Preston where we found a Sainsburys to replenish the supplies. Sometimes it seems as though we are stocking up for the deluge, or something, but on the canal we don't get all that many shopping opportunities. And we daren't run out of food.
With only one mis-step we found the Arlen Boatyard at the start of the Lancaster Canal. It is pretty small scale and shabby but they will keep the car in a locked enclosure so it should be safe.
Narrowboat "Swan" on the Lancaster Canal
he boat is a bit smaller than our usual and we have given Geoff the double bed (it is really too small for us) and will use two single bunks ourselves. Unfortunately, at least one of them is a lounge/diner so we will have to make it up every night. (Not a drama really, I just left the doona on and we sat on it anyway.) The galley is very small, but quite well-equipped and the bathroom has a shower which takes the whole room. You have to pull the shower curtain over in front of the toilet and basin and there is plenty of room to shower, just a bit awkward to dry and dress as the floor is wet.
Leaving Preston on the first day
e took the "Swan" out and meandered up the canal, past the Ribble Link, the new connection with the Leeds and Liverpool, and moored for the evening in time to see a very distorted Dr. Who. TV on boats is never very good.
Actually we found it was quite good on other nights, we were just moored very close to high tension power lines on the first night.
Sunday 9th May, 2010
Day One on the Lancaster Canal
ay dawned beautifully, with pink and blue SPFX and promised a lovely day. And it was, until almost lunch time when it started clouding over and getting very cold.
Swans passing Swan on the Lancaster Canal
here were new families of ducks and swans, cute little puffballs paddling madly out of our way, Canada geese and majestic herons and nesting swans in huge round nests made of reeds. It is a pretty canal, the only blights on the landscape being where long term moorings are filled with boats which look like they have been there since Noah was a pup.
Guys Thatched Hamlet
e moored for morning tea, and lunch, and then at a fantastic (in every sense of the word) canalside development called Guys Thatched Hamlet. This incorporated a pub, gifte shoppes, hotel rooms, ice cream parlour, sports fields, all in thatched style buildings which were admittedly picturesque, if fake. We wandered around it, taking pictures and had a delicious ice-cream at the ice-cream bar. Then we went on again and moored for coffee beside a Spar grocery and did some shopping (again!)
hen we went on for another hour or so and moored for the night outside Garstang. Apart from feeling chilly and a little queasy for some reason, I have enjoyed the day.
Monday 10th May, 2010
Wyre Aqueduct near Garstang
cooler, damper dawn today. It was raining as we motored along the canal to Garstang. Here we moored beside the Wyre Aqueduct, thirty feet above the Wyre River. The aqueduct is 200 years old and lovely. They really built structures to be proud of then, in sandstone blocks, decorated with crenellations etc.
Winding Hole Near Garstang
arstang has a BW Sanitary Station, so we stopped to fill up with water and get rid of a bag of garbage. Then we moved on, up the canal, through rain and cloud until we moored for lunch and I warmed them up with some hot soup and toasted sandwiches.
Sheep Crossing the Bridge, Lancaster Canal
t about 1530 we passed the bridge at the start of the Glasson Arm but we decided it was too late today so went on to Galgate, a nice looking town with lots of visitor moorings.
We needed milk and bread as usual, so after mooring for afternoon tea, Mac and Geoff walked off to see if they could find a shop. I daren't run out of stuff - Geoff had a bad hypo last night before dinner - I think being on his feet all day, hauling ropes etc. tires him as much as us. I keep forgetting Geoff is not a kid any more.
Tuesday 11th May, 2010
Approaching the First Lock on the Glasson Arm
nother gorgeous rosy-fingered dawn. (Have to prove I am a classical scholar).
It was clear and sunny, if cold in the wind, as we headed back up to the entrance of the Glasson Arm. There are six locks in fairly quick succession heading down to Glasson Dock, a seaport basin with a lock to the sea, like the Crinan Canal.
Taking a Rest at the Lock
e were the only boat moving on the canal as we went. The locks are not in very good nick and Geoff and Mac had to use a certain amount of brute force, but when we got through the last one we were outside a pub called the Mill Inn, converted from an old mill, funnily enough.
So we decided to stop for a very superior pub lunch to celebrate having gone through six locks. There aren't any on the main canal.
After lunch we staggered back to the Swan and had a siesta for an hour. (After a pint of cider with lunch each, this seemed advisable.)
Yachts Moored in Glasson Basin
fter lunch we headed off for the end of the arm, arriving in the huge Glasson Basin at about 1630. There were masses of yachts and some other boats on the, mostly longterm, moorings. We found a place on the visitor moorings (not many of these!) and settled in for the night.
Wednesday 12th May, 2010
Looking Through the Lock
ay dawned a little cloudier but still sunny as we headed back up the six locks of the Glasson Arm. It seemed very tedious, particularly as we had to empty most of them, which should have been empty as we had left them, but have major leaks around the gates. It seemed to take forever. Most of the hard work was done by Geoff as Mac and I had to hold the boat still with ropes in the locks.
High Bridge near Lancaster City
e got back on the main Lancaster Canal at about 1330 and immediately stopped at a water point to top up. Through Galgate we moored outside a craft and tea shop and had a late lunch of toasted sandwiches and Geoff topped up his carbs with a toasted teacake.
hen we decided to head up the canal to Lancaster, see the Lune aqueduct and then turn around to start heading back. Mac estimates we average about three miles per hour and it is thirty miles back to Preston to return the boat on Saturday morning. So we will have to make at least five hours per day.
Heron Fishing
here was lovely woodland between Galgate and Lancaster and, although it was icy in the wind and started to rain, it was beautiful. The canal skirts the majority of Lancaster city but it also looks an attractive town.
We were lucky enough to see a heron fishing by the canal. (Wonder what it caught to eat?)
We passed two major basins with moorings and went on to the Lune Aqueduct, which seems to be undergoing repairs. After 200 years it deserves it. The Lune is a large river under the canal and the aqueduct was another sandstone structure by John Rennie. We are planning to go back through the city and moor in the countryside tonight.
Thursday 13th May, 2010
Along the Canal
nother lovely day! The warmest and sunniest we've had on the canal, I think. Although the air was icy as we went along in the early woodland morning . We didn't stop for morning tea but fed Geoff on the go.
t lunchtime we arrived in Garstang and found a spot on the visitor moorings. I cooked toasted bacon and egg sandwiches for lunch which was very nice, although I had to clean the frying pan first. There was another but it was even dirtier.
Canal Frontages, near Garstang
fter lunch we crossed the bridge and went to explore Garstang. The town centre was very close to the canal and it was market day. We toured up and down the stalls and found one that sold books. He had all the Katie Fforde books I had been looking for except the one I hadn't got, "Thyme Out". Bummer. But I found a bookstore which sold local authors and bought a book about the Lancashire Witches which I saw yesterday and thought might be interesting.
hen we sat in the sun for a while and had afternoon tea before heading down the canal a couple of miles to get out of the town and away from the pubs and the school and people.
We don't have far to go to get back to Preston, so it will be relaxed from now on.
Friday 14th May, 2010
ur last day dawned cool and with steady if not torrential rain, which continued most of the day until we moored for the night.
s we did not have far to go we spent the morning planning the route to Lincolnshire tomorrow and headed out at about 1120. At about 1245 we stopped at the Thatched Hamlet we saw on the way up and had a large lunch at Owd Nell's Tavern. Far too much, I'm afraid, and I was feeling upset in the stomach all the rest of the day and spent it lying down on my bunk until we stopped at about 1745.
Bridge Along the Lancaster
e have enjoyed this canal very much, it is very beautiful and well equipped with a good number of formal "visitor" moorings and lots of informal places on the towpath.
e have visited some interesting towns and gone off down to the sea, and although feeling that we probably could have gone further we have not had to hurry, so it remained relatively relaxing.
omorrow, three miles into Preston, and then off to pastures new in Lincolnshire.
Back to Top
Back to Contents
Back to Previous Page
Forward to Next
